After Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance, Castlevania on the Gameboy Advance was starting to resemble a bald eagle riding the subway. Sure, this winged bird can technically travel to his destination via this man-made transportation construct, but why should he be relegated to the circuitous technological traveling methods of the flying impaired? Shouldn’t this bird of prey be soaring through the skies above the ground of their free will? Seeing this majestic creature stoop to something beneath its full capabilities is a sad sight to behold. Castlevania’s full capabilities in this analogy is Symphony of the Night, the series Metroidvania debut on the first PlayStation console that all of its Nintendo handheld successors failed to meet at eye level. At this point, Circle of the Moon tried deviating away from Symphony to produce a high-quality product, and Harmony of Dissonance attempted to emulate a bevy of Symphony’s elements when Circle of the Moon didn’t appeal to those looking for a Symphony-esque experience. When Harmony of Dissonance didn’t resonate with players either, it seemed as if the GBA’s modest hardware inherently could never hope to match Symphony and its grandiose glory. Symphony fans would have to lower their standards to get their Metroidvania Castlevania fix from here on out. It's reasonably depressing considering Symphony was the franchise's debut in the Metroidvania subgenre. That is, until the third Castlevania game released for the GBA system, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, managed a miracle. Somehow, despite the unfortunate pattern that the previous two games were setting, Konami produced a Castlevania title on the GBA that received glowing praise from fans and critics alike. In fact, Aria of Sorrow’s legacy is defined as not only the first worthy successor to Symphony, but some believe it to be the best game in the entire franchise. While pitting this game against Symphony for the crown of supreme Castlevania title is up to debate, Aria of Sorrow is certainly better than the two GBA Castlevania games that preceded it because it achieves something they desperately lacked: balance.

The refined quality that molds Aria of Sorrow as an exemplary Castlevania title would not be easily assumed by its introductory attributes, for its premise is absolutely bonkers. We’ve accelerated far past the generations of the Belmont clan and their imitators across the second AD millennium to the 21st century. As confounding as a Castlevania game set in modern 2003 where the protagonist has the original Ipod model strapped to his waist, plus the eventual reveal that George W. Bush is a cleverly disguised Dracula stampeding American troops into the Iraq War for a fresh slew of human pain and misery could potentially be, Aria of Sorrow zooms even further into the (not-so-distant year as of writing this) future year of 2035. And we thought Bloodlines being set during WW1 was an instance of the franchise flying too close to the sun of modernity for the series to uphold its gothic, fantasy atmosphere. A rustic, old-world tone is one of Castlevania’s integral idiosyncrasies, and a game in the series taking place well into the information age seems ludicrous. To compound the premise’s insanity, Dracula’s castle emerged after the occurrence of a solar eclipse over Japan of all places. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there are any vampires, much less Dracula, across the storied cultural mythos of Japan in the slightest. They say it's wise to build off what you know during the creative process (the developers are Japanese), but this is ridiculous. Despite how befuddling this premise sounds, I applaud Konami for subverting the series from the typical stomping grounds of Renaissance/Victorian-era Europe. It might have been a necessary shift considering the lengthy number of entries in the franchise at this point with that setting. Dracula has always been depicted as an omnipotent demon lord placed higher in the underworld hierarchy than Death himself in Castlevania, so placing his emblematic estate in the land of the rising sun beyond the eras of his lore extends the height of his imminence. However, for series purists who obdurately only play the classic 2D platformers, the drastic deviation in its time period and the setting is probably enough to make them turn as pale as Alucard (or Juste) and vomit profusely.

