After finishing Bloodlines, and attempting Super Castlevania IV on the HD Collection and finding that certain platforms were borked, I decided instead to go into Rondo of Blood.
Rondo has always been one of the Castlevania games I've heard of being the best, at least of the Classicvania lineup, and it had the super cool Richter Belmont as its starring protagonist with his awesome design and headband.
So I figured I had something to look forward to... but well, despite the rating I'm giving it this game has kind of completely confirmed that Classicvanias are just not for me.
Starting with the positives, the game looks and sounds great. The game pops with its colors, something Castlevania IV does not do, which gives the castle a sense of life and energy to it that I think is only shared so far with Bloodlines.
The soundtrack is definitely top notch, with a haunting aesthetic mixed with hard guitars and rock that gives it a unique feel within the series prior to Symphony of the Night.
The characters themselves play as they should with a few additions that spice up the gameplay. First off the fact that the characters is plural, as you have the option of playing as either Richter or Maria Renard, one of the four maidens you rescue throughout the game.
Richter controls like your standard Belmont, he's got the usual movement, though he does carry over the more controllable jump from Castlevania IV, giving you more precision with platforming. However Richter also has a few new tricks, those being the Item Crash and Backflip.
The Item Crash is essentially a big old super move utilizing whatever Sub-Weapon you have in your possession (or even without the Sub-Weapon as long as you have enough Hearts Collected). Some are more useful than others, specifically Hydro Storm and Grand Cross (which is reminding me to play more Final Fantasy after this) which are essentially screen nukes. Regardless it's a very cool ability that asks you to manage your hearts in order to use them at the most opportune times in either a difficult platforming section or a boss fight.
The Backflip is exactly as it says on the tin, and is effectively a dodge that Richter can utilize, as well as a way to speed up vertical platforming on stairs and the like.
Then there's Maria. Regardless of what people say after this review cough cough, Maria is a very fun character to utilize, though I can understand the argument of her being broken.
She has a double jump, can move while attacking, has a forward roll for fast horizontal momentum, and can apparently use a Dark Maria mode (I never figured out how to do this but it's something you can do). She has little animal buddies as her subweapons, which includes a Dragon and I guess Gamera? I don't know.
Her ending is also why I brought the game up a star because it was incredibly goofy and charming, basically making up for the parts of the game I didn't like.
As for those parts well, that really just comes down to the levels themselves. Some of them are just not fun to go through.
Stage 4 is just a drag with few checkpoints and a shitton of fleamen, with the level going on for way longer than it needs to, honestly feeling like two levels mashed with each other.
Stage 6 is the boss rush with classic bosses like the Giant Bat and The Mummy, it is also my single least favorite level in the entire game. It's just so fucking exhausting as you have to wait until after killing The Mummy to get any way of healing, essentially making it so that you have to attempt a no damage run for the first two fights because the Mummy has this attack where he sends his bandages to rain down on you with a pattern that I still cannot figure out at this point.
At least once you get to the final boss of the rush, Shaft, and die, you start at Shaft. He's not too bad himself, but trying to beat him immediately after the boss rush is a feat of exhaustion.
Then there's Stage 7. Stage 7 starts with a crumbling bridge with large bats following behind you often with no breaks, and the bats do not die with one hit. Now, you do get the axe subweapon at the start, but trying to platform off the debris while also using the axe and avoiding the bats is just... exhausting.
That's the word I can use to describe my experience with this game, it's exhausting. And you know what, I'll concede that I just fucking suck at this game and the other Classicvanias, but at that same notion even when I succeeded I never popped off, I never felt like the experience was rewarding.
My reaction after defeating Dracula at the end of the game was total silence, as by that point I simply wanted the game to be over.
I still went back and did Maria's ending as well as the Alternate Stages. The Alternate Stages being a cool idea having you fully explore the other levels to find different boss fights that lead to entirely separate levels altogether. I went and 100%ed the game just for the sake of posterity.
And I still don't feel like I had a honestly rewarding experience. It's a shame too because I was genuinely looking forward to this game, but I don't know. Maybe there's something wrong with me? Honestly by the umpteenth attempt on Dracula I just started considering that maybe I should just stop playing video games in general. That the medium was just not for me anymore.
That turned out to be false because I then booted up the seminal classic Symphony of the Night and immediately clicked with it within seconds. And if you want my honest opinion, if you're like me and the Classicvania structure doesn't satisfy you, go play Symphony instead. My faith in video games was renewed.
