This review contains spoilers
Castlevania is one of my favorite game series. Not only do I love the linear stage-based game style, but I love the castleroid style as well. However, there is a third game style that Castlevania never seemed to really get right. No, not a fighting game with art by the creator of Death Note. No, the 3D style of game.
Adapting to 3D can be hard. I started taking Calculus III recently and have had a bit of trouble adapting to the third dimension. However, I think Lament of Innocence just barely gets a thumbs up from me. It's a faithful adaptation of the castleroid style of the series, but it definitely stumbles a bit. I'd honestly sell the game as Harmony of Dissonance in 3D. I'm not a huge fan of that game, but I think this game does enough to improve upon that one.
For example, my biggest gripe with Harmony of Dissonance is that to actually play optimally, you have to enter the menu a lot. Let's say I wanted to use a spellbook once in that game. I go into the menu, activate the book, go out of the menu, use it, go back into the menu, turn it off, then leave the menu. It's dumb, and despite being a GBA game they could've easily done better. Ironically, you still have to menu a lot in Lament of Innocence, but it's all in real time. Want to use a potion? Real time menu. Want to turn a relic on or off? Real time menu. Want to use a ticket to get out when your health is low? You better be quick in that menu! It makes fights tense, and it's something that even the most critically acclaimed game this year got wrong, so I have to give Lament of Innocence credit.
The combat isn't particularly great aside from that though. It's usually pretty button mashy. If you've played PS2 God of War, you have a good idea of how this game is with its combat. However, a few elements elevate it. First is the subweapons. They're all well-balanced, and using orbs changes their utility. There's also relics, which upgrade you for the cost of MP. To get MP back, you have to time blocks well. Dodging is less risky, but also less rewarding. It's a very simple but effective system.
However, I think a lot of the other series staples weren't adapted very well. It's extremely apparent that Igarashi had a comically small amount of resources to work with when it came to this game. This was probably true of the handheld games, but those are obviously gonna be cheaper than this kind of game. One way this shows is the exploration. Most areas do have unique theming visually, but the areas themselves are pretty repetitive when it comes to layout. Most rooms are flat arenas, and the ones that aren't are dedicated platforming areas. There's no blend of action and platforming, or at the very least interesting level design for battle arenas. Thankfully, the enemies themselves are pretty varied though.
This issue also extends to the actual exploration. I like that you can choose the order in which you play each stage, but actual exploration in each stage is super dull. You go somewhere, do a thing that opens a door far away, go to that door, repeat. There are some optional areas, which is neat, but an actual sense of exploration between levels just isn't there because the room visuals and layouts are just so repetitive.
Another issue is that the game doesn't really have much you can actually buy in the shop. Unlike many of the Castlevania games at the time, you can only use the whip here, so no buying alternate weapons. Subweapons are obtained in-stage. Orbs are obtained by defeating bosses. You can buy a few relics, but only a few. The rest is consumables, but most of those will be potions to heal and tickets to teleport. There should've been much more to obtain here, because after a point I had tons of money and little to spend it on.
Another area where the lack of resources is apparent is the visuals. Not just the environments, but the character models and animations. Our protagonist looks like a dope. Walter looks dumb too. The main villain looks kinda like Takumi from the Shoujo classic Nana. Spoilers from her on (For Nana as well). Honestly, I could see Takumi becoming an evil vampire. It seems he's characteristically two-timing Hachiko with some girl named Elizabetha, which is the dumbest name I've ever heard. Elizabetha dies though, and Takumi is so pissed that he becomes a vampire to get revenge on God. Actually, this is nothing like Takumi, he would just shrug if his wife died.
Uh... Anyway, Our hero Leon Belmont has to save his wife Maria from a vampire named Walter. He does so, but Walter bit Maria, so Maria is becoming a vampire. Apparently though, killing a willing vampire with a whip makes it a super whip. It like imbues the vampire's soul into the whip. So, Maria offers herself to upgrade Leon's whip because it's the only way to defeat Walter. This is like a step above the wife arm from Bionic Commando. Anyway, Leon defeats Walter, but then Takumi comes in and takes Walter's soul to power himself up or something. Apparently, he planned all of this. So, he planned for Walter to kidnap Maria, bite her so that she would start to become a vampire, then Leon would come and save her without dying, she is becoming a vampire but isn't one quite yet, she consents to becoming a powerful whip, then Leon would defeat Walter so that he could take his soul. Wait, Leon only knew about the whip thing because his buddy Rinaldo told him, and Rinaldo was only around because Walter killed his family and vampirized his daughter. Did Takumi plan that? Was Walter working with him? It doesn't seem like it. What if Walter killed Rinaldo? How would Leon know about the whip thing? What if Leon died, or took too long to rescue Maria? I dunno, whatever. Weirdly enough though, the final encounter here is Death, not Takumi. I mean, it's fine, but it was a bit surprising. Such ends one of like, three Castlevania origin stories.
Anyway, while the visuals aren't great, just look at that box art. Even among Castlevania box art it stands out. The same goes for the music. It's really, really good.
So, the game is good overall, but just barely. I'm definitely gonna try Curse of Darkness soon. 6/10.