If Aria of Sorrow is set in the distant future where the Belmont clan’s relevancy has expired, who serves as the vehicle to uncover the strange phenomenon of Dracula’s castle appearing in the abrupt moonlight? Foreign tourist Soma Cruz is a Castlevania protagonist chosen by the circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. His surname might indicate that he’s a Spaniard, but his pale skin and towheaded hair probably indicate that he’s Argentinian. We don’t know for sure. He figured that a tour of the land of the rising sun accompanied by fellow student and Japanese native Mina Hakuba would be a life-affirming lark like any college student traveling abroad. Little did he anticipate, involuntarily teleporting to the vampiric lord’s domain will make his trip overseas more memorable than he ever expected. While he still resembles the androgynous, pretty-boy protagonist common among Castlevania’s main characters, Soma Cruz exudes the attitude and persona of a joe-schmoe who is facing something out of his element that he never asked for. His confusion and general aversion for his new surroundings is executed through the dialogue he parlays with the game’s secondary characters. Mr. Cruz stutters in the face of every stranger who talks to him, and the sentences he’s tentatively trying to utter are usually in the form of questions. I’ve heard a few Castlevania fans express that Soma Cruz isn’t up to par with the impassioned attitude of slaying Dracula expressed by the Belmonts before him. However, I think looking ghoulishly handsome with a glammed-out, David Bowie pomp is a textbook signifier of a Castlevania character. Soma Cruz feels more like an organic human being instead of a Van Helsing He-Man because the developers have managed to hone the narrative-intensive initiative they devised for every GBA Castlevania game. In fact, I can make discerning distinctions about individual characteristics regarding the rest of Aria of Sorrow’s limited cast, such as the virginal Mina, the devilish Graham, and the modest Hammer to name a few. Finally, the prerogative to enhance Castlevania’s narrative capabilities has reached a point of adequacy after two rough, lackluster attempts.

Because Soma Cruz never signed himself up for the onus of taking down The Count, his unpreparedness forces him to scrounge up any sharp or blunt object he can to defend himself from what resides in Dracula’s castle. In the greater context of what this means for the player, Aria of Sorrow reverts back to Symphony’s approach of equipping weapons uncovered by stumbling upon them around the castle grounds and in secret passageways as well as obtaining them from fallen enemies. Gone are the secondary weapons and the trusty “Vampire Killer” whip that persisted into the GBA titles, so the player cannot abuse the mighty cross boomerang. Instead, Soma Cruz is granted the privilege of swapping out a myriad of knives, broadswords, hammers, brass knuckles, a goddamn trident, and comically-sized greatswords to combat the creatures that wish him harm. Soma Cruz can even pop a cap in the monsters with a silver 9mm pistol, but this piece of 21st-century firepower isn’t as potent as one might think. Two camps could argue that implementing the array of equipable weapons as the primary method of combat is a digression. The developers have spent so much effort translating the classic peripheral tools from the traditional 2D platformers after Symphony omitted them entirely. I’m in the camp that it wouldn't make sense if Soma Cruz had the array of Belmont birthrights at his disposal, so mixing and matching a bevy of melee weapons is better suited for his character.

