Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

2-D side scrolling with a RPG element. In a nut shell this is what “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” will give you. The best part is this title delivers a genuine experience you won’t forget. The Castlevania series has a history and is pretty traditional. To the gamers that have experienced any of these titles as far back as “Castlevania II: Simons Quest” for the original NES you know this Playstation port, does it best. Many of previous glitches from the original PS port were fixed. Not to worry, everything else was left to the gamers along with it’s corny voice acting and multiple endings.

In Symphony of the Night you start the game as Richter and actually play the last battle (fight with Dracula) from it’s previous title. Giving this title a good back round taste which sets you up for the whole story.  As if playing as Alucard, the son of Dracula, wasn’t cool enough.  You will go through the whole game getting yourself back to godly armor and weapons preparing yourself for the last battle.

Now one thing that probably blew my mind was how long this game actually took to finish. On top of that were how many hidden items there were spread through out the castle. With several spells and abilities the fun factor was quite intriguing. Also not being bound to the sword was a plus. Other weapon styles like two handed swords and knuckles added for a different groove of gamplay. Not to mention all the original throwing knives, floating axes, and clock(freeze time) are all still here. Several different orbs were attainable if explored well enough through out the castle that would turn you into a wolf or bat. Making the areas impossible to access before, a breeze. Each form has it’s own special attack which can make for easier travel as well. This comes in handy if your thinking of earning the two other alternate endings, since you will be making your way back and forth through the demon filled castle as this can become quite the task.  Spells are performed on a Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat kind of feel.  No need to panic, they still are kept very simple and are key to making the more fierce battles, your victory.  The music and sound effects are classic and will have you reminiscing back on the SNES days where classic games were made of from just this.

At 800 Microsoft Points ($10) this title can’t help but feel like a major steal.  As many games that are being released up until this date that have the next gen graphics and gameplay qualities down you will not be disappointed to find yourself having hours of demonic undead killing fun with “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night”. With a good amount of hidden secrets, area’s, and alternate endings…this is ultimately a recipe for a smart buy and let’s face it, after going through crappy games it will add up.  Were hoping we get to see plenty more classic ports like this one for purchase on Xbox Live Arcade.

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