Rondo has always been one of the Castlevania games I've heard of being the best, at least of the Classicvania lineup, and it had the super cool Richter Belmont as its starring protagonist with his awesome design and headband.
So I figured I had something to look forward to... but well, despite the rating I'm giving it this game has kind of completely confirmed that Classicvanias are just not for me.
Starting with the positives, the game looks and sounds great. The game pops with its colors, something Castlevania IV does not do, which gives the castle a sense of life and energy to it that I think is only shared so far with Bloodlines.
The soundtrack is definitely top notch, with a haunting aesthetic mixed with hard guitars and rock that gives it a unique feel within the series prior to Symphony of the Night.
The characters themselves play as they should with a few additions that spice up the gameplay. First off the fact that the characters is plural, as you have the option of playing as either Richter or Maria Renard, one of the four maidens you rescue throughout the game.
Richter controls like your standard Belmont, he's got the usual movement, though he does carry over the more controllable jump from Castlevania IV, giving you more precision with platforming. However Richter also has a few new tricks, those being the Item Crash and Backflip.
The Item Crash is essentially a big old super move utilizing whatever Sub-Weapon you have in your possession (or even without the Sub-Weapon as long as you have enough Hearts Collected). Some are more useful than others, specifically Hydro Storm and Grand Cross (which is reminding me to play more Final Fantasy after this) which are essentially screen nukes. Regardless it's a very cool ability that asks you to manage your hearts in order to use them at the most opportune times in either a difficult platforming section or a boss fight.
The Backflip is exactly as it says on the tin, and is effectively a dodge that Richter can utilize, as well as a way to speed up vertical platforming on stairs and the like.
Then there's Maria. Regardless of what people say after this review cough cough, Maria is a very fun character to utilize, though I can understand the argument of her being broken.
She has a double jump, can move while attacking, has a forward roll for fast horizontal momentum, and can apparently use a Dark Maria mode (I never figured out how to do this but it's something you can do). She has little animal buddies as her subweapons, which includes a Dragon and I guess Gamera? I don't know.
Her ending is also why I brought the game up a star because it was incredibly goofy and charming, basically making up for the parts of the game I didn't like.
As for those parts well, that really just comes down to the levels themselves. Some of them are just not fun to go through.
Stage 4 is just a drag with few checkpoints and a shitton of fleamen, with the level going on for way longer than it needs to, honestly feeling like two levels mashed with each other.
Stage 6 is the boss rush with classic bosses like the Giant Bat and The Mummy, it is also my single least favorite level in the entire game. It's just so fucking exhausting as you have to wait until after killing The Mummy to get any way of healing, essentially making it so that you have to attempt a no damage run for the first two fights because the Mummy has this attack where he sends his bandages to rain down on you with a pattern that I still cannot figure out at this point.
At least once you get to the final boss of the rush, Shaft, and die, you start at Shaft. He's not too bad himself, but trying to beat him immediately after the boss rush is a feat of exhaustion.
Then there's Stage 7. Stage 7 starts with a crumbling bridge with large bats following behind you often with no breaks, and the bats do not die with one hit. Now, you do get the axe subweapon at the start, but trying to platform off the debris while also using the axe and avoiding the bats is just... exhausting.
That's the word I can use to describe my experience with this game, it's exhausting. And you know what, I'll concede that I just fucking suck at this game and the other Classicvanias, but at that same notion even when I succeeded I never popped off, I never felt like the experience was rewarding.
My reaction after defeating Dracula at the end of the game was total silence, as by that point I simply wanted the game to be over.
I still went back and did Maria's ending as well as the Alternate Stages. The Alternate Stages being a cool idea having you fully explore the other levels to find different boss fights that lead to entirely separate levels altogether. I went and 100%ed the game just for the sake of posterity.
And I still don't feel like I had a honestly rewarding experience. It's a shame too because I was genuinely looking forward to this game, but I don't know. Maybe there's something wrong with me? Honestly by the umpteenth attempt on Dracula I just started considering that maybe I should just stop playing video games in general. That the medium was just not for me anymore.
That turned out to be false because I then booted up the seminal classic Symphony of the Night and immediately clicked with it within seconds. And if you want my honest opinion, if you're like me and the Classicvania structure doesn't satisfy you, go play Symphony instead. My faith in video games was renewed.