However, one might notice that the heart-shaped units of ammunition are still present whenever Soma Cruz whacks at the various candles strewn about the estate. Normally, they would replenish the usage of the holy water, ax, and cross roulette. In Aria of Sorrow, they restore the magic meter that coincides with the game’s bonafide point of innovation. Upon defeating an enemy, an orb of three different colors will sprout from their remains and rocket itself to Soma Cruz. Colliding with this eager, disembodied specter grants Soma Cruz the ability to use one of that enemy’s attributes. The “tactical soul” perk ranges from offensive abilities such as throwing boulders and skeleton bones, and stat increases, to the navigational abilities needed to traverse through the Metroidvania design impediments. Did the fairy from Pinocchio grant Kirby’s wish to become a real boy in the shape of an Argentinian guy more effeminate looking than the boy from Death in Venice with premature gray hair? An odd desire for sure, but what I’m ultimately alluding to is that harnessing an enemy’s properties and using them for yourselves mirrors the defining feature of Nintendo’s pink, stumpy blob from outer space. Aria of Sorrow’s mechanic also shares a similar sensation to swallowing powers as Kirby in that unlocking an enemy’s distinct ability is like putting a coin in a gashapon vendor. It’s anyone’s guess how Soma Cruz interprets these powers for himself, and the sheer abundance of enemies in the game ensures that the excitement of receiving a new power will not wane quickly. But these powers are not worn as an ephemeral skin that can be tossed aside or stripped away as a punitive measure for damage taken. The powers of Dracula’s children of the night are stored in Soma Cruz’s inventory, interwoven into the RPG mechanics as overtly as any of the armor or weapons he shuffles through regularly. Because there are an overwhelming amount of powers at hand with completely unique attributes, selecting a handful from the three categories to conquer other enemies and bosses functions almost like a puzzle. I’m slightly disappointed that there aren’t any Yokai roaming around the halls of Dracula’s spacious estate given the rich mythological folklore of the setting. Then again, I suppose it is more intriguing for fans of the series to grasp the powers of enemies that they’ve become so familiar with over the years, and utilizing their attributes is a more intimate way to engage with them. My only real issue regarding the enemy orbs is how disorganized they are in the menu. There is no clear distinction between optional moves and which abilities are needed to progress through the game, which is something even Circle of the Moon did neatly.

Despite the unorthodox real estate in a century beyond the rationale of a vampire’s presence, the interior design of Dracula’s iconic castle setting here is still a resplendent marvel of gothic, European architecture. From the first few steps into the foyer immediately after the winch that controls the gate welcomes the player, every veteran Castlevania player is sure to recognize the familiar aesthetic elements associated with The Count’s castle. The passing of several centuries hasn’t effaced the estate’s ornate splendor a bit, as it still upholds that aura of prestige. Some may argue that the dilapidated bits across the various sections of the castle diminish its spectacle a bit, but what do you expect from a place crowded with monsters galore? It wouldn’t emit as spooky of an atmosphere if the place was as pristine as the queen’s royal palace. More importantly, Aria of Sorrow’s most apparent balancing act is finding a graphical tone to render the cobweb-covered corridors of the manor, something that the previous two GBA games struggled with. The result of Aria of Sorrow’s visual refinement is that the nightside eclipse has shaded Dracula’s palace in a pleasant, dark blue nightshade. The glow reminds me of whenever a full moon illuminates the ground in a rural area unadulterated by artificial lighting. This deep, yet vibrant sheen is seen all over the map no matter where Soma Cruz finds himself. It's apparent from the opening vestibules, the courtyards constructed like warping through portals to escape a maze, to intramural areas such as the cascading caverns of the reservoir and the small, grizzly abattoir section in the Underground Cemetery. A hue of blue evoking the hour of the wolf is the most appropriate tone for a Castlevania game, wouldn’t you say? Also, fans of the franchise are more likely to find Aria of Sorrow’s moody tint to be perfectly agreeable as opposed to dampened visuals that made them squint at every step or the psychedelic onslaught that requires administering eye drops every half hour to withstand regarding both previous GBA Castlevania games respectively.

While Dracula’s castle is not situated in the dank pits surrounded by the crusty walls of the Earth like in Circle of the Moon, the towering architecture is rather compact in Aria of Sorrow. Immediately, most of the map is unveiled as soon as Soma Cruz steps foot into the castle, and the general layout should ring familiar to any veteran players when they open it and see the gray, unexplored areas. After initially glancing at the map, I was a bit concerned that the developers had trimmed the castle down a little too much to the point of reducing Dracula’s castle to a meager gothic-esque Tudor home. I assumed that surely the game’s length would be padded by offering an inverted parallel to the castle that comprised the game’s second half like Symphony. Alas, that theory went out the window as the completion percentage was nearing its maximum after exploring all of the original castle at hand. This review so far has been dedicated to comparing Aria of Sorrow to the previous two GBA games due to being developed on the same hardware. However, perhaps comparing Aria to Symphony should be considered, especially since Aria chooses not to extend itself to the length of Symphony by flipping the castle in some manner. While the second half on Symphony did satiate the lingering craving for more content I had, doubling the entire content proved to be an unnecessary overload. Admittedly, Aria of Sorrow is a bit short, but I respect the developer’s decision to only implement what was necessary. They didn’t trim the muscle of the map as I initially thought, but rather the fat of extensions. Aria of Sorrow practically exposes Symphony as being a bit bloated.

