Before playing:
Although this game has been out for a long time now, I only first heard of it just last year. Shortly after Christmas, I saw the game for sale on the PlayStation Network for a dollar or two. I watched a quick video preview of the game, and immediately fell in love with how it looked just like a classic NES Castlevania game. I mean, it looks JUST like Castlevania. It's so blatant, it is like they did not even try to hide it.
I knew I had to check this game out, so I bought it. The game then proceeded to sit in my "purchased" folder for about ten months. To be honest, I think I forgot I had even bought the game. Well, I finally circled around to it and decided to jump in. How would I like it? Let's find out!
Story:
I understand that this is a prequel to the main events of the Bloodstained series. Unfortunately, I have never played anything else in the series, so I can't really tell you how this ties in. You control a character named Zangetsu. He is a demon slayer who just hates demons, and he sets out to destroy big daddy demon who is hiding out in his castle. As you fight your way through the game's stages, some of the demon boss characters revert to human form after you defeat them. You can either slay them, ignore them, or go against Zangetsu's principles and recruit them to your team.
The game has multiple endings depending on the route you choose to take. My first playthrough, I recruited all of the allies and got the good ending. The next playthrough, I decided to just save one ally. The next time I killed them all, etc. To be honest, the story is really not anything too amazing. If you swap out Zangetsu for Simon Belmont and the demon enemies for vampires, you have the OG Castelvania. Or maybe Castlevania III, which seems to be this game's main inspiration. But really, do we play these types of games for their storylines? I know I don't. While the story may not be anything special, it more than serves its purpose.
And who knows, maybe if/when I play the rest of the series, it will be clear to me just how this game ties into the other games. Maybe I am not giving it the credit it deserves, and I just don't realize it yet?
Gameplay:
This is essentially the fourth NES Castlevania game. To be honest with you, I enjoyed this game much more than Super Castlevania IV. I'm going to consider it the "real" Castlevania IV from now on. Okay, maybe not, but it carries the spirit of the original NES Castlevania games so incredibly well. I love it.
For those who have never played a Castlevania game before, this is a 2D side scrolling platformer. You have a character whose main attack is with a melee weapon. You knock down candles for special weapons and power ups. You make your way through each stage, navigating a linear path from point A to point B. Once you reach the end of the stage, you fight a boss character. Beat the boss, and you move onto the next stage.
What makes this game unique is the ability to use alternate characters. Clearly, this is inspired by Castlevania III. But I really like it. Each character has something unique about them. Your default character, Zangetsu, is very generic. He moves fast and strikes quickly with a sword. His jump height is medium. He's a decently well rounded character. Miriam, who you can recruit at the end of stage one, is my favorite character. She can jump the highest, and her melee attack covers a lot range. She can also slide underneath obstacles, which gives you the opportunity to take shortcuts through some of the stages. Alfred the wizard was the character I found to be the most useless. He is slow, can barely jump, and has a very small attack radius. You can use magic with him. I'm sure this magic serves some kind of big purpose, but to be honest I rarely used him - so I never figured it out. Gebel is essentially Alucard from Castlevania III. His main function is turning into a bat and accessing areas where other characters would never normally be able to access.
All these characters have independent health bars, so if you are running low on health, you can switch to another character. Find some health, and you can switch back to the injured character and pick it up. You want to keep as many characters alive as possible, because if they all die you lose a life. Run out of lives and you have to start an entire stage over again. Luckily, this game has save points and you never have to start the entire game over again. Because of this mechanic, it makes the game much harder to beat solo, without recruiting any enemies. Die once, and you lose a life. When you have allies in your party, you don't lose a life till they are all dead.
While the game is linear, each stage does have branching paths you can take to get to the end. This, combined with all the different endings, really gives the game a ton of replay value. I played through this game three times before I sat down for this review. If you know me, you know that is almost unheard of. I'll beat a game once (at the VERY MOST twice) before I review it. Three times? That's unprecedented.
And you know what? I want to go back and play some more. This game is that good.
Graphics:
This is a very good looking game. It recreates the charm of NES Castlevania games perfectly. Not only that, but it improves upon the visuals in minor ways without breaking the "immersion" of playing an NES game. Little things, like rain effects, wind, and other atmospheric effects really keep things feeling fresh and new. The boss characters are a highlight of the game for me. Some of them are really big, and they are soooo well-designed. I loved seeing what they were going to throw at me next.
Sound:
This may be a controversial opinion, but I actually do not like the music in this game. To me, it fails to recreate that classic Castlevania feel to things. The music is so pivotal in the Castlevania games. The graphics and the gameplay both succeed, but the music misses the mark. That's not to say the music is bad, it just doesn't fit the overall look and feel of the game. There are a few stages where it seems like it is trying to emulate that classic music, but even then it misses the mark. Most stages, the music is not Castlevania-like at all.
Oh well. This game does everything else so well, I am willing to give it a pass here.
Overall:
I had a blast with this game. Who would have thought that a game I bought for only one or two dollars would turn out to be so great? Like I said before, this would easily be right at home sitting next to the NES trilogy of Castlevania games. In fact, it's a better IV than IV is!
Even though I've played through this game three times already, I still have the itch to play it some more. And I probably will. This is a retro-inspired game done right. Programmers, take notes!
I hear that this game has a direct sequel. And then there is the mainline Bloodstained series. I can't wait to check those games out. If this game is any indication, I am going to like them a lot.
If you are on the fence about this game, get off it. Especially if you like the old Castlevania games. I can't imagine disliking this game if you liked the others. It's fun, it's challenging (but easier than the OG Castlevania games), and it offers a lot of replay value. There's almost nothing to dislike about this game. I'm going to give it a very high score, but I'm going to shy away from an A+ because it is not a perfect game. It's not particularly original either. But that's really all I can say about the game that is bad.
Bottom line: play this game.
THE GRADE:
A
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