kjell1979's Full Review: Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon for Game Boy Advan...
Over the past year or so I've been trying to catch up on all the games I've missed out on. There are tons of games that make certain genres fun even if you normally aren't interested in them. Case in point, I've never really been a big fan of Metroid-style games. For some reason I just could never get into the original Metroid and shut myself off from the rest of the sequels. Meanwhile, I vowed that Castlevania III would be my last Castlevania experience. Not that it was really bad; in fact it was an incredible game that held my interest for a long time. It just took me forever to finally beat it. That was an experience I didn't want to shoulder again. Little did I know that the Castlevania series took an abrupt turn starting with Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Now all subsequent Castlevania games are of the same style as Metroid. That is, full-traversable areas that allowed for backtracking and no true levels. Boss fights were scattered throughout the game, but not forced upon you. I finally gave in this past winter and gave these series another chance.
Story
The story of Castlevania Circle of the Moon centers on the story of Nathan Graves, Hugh Baldwin and his father Morris Balwin as they set out to destroy Dracula yet again. Morris had originally destroyed Dracula a generation ago, but now he's older than and not quite as strong as he used to be. That is why he brought along his son Hugh and apprentice Nathan. When Hugh and Nathan were separated from Morris at the outset, we start learning of the rivalry and jealousy that exists between Nathan and Hugh as they set out separately to destroy Dracula. You assume the role of Nathan as Hugh leaves you to search for this father and Dracula.
Overall the story does seem pretty promising, however that's all it turns out to be. The problem is that Nathan's character never really develops beyond the bright eyed apprentice. Meanwhile, Hugh does develop, but in a rather predictable way. This is to the point where the plot devices become extremely clichéd. While I don't really remember the Castlevania series for having a particularly strong storyline, I was disappointed that it took such predictable turns.
Gameplay
Castlevania Circle of the Moon is your typical Castlevania platformer the most pure sense. That is you jump, whip, slide and the standard array of Castlevania-style items on your way through various areas of the castle. However, the layout of the castle is very similar to that of Metroid. You find items scattered throughout the different areas of the castle, particularly after boss battles that will provide you with new abilities. Those abilities will allow you to reach new sections of the castle whether it's breaking a block, moving a box, jumping higher or even being able to fly. Given this gameplay formula, it can be tempting to force the player to backtrack a lot just to draw out the gameplay. Fortunately, there's not too much backtracking involved in Castlevania Circle of the Moon, and even when you do backtrack for different items, some of the earlier monsters are replaced by tougher ones. The in-game map does make it easy to pinpoint areas you haven't yet traversed.
There are many elements to this game that make it hard to differentiate between a platformer and an RPG. For one, you gain experience while fighting monsters throughout the castle. That experience it put towards leveling up, which in turn provides you with a greater strength, life bar, and mana bar. Also throughout the castle there are powerups that permanently increase your health, mana, or heart capacity (the ability to use items like axes, daggers, and holy water, among others).
The biggest gameplay wrinkle in Castlevania Circle of the Moon is the DSS card system. Certain monsters will drop DSS cards. What these cards do is they enable certain powers. Some are passive like changing your attributes, while others can change your weapon. Different combination pairs have different effects. Most of them will drain your mana at a given rate. There are some DSS combinations that need to be activated. The problem with this is that the activation sequence, while consistent throughout the game regardless of combination, isn't obvious unless you take a trip to gamefaqs.com, or stumble upon the combination (down, down back, back, back up, up + B). Some of these card combinations when activated will cause you to be invulnerable while a summoned monster runs amuck upon whoever's on the screen at the time. There are 10 different cards of one type (planets) and 10 different creature cards, which can be paired with each other. Meaning there are 100 different DSS combinations, which adds quite a few different scenarios to employ these combinations.
In addition to DSS cards, monsters can also drop a wide array of equipment and items. These things can range from armor to healing potions or different status ailment antidotes. Most enemies have two types of drops, a rare and a super rare. The super rare is usually an item that is the most powerful or useful items you'll see in that stage of the game. However the less rare drops are usually simple potions of some sort. Also a super rare drop from a weaker enemy might be a lesser rare drop from a more powerful one later. This item hunting gameplay device reminds me a lot of Diablo II on a much smaller scale. For many people they will go in and try to defeat the same monster over and over just to obtain all the best equipment, items, and DSS cards.
Speaking of enemies, they are also pretty well designed. As you progress through the game you'll discover a wide diversity of enemies scattered throughout the castle. Even repeated enemy types are more strategically placed on platforms and pillars. The difficulty in defeating these enemies is pretty varied. Early enemies are a piece of cake and do not require much strategy in defeating them. However, later on you'll really have to think about your approach to each area and the enemies that dwell within. Also, you'll really have to think about what the best DSS combo is for each given situation.