I suppose Aria of Sorrow’s length still felt satisfying because of its difficulty curve. Across the Metroidvania Castlevanias, this is the most divisive and erratic facet of the series, especially among the GBA titles which are situated on two opposite extremes of the spectrum. Arguably, what Aria of Sorrow achieves in this regard is the greatest contribution to balancing the series. Every effort to maintain a suitable difficulty curve in Aria of Sorrow is simply agreeable. From the reasonable number of enemies per room, the steady leveling system, to the placement of the save and teleportation rooms, I’d find it hard to believe that any fans of the franchise (or at least the Metroidvania games) would find fault with the general stability of everything intended to make a Metroidvania Castlevania manageable. Yet, all of the refined points of accessibility do not render the game as a brisk, lethargic excursion through Dracula’s castle as seen in Harmony of Dissonance. In most explorative scenarios, I never encountered anything steeped way beyond my element until I found myself face-to-face with a few of Aria of Sorrow’s bosses. Again, the swamp golem that spanned the vertical diameter of the room all the way to the roof and the chimera Manticore beast was met without much strain. I appreciated the limited weak points of the stocky Great Armor and the swift reaction time it takes to dodge his greatsword lunges, but the repeated process of hacking at his feet didn’t really upset my state of relative contentment. It wasn’t until I encountered this game’s version of Death that I was reminded of his noble worth and status as the grand inquisitor of all things mortal as I was in his first iteration far back on the NES. Death does not fuck around, as the case should naturally be for such an imposing mythical figure. After fighting the first major foe that caused me a considerable amount of strife, the consistency remained for the duration of the game. Another Legion fight requires monk-like patience, and the burly arms of a hulking troll named Balore were constantly shoving Soma Cruz aside like swatting a fly. His fight is even presented as a fake out, thinking that Soma Cruz would be facing another easy incarnation of the giant bat that was the series' first boss as he crushes the flying mammal into a bloody paste with his palms. While these fights are far tougher than anything presented in Harmony of Dissonance, they don’t quite match up to Circle of the Moon’s grueling duels. This is because Soma Cruz can use his gold currency to purchase potions and edible healing items at Hammer’s shop located in the hub at the entrance of the castle. There is also a warp gate close by, so returning to the gate at the start is fairly accessible in all reaches of the estate. My argument to combat the stance that this point of convenience makes the difficulty moot is that none of the bosses in Harmony required the use of a potion, and the paltry potion supply in Circle of the Moon meant that the player wouldn’t even have a healing item on them to aid them in the first place. I think the necessity for a potion in tandem with the sensible maximum number of them in the inventory is a perfect balancing act to deal with these bosses. The system ensures not to enable the player to depend on them like a crutch.

