A very good follow up to the fantastic Circle of the Moon, however I felt it was lacking in some areas in contrast. Whilst this game had improved detail to the sprites and environments and was a little more in depth in terms of the weapons, armour and abilities etc, it didn't seem to have the same vibe. It was a bit too clean.
The muddy and manky environments of the previous game felt more suited to a game where I traversing an ancient castle and everything is trying to kill me. Add to that the musical score which was borderline abrasive, you'd think I didn't have a good word to say about this.
Yet it has it where it counts, which is the playability. Despite not enjoying the level design and characters as much as Circle of the Moon, the gameplay was just as entertaining and addictive as ever, with the '5 more minutes' always ending up being a lot longer, just trying to uncover a little more of the map, or find the next power up. It's compulsive stuff and very entertaining. Had I not gone into this on the back of CotM, I would have probably enjoyed it even more. That being said, I probably spent a good couple of hours in certain places just trying to find a hint of where I'm meant to be going, or what I'm meant to do next. Particularly towards the end.
I don't know how many endings there are, however I got a bad ending and I didn't like it so I went back and got a slightly better one. I did miss a piece of furniture and a spell book. I'm wondering if the two are related and I would've got an even better ending had I found the missing piece. The last boss was a bit underwhelming too. I geared up and stocked up only to find it easier than most of the sub bosses.
But overall it's cracking and still has me pleased as punch that I took a punt on the Castlevania Advance Collection. Well worth the price. I can't wait to get stuck into Aria of Sorrow and Vampire's Kiss/Dracula X.
Did they call it Dracula X in America as it looked a bit more rad/'tude? Even though I guess it's still technically called Vampire's Kiss, just presented differently...
The muddy and manky environments of the previous game felt more suited to a game where I traversing an ancient castle and everything is trying to kill me. Add to that the musical score which was borderline abrasive, you'd think I didn't have a good word to say about this.
Yet it has it where it counts, which is the playability. Despite not enjoying the level design and characters as much as Circle of the Moon, the gameplay was just as entertaining and addictive as ever, with the '5 more minutes' always ending up being a lot longer, just trying to uncover a little more of the map, or find the next power up. It's compulsive stuff and very entertaining. Had I not gone into this on the back of CotM, I would have probably enjoyed it even more. That being said, I probably spent a good couple of hours in certain places just trying to find a hint of where I'm meant to be going, or what I'm meant to do next. Particularly towards the end.
I don't know how many endings there are, however I got a bad ending and I didn't like it so I went back and got a slightly better one. I did miss a piece of furniture and a spell book. I'm wondering if the two are related and I would've got an even better ending had I found the missing piece. The last boss was a bit underwhelming too. I geared up and stocked up only to find it easier than most of the sub bosses.
But overall it's cracking and still has me pleased as punch that I took a punt on the Castlevania Advance Collection. Well worth the price. I can't wait to get stuck into Aria of Sorrow and Vampire's Kiss/Dracula X.
Did they call it Dracula X in America as it looked a bit more rad/'tude? Even though I guess it's still technically called Vampire's Kiss, just presented differently...