The bosses on the other hand were pretty easy in comparison. Most of the bosses had predictable movement patterns, and defeating them took a little bit of strategy and a lot of observation. My experience playing through each boss wasn't as thrilling as in similar games. Rarely did each boss fight get my blood pumping or my hands all jittery. What makes the boss fights even easier is how there are many different potions and health restore items to be found on monsters as well. With about 15 minutes of extra time, you can obtain enough potions to allow Nathan to simply outlast Dracula. In addition, some of the DSS summoning combos are so powerful that they can clear a boss in 3 callings while allowing Nathan to come out of the battle completely unscathed. Overall the boss battles were lackluster, but that's ok because there was enough challenge to go around in other areas of the castle.
Controls
The controls are pretty straightforward. The dpad moves Nathan, B whips (or attacks as the case may be), A jumps, L activates the current DSS combo, R executes a special move, Select brings up the castle map, while Start brings you to the menu screen. The controls are pretty responsive, but not as good as I'm used to. Jumping and whipping for some reason executes with a delay. Using the DSS activation code runs relatively smooth considering similar combinations in games like Street Fighter don't execute as smoothly. Using the R button for the special move can be tricky at times, but at least it's on the same side as the other face buttons on the GBA. All things considered, I have no major issues with the controls.
Graphics
One of the biggest complaints about this game when it first came out was how dark the game was. This was a problem back around its original release because of the lack of a good light source for the original Gameboy Advance. Now most gamers who are able to play Gameboy Advance games either have a GBA:SP, a GBA Micro, a Nintendo DS, or even a Gameboy Player for their GameCube; all of which have a backlit screen. While I can certainly understand the criticisms when played with an older Gameboy Advance, if you have a newer model that has a backlit screen, this shouldn't deter you from playing.
The graphics otherwise in this game are pretty good. Nathan doesn't have a lot of detail to him as he seems to be a rail-thin figure that has barely any discernable features. Still he has a vast variety of animations and movements. Even more important is due to his lack of detail, Castlevania Circle of the Moon can devote more space to Nathan's surroundings such that enemies cannot simply pop onto the screen with little to no warning. The level of detail also holds true for most of Nathan's adversaries too. There really is a lack of detail there too, but still instead of hindering the gameplay, I think it enhances it.
Sound
The Castlevania series has a high pedigree when it comes to its aural presentation, specifically its music. The Castlevania Symphony of the Night musical score is widely considered one of the best soundtracks to ever grace a console game. While it wasn't until very recently when I first played that game, I always considered Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse to be one of the best musical tracks I've ever heard and that was for the old 8-bit NES. I have to admit that this game didn't quite break new boundaries with regards to the music as had earlier Castlevania games, but it's still a good soundtrack nonetheless. It borrows heavily from prior installments of the series, while keeping its own identity.
The sound effects are about what you'd expect from a 16-bit platformer/rpg. You won't hear any voice acting, but rather mundane whipping and jumping effects and the like. Luckily, Circle of the Moon didn't over do it and put in that annoying sound effect for speech typed on the screen. That can be really annoying. My only complaint with regards to the sound effects is that a lot of the effects were recycled to the point where some didn't fit. The one I'm thinking of is when you defeat the female monsters they let out a shrill scream. Some enemies I just can't imagine this sound being attached to, but it's a minor complaint.
Replay Value
There's a bit of replay value to Castlevania Circle of the Moon. In addition to the normal flow of the story, there are several secret rooms and hidden items to find. Also, there's a battle arena which pits you against 20 different rooms full of monsters. For many the battle arena provides a greater challenge than even the final boss. For those who wish to put a different spin on the same game like (*spoiler ahead*) Castlevania Symphony of the Night's inverted castle (*spoiler end*), you can play as different classes. There's a magician mode which limits your whip attacks but gives you all the DSS cards at the outset. There's a fighter mode which gives your character more powerful whip attacks but prevents the collection of DSS cards. Then there's a thief mode which increases your character's luck, but also limits your character's other ability traits. For some the addition of character class modes will provide enough motivation to play through the game additional times. However in actuality, all these character classes do is simply ratchet up the difficulty in a more structured way.
While I have been rather critical of this game, let me say that this is one of the best Gameboy Advance games available. There isn't as much backtracking as you normally see in Metroid games, and it adds a lot of interesting gameplay elements to the series. While for many veterans it won't be very challenging until you try some of the other character classes, it is a good game to start with if you haven't played a Castlevania game before or if you're like me and just haven't played one in a very long time. So if you have a GBA that has a backlit display, I have to say that this is a must-own game for the GBA.
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