So does Dracula instill the same challenge as the other bosses of the later game as its final boss? Funny of you to assume this to be the case because the wildest revelation in Aria of Sorrow is that the vampiric lord that has haunted humanity throughout all eras of civilization is deceased. No, I am not bullshitting you and neither is the game. Julius Belmont, the current living descendant of the classic Castlevania protagonists, accomplished the unthinkable and surprisingly smote the Count permanently in 1999 at the turn of the millennium, lest he cause the harm of what Y2K was supposedly going to do, I guess. Dracula is finally dead in the ground rotting, but this doesn’t mean his influence is also atrophying. A prophecy states that an heir possessing Dracula’s immense power will take his throne once his castle reveals itself in the eclipse that shadowed it for so long. One wouldn’t think that hapless Soma Cruz could be Dracula’s successor by sheer circumstance, but a witch named Yoko claims that his soul-sucking aptitude is a vampiric inheritance indicating a dreadful correlation. However, Yoko states that even if Soma Cruz is destined to take Dracula’s throne, his destination ultimately depends on his conscious decisions which can still pave a path for good and righteousness. The real threat is Graham, another Dracula fanboy who is thrilled to unleash the full potential of Dracula’s power on the coincidental notion that he’s the heir apparent because he was born on the day that Dracula irrevocably bit the dust. Even though his enthusiasm implies that he’s confident his prophecy is correct, Soma Cruz’s ability to steal souls jabs at his insecurities. To his credit, Graham musters up some fairly impressive poser powers when Soma Cruz faces him. Once Soma Cruz sucks up Graham’s defeated soul, the Dracula within him starts bubbling up to the surface. The early signs of the transformation result in menacing red eyes and hair as frazzled as Meg Ryan’s after the diner scene in When Harry Met Sally. While things seem as if Dracula will be reincarnated, the true ending involves taking a combination of souls to the “chaotic realm,” a surreal section plastered in blindingly bright white light where time isn’t a relevant construct. At the core of this fractured place lies Soma Cruz’s spiritual core where he battles his literal inner demons infecting him with Dracula’s noxious influence, and it is indeed as difficult as the bosses that preceded him. Once he expunges the evil from his body, Soma Cruz returns to the land of the living with Mina, and they can continue sightseeing around Japan. The clear narrative construct of good versus evil portrayed in previous Castlevania games was always cut and dry, but Aria of Sorrow subverts everything pertaining to the concept. The debate of freedom versus fate based on one’s conditions was toyed with in Symphony relating to Alucard. Aria of Sorrow takes the concept into metaphysical territory, which is miles more ambitious than any Castlevania narrative before it. Dracula hardly even matters in the grand scheme of things, as Aria of Sorrow could simply serve as a character study of a humble, honest young man being corrupted by a monumental power as it perverts his moral compass. Considering Dracula is the sole recurring character across the whole series, scrapping him in favor of something far more ambitious and delivering it splendidly is exceptionally admirable.

Let’s pretend for a moment that Castlevania’s fans are Goldilocks from the classic fairy tale and the three Castlevania games developed for the GBA are the three bowls of porridge the bears left out on the counter. First, she slurps down Circle of the Moon and exclaims, “Ugh, this porridge is too grainy, flavorless, and hard to digest!” and pushes it aside. Next, she downs Harmony of Dissonance and revolts, “Yuck, this porridge’s texture is nauseating, and why is it so thick!?” while trying not to expel it from her body in disgust. Lastly, once she gets a taste of Aria of Sorrow, she breathes a sigh of relief. stating that it is “just right” while smacking her lips in pure satisfaction. Aria of Sorrow is a testament to the expression that the third time's the charm, and it achieves its success by finding a middle ground between the two radical interpretations of Symphony’s Metroidvania formula before it. With the fair difficulty curve, refined graphical lighting, perfect pacing, and a brilliant, fun new combat mechanic to play around with, it’s easy to see that Aria of Sorrow triumphs over the Castlevania titles on the same system. Really, Aria of Sorrow’s true competitor is Symphony of the Night and not the other GBA titles because Aria’s quality is exemplary to that extent. I still think Symphony can claim its title as the reigning champion of the franchise. Symphony is a higher-calorie meal, and it sometimes feels liberating to indulge in decadence even if it will give you a stomach ache. However, I admire Aria’s relatively restrained and intelligent approach to Symphony’s template, so I will not contest any opinions that favor it over the franchise's Metroidvania debut. Arguably, even debating that a handheld Castlevania game is on par with one on a console makes Aria of Sorrow the objective victor overall.

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Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com