To be honest, I was originally attracted to this game solely for the box art at first. And while I've enjoyed Castlevania before, I felt a strong connection especially to this game after playing it.
The story is pretty... decent? Considering what the subject matter is, I did not come into this expecting an amazing story, mostly just gameplay. I will say though, the setup is kind of cool for this one, the actual story though is just okay, serviceable at least.
Gameplay is awesome. This to me is the best feeling Castlevania game I've played so far. I want to get into the DS entries soon, but this is the best so far. Everything is extremely tight, movement feels awesome, combat is really fun in this entry. It's just good, and I don't expect any less from GBA considering Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission also control damn well.
The gimmick for this game is super fun, and is really refreshing to see. So instead of your typical sub weapons, you steal souls of the monsters you kill and gain their abilities. And that's just awesome, so if you see a monster with a cool ability? You can eventually get it, you might have to grind for it though. It breathes a lot of new life in an old feature that I felt wasn't lacking, but less inspired because it's been the same sub-weapons for awhile at this point.
Music is great, exactly what I expected from Castlevania. GBA sound font might not bring out some of these tracks as well as they should. But that's such a minor complaint because the music itself is catchy and something you'll notice and enjoy a lot.
Sound design is excellent as well. Classic GBA crisp to everything like I mentioned in my Fusion review. Everything has a lot of impact to it, from swinging your sword, to killing monsters, and smashing the castle's abundant furnishings.
I immensely enjoyed my time with this game, it's also not super long even if you do everything, Really digestible, could easily binge this on a day off if you wanted and have a good time with it. There's some cool stuff for you though if you wanted to put more time into it, which I liked. Definitely give this one a try if you're bored one day and just want to have something a bit more... simple I suppose compared to other Castlevania games of this nature, or Metroid I guess. It's on GBA and even on Wii U eshop if you still have one, for like $8.
The story is pretty... decent? Considering what the subject matter is, I did not come into this expecting an amazing story, mostly just gameplay. I will say though, the setup is kind of cool for this one, the actual story though is just okay, serviceable at least.
Gameplay is awesome. This to me is the best feeling Castlevania game I've played so far. I want to get into the DS entries soon, but this is the best so far. Everything is extremely tight, movement feels awesome, combat is really fun in this entry. It's just good, and I don't expect any less from GBA considering Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission also control damn well.
The gimmick for this game is super fun, and is really refreshing to see. So instead of your typical sub weapons, you steal souls of the monsters you kill and gain their abilities. And that's just awesome, so if you see a monster with a cool ability? You can eventually get it, you might have to grind for it though. It breathes a lot of new life in an old feature that I felt wasn't lacking, but less inspired because it's been the same sub-weapons for awhile at this point.
Music is great, exactly what I expected from Castlevania. GBA sound font might not bring out some of these tracks as well as they should. But that's such a minor complaint because the music itself is catchy and something you'll notice and enjoy a lot.
Sound design is excellent as well. Classic GBA crisp to everything like I mentioned in my Fusion review. Everything has a lot of impact to it, from swinging your sword, to killing monsters, and smashing the castle's abundant furnishings.
I immensely enjoyed my time with this game, it's also not super long even if you do everything, Really digestible, could easily binge this on a day off if you wanted and have a good time with it. There's some cool stuff for you though if you wanted to put more time into it, which I liked. Definitely give this one a try if you're bored one day and just want to have something a bit more... simple I suppose compared to other Castlevania games of this nature, or Metroid I guess. It's on GBA and even on Wii U eshop if you still have one, for like $8.