I remember when I got my first Castlevania game. It was chirstmas and then when I teared the wrapping paper off the Playstation cover: There it was in all it's glory: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It was a truly magic evening when I played it the first time, and each time I played it again it continued to fill the room with it's magic atmosphere.
Back then I didn't know jack shits of English but the detail, graphics and the gameplay was excellent. It was like a gourmet food that takes you to a magic place and fills your body with bliss.
Back then I didn't know jack shits of English but the detail, graphics and the gameplay was excellent. It was like a gourmet food that takes you to a magic place and fills your body with bliss.
Comparing it to the other Castlevania games: This one was actually very kind because it's so easy. Other Castlevania games would stack the odds against you and gloat at your inevitable demise. Symphony of the Night had RPG elements in it which was subtly merged with the platforming. It wasn't entirely easy, especially if you manage to get to the second half of the game. Then, almost every enemy you encounter will bruise Alucard and if you're not careful they can be deadly too.
For some unknown reason I lost the game and I forgot about Castlevania, but I was reintroduced into the francise again when I bought Lament of Innocence, and it sucked horribly.
The game didn't have any of that Castlevania feel that it used to have in Symphony of the Night.
The combat was way too easy. I could beat the crap out of anything I encountered with relative ease.
The LEVELS were composed of rooms! Yes. In order to take yourself from one place of the castle to the other you had to go trough many rooms and each time you went through a door you had to load the next room. The loading sequence would take around three seconds at least. Think that you pass approximatly 500 doorways during the game. That's at least 25 minutes in only loading times and that is if you don't revisit old rooms (which you will do)!
The main character himself were skinny, pale and had that awful ugly hair. He couldn't lift his own weight let alone combat Dracula's minions. I could even use him as a goddamn belt if he were shorter! If you look at the other Belmonts: they're all very muscular. It really looks like they stand a chance against Dracula since they're physically fit. But that... pencil is pathetic. Clearly a character spawned from the anime style of the game where unhealthy looking protagonists can beat the crap out of foes three times as big as them.
Laminent of Innocence was a complete dissapointment to the Castlevania franchise and sadly it wasn't the biggest one. The biggest dissapointment to the Castlevania francise is that Konami never decided to try and revive the old Castlevania style in 2D like we all knew and loved it. The details, design and platforming is still attracts new players even to this day.
Rating:
Laminent of Innocence: 2/6
Symphony of the Night: 5/6
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