Symphony of the Night, best 2D game ever made.
Intro
Today I'm going to review one of my favourite games of all time:' Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.' A good 11 years ago Konami had released the game on the original Playstation, The game later was ported to the Saturn, Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and the Playstation Portable in a rehashed version of Rondo of Blood. The PS and Saturn version can be found in barging bins if you're lucky but if you really want to start playing right now you can either get it on PS3 or Xbox360 for 10 dollars on there XBLA/PSN networks.
Story
SOTN has quite a deep story it begins of with a flashback where you kill Count Dracula as Righter Belmont after that you play as Alucard, the son of Dracula (just read Alucard backwards) who tries to stop the recent activities at the Castle of Dracula, Alucard is a pure good guy and tries to stop everything Dracula tries to do. You'll also meet Maria a young girl who tries to find her friend Righter Belmont, she also helps you defeat some bosses. Enough spoiler though let's go on.
Gameplay
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a mixture between a 2D action game and a RPG, normal combat is just like any other Castlevania game: You attack enemies and when they die you can pick up a Heart, these Hearts will let you do a special attack like throwing a knife or an axe, you can only hold one of these items so you need to pick the right one for the right enemy.
The RPG part of the game is quite deep, you gain experience if you kill an enemy, you will also gain levels from that experience, gaining a level means you get more health and do more damage and other stat's are also boosted up.
You can also find item like weapons and armour pieces you can wear to boost your stats, finding the right balance is essential. You can also find rings, which you can sell to a trader called 'The Master Librarian' you can also buy items, magic spells, tactics and get info on enemies from him. Yes, you can indeed casts magic spells in this game, you only have to a tricky button combination to do a spell, this however is easier said than done.
You can also find Relics in the game. These Relics let you get special abilities like getting hearts out off candals or even transforming in to an animal, you can transform in a Bat, Wolf or in Mist, you will need to have these powers to finish certain puzzles in the game. You can also get Pets with these Relics, these pets can also level up and will aid you in your battle.
To save in the game you have to go to an save point which will reheals you and saves the game, there also teleporters in the game so you don't have to walk though the same part of the castle a million times.
Presentation
Castlevania SOTN looks very nice for an 2D game, the graphics are all smooth and there a lot of graphical wonders in the game, the only problem I have with the graphics are the 3D cut scenes you find sometimes, there just damn ugly. The irritating part with these cutscenes is: you can't skip any of them in the original version, Luckily there only a pair of cutscenes (2 or 3) so it isn't all that irritating. However the music in the game is mind blowing good, if you ask me.
Replayability
The main game is quite long and with a secret plot twist the game even becomes longer and harder, there also minor things you can find that only make the game longer and more enjoyable. There also Achievements in the 360 version so those keep you playing even longer.
Verdict
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the best games ever made, if you haven't played this game before, your not worthy of calling yourself a gamer. As far as 2D games this is the best out there.
Links
Wikipdia
Metacritic PS (360) (PSP)
Xbox Live Arcade Page
Reviewed by 'James-Kond' on the orginal date of March 7th 2008, review can be found at archgamer.blogspot.com and NoobToob offical forums, final Review version made on 11th October 2008 on Giantbomb.com
Today I'm going to review one of my favourite games of all time:' Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.' A good 11 years ago Konami had released the game on the original Playstation, The game later was ported to the Saturn, Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and the Playstation Portable in a rehashed version of Rondo of Blood. The PS and Saturn version can be found in barging bins if you're lucky but if you really want to start playing right now you can either get it on PS3 or Xbox360 for 10 dollars on there XBLA/PSN networks.
Story
SOTN has quite a deep story it begins of with a flashback where you kill Count Dracula as Righter Belmont after that you play as Alucard, the son of Dracula (just read Alucard backwards) who tries to stop the recent activities at the Castle of Dracula, Alucard is a pure good guy and tries to stop everything Dracula tries to do. You'll also meet Maria a young girl who tries to find her friend Righter Belmont, she also helps you defeat some bosses. Enough spoiler though let's go on.
Gameplay
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a mixture between a 2D action game and a RPG, normal combat is just like any other Castlevania game: You attack enemies and when they die you can pick up a Heart, these Hearts will let you do a special attack like throwing a knife or an axe, you can only hold one of these items so you need to pick the right one for the right enemy.
The RPG part of the game is quite deep, you gain experience if you kill an enemy, you will also gain levels from that experience, gaining a level means you get more health and do more damage and other stat's are also boosted up.
You can also find item like weapons and armour pieces you can wear to boost your stats, finding the right balance is essential. You can also find rings, which you can sell to a trader called 'The Master Librarian' you can also buy items, magic spells, tactics and get info on enemies from him. Yes, you can indeed casts magic spells in this game, you only have to a tricky button combination to do a spell, this however is easier said than done.
You can also find Relics in the game. These Relics let you get special abilities like getting hearts out off candals or even transforming in to an animal, you can transform in a Bat, Wolf or in Mist, you will need to have these powers to finish certain puzzles in the game. You can also get Pets with these Relics, these pets can also level up and will aid you in your battle.
To save in the game you have to go to an save point which will reheals you and saves the game, there also teleporters in the game so you don't have to walk though the same part of the castle a million times.
Presentation
Castlevania SOTN looks very nice for an 2D game, the graphics are all smooth and there a lot of graphical wonders in the game, the only problem I have with the graphics are the 3D cut scenes you find sometimes, there just damn ugly. The irritating part with these cutscenes is: you can't skip any of them in the original version, Luckily there only a pair of cutscenes (2 or 3) so it isn't all that irritating. However the music in the game is mind blowing good, if you ask me.
Replayability
The main game is quite long and with a secret plot twist the game even becomes longer and harder, there also minor things you can find that only make the game longer and more enjoyable. There also Achievements in the 360 version so those keep you playing even longer.
Verdict
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the best games ever made, if you haven't played this game before, your not worthy of calling yourself a gamer. As far as 2D games this is the best out there.
Links
Wikipdia
Metacritic PS (360) (PSP)
Xbox Live Arcade Page
Reviewed by 'James-Kond' on the orginal date of March 7th 2008, review can be found at archgamer.blogspot.com and NoobToob offical forums, final Review version made on 11th October 2008 on Giantbomb.com
