Castlevania Curse of Darkness Video Review
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness re-uses the game engine of Lament of Innocence, though it has a couple improvements such as a better inventory menu and camera controls. The other major difference is how incredibly larger the world is, and this leads us to our first stumbling block.
The biggest complaint people have about the game is the heavy use of copy and paste environments. I can understand why the developers did this; when making an expansive world you need to re-use textures and models a lot in order to keep the game file size small; you see this in MMORPGs a lot. The thing is there are level design tricks to make areas not look as repetitive, and the game would probably be easier for people to navigate if more of those tricks were used.
As for the sound design, Curse of Darkness features a lot of original music and not as many classic Castlevania tunes as you'd expect, which is really disappointing to me. Some fans disagree but I think remixes and arrangements of the classic soundtrack really adds flavor to the games and has become part of the brand identity. That said CoD does have a great soundtrack, but I was disappointed to not hear Heart of Fire, Bloody Tears and Tragic Prince.
Back on the subject of gameplay, the biggest change to the combat system is Innocent Devils. Innocent Devils are basically a souped up version of Alucard's familiars from SOTN. Unlike Alucard Hector can't directly use magic during gameplay but by commanding Innocent Devils the player can use spells for attack and defense. I kind of like the system because ordering monsters to fight for you is pretty fun, but what I don't like is the advancement system for the devils; basically they evolve into stronger forms by collecting different colored crystals dropped by defeated enemies. The thing is, to make certain colors spawn you have to be using certain weapons, and this turns the game into a huge grindfest. I think it's worth it in the end but only if you know what you're doing; some final evolution forms are simply more useful than others.
Plot wise, the story takes place shortly after Castlevania 3 and is considered a direct sequel. You play Hector, who apparently worked for Dracula as a Devil Forgemaster. This is a new occupation never before discussed in the franchise but the game explains that Devil Forgemasters use magic to craft devils and weapons for Dracula's army. Anyway, Hector is chasing after Isaac, another Devil Forgemaster, because Isaac murdered Hector's lover. Hector had apparently betrayed Dracula during the events of Castlevania 3 and Isaac wants revenge for Hector helping kill their master, or something. I dunno, the game never explains exactly what Hector did to betray Dracula; the manga says Hector refused to fight Trevor Belmont and ran away, but to me that sounds more like desertion than betrayal. Based on the things Isaac says you'd have thought Hector staked Dracula himself.
Anyway, I won't spoil the storyline but I think this is one of the weaker plots in the franchise. Mostly because of the introduction of the time traveler St. Germain. Maybe it's just me but when time travel is suddenly entered into a franchise that traditionally is not about time travel, I get the feeling the writers didn't want to take the time to come up with a solid plot and are grasping for straws. The really sad thing? St. Germain doesn't really do anything in the story besides let Hector know things are wrong. I'm pretty sure that Hector knows things are wrong without someone needing to tell him, so St. Germain doesn't actually serve any purpose in the story at all. I'd like to go into further detail but it'd ruin the plot of the game. The short of it is I think the plot is sloppy primarily because of St. Germain; he really has no business in the story at all.
In closing, CoD is a better 3D Castlevania than the 64 ones but the plot leaves a lot to be desired. I did have a lot of fun with it when it first came out but I just keep feeling that Konami could have done better.