Adapting to 3D can be hard. I started taking Calculus III recently and have had a bit of trouble adapting to the third dimension. However, I think Lament of Innocence just barely gets a thumbs up from me. It's a faithful adaptation of the castleroid style of the series, but it definitely stumbles a bit. I'd honestly sell the game as Harmony of Dissonance in 3D. I'm not a huge fan of that game, but I think this game does enough to improve upon that one.
For example, my biggest gripe with Harmony of Dissonance is that to actually play optimally, you have to enter the menu a lot. Let's say I wanted to use a spellbook once in that game. I go into the menu, activate the book, go out of the menu, use it, go back into the menu, turn it off, then leave the menu. It's dumb, and despite being a GBA game they could've easily done better. Ironically, you still have to menu a lot in Lament of Innocence, but it's all in real time. Want to use a potion? Real time menu. Want to turn a relic on or off? Real time menu. Want to use a ticket to get out when your health is low? You better be quick in that menu! It makes fights tense, and it's something that even the most critically acclaimed game this year got wrong, so I have to give Lament of Innocence credit.
The combat isn't particularly great aside from that though. It's usually pretty button mashy. If you've played PS2 God of War, you have a good idea of how this game is with its combat. However, a few elements elevate it. First is the subweapons. They're all well-balanced, and using orbs changes their utility. There's also relics, which upgrade you for the cost of MP. To get MP back, you have to time blocks well. Dodging is less risky, but also less rewarding. It's a very simple but effective system.
However, I think a lot of the other series staples weren't adapted very well. It's extremely apparent that Igarashi had a comically small amount of resources to work with when it came to this game. This was probably true of the handheld games, but those are obviously gonna be cheaper than this kind of game. One way this shows is the exploration. Most areas do have unique theming visually, but the areas themselves are pretty repetitive when it comes to layout. Most rooms are flat arenas, and the ones that aren't are dedicated platforming areas. There's no blend of action and platforming, or at the very least interesting level design for battle arenas. Thankfully, the enemies themselves are pretty varied though.
This issue also extends to the actual exploration. I like that you can choose the order in which you play each stage, but actual exploration in each stage is super dull. You go somewhere, do a thing that opens a door far away, go to that door, repeat. There are some optional areas, which is neat, but an actual sense of exploration between levels just isn't there because the room visuals and layouts are just so repetitive.
Another issue is that the game doesn't really have much you can actually buy in the shop. Unlike many of the Castlevania games at the time, you can only use the whip here, so no buying alternate weapons. Subweapons are obtained in-stage. Orbs are obtained by defeating bosses. You can buy a few relics, but only a few. The rest is consumables, but most of those will be potions to heal and tickets to teleport. There should've been much more to obtain here, because after a point I had tons of money and little to spend it on.
Another area where the lack of resources is apparent is the visuals. Not just the environments, but the character models and animations. Our protagonist looks like a dope. Walter looks dumb too. The main villain looks kinda like Takumi from the Shoujo classic Nana. Spoilers from her on (For Nana as well). Honestly, I could see Takumi becoming an evil vampire. It seems he's characteristically two-timing Hachiko with some girl named Elizabetha, which is the dumbest name I've ever heard. Elizabetha dies though, and Takumi is so pissed that he becomes a vampire to get revenge on God. Actually, this is nothing like Takumi, he would just shrug if his wife died.
Uh... Anyway, Our hero Leon Belmont has to save his wife Maria from a vampire named Walter. He does so, but Walter bit Maria, so Maria is becoming a vampire. Apparently though, killing a willing vampire with a whip makes it a super whip. It like imbues the vampire's soul into the whip. So, Maria offers herself to upgrade Leon's whip because it's the only way to defeat Walter. This is like a step above the wife arm from Bionic Commando. Anyway, Leon defeats Walter, but then Takumi comes in and takes Walter's soul to power himself up or something. Apparently, he planned all of this. So, he planned for Walter to kidnap Maria, bite her so that she would start to become a vampire, then Leon would come and save her without dying, she is becoming a vampire but isn't one quite yet, she consents to becoming a powerful whip, then Leon would defeat Walter so that he could take his soul. Wait, Leon only knew about the whip thing because his buddy Rinaldo told him, and Rinaldo was only around because Walter killed his family and vampirized his daughter. Did Takumi plan that? Was Walter working with him? It doesn't seem like it. What if Walter killed Rinaldo? How would Leon know about the whip thing? What if Leon died, or took too long to rescue Maria? I dunno, whatever. Weirdly enough though, the final encounter here is Death, not Takumi. I mean, it's fine, but it was a bit surprising. Such ends one of like, three Castlevania origin stories.
Anyway, while the visuals aren't great, just look at that box art. Even among Castlevania box art it stands out. The same goes for the music. It's really, really good.
So, the game is good overall, but just barely. I'm definitely gonna try Curse of Darkness soon. 6/10.
2 Comments
@SunlitSonata Yeah, it seems Curse of Darkness leans more into the RPG elements, which interests me. I have heard that the game is less consistent from others too though.
Weird that the camera is worse. I'd think they'd have that figured out considering the camera usually works perfectly fine here.
Weird that the camera is worse. I'd think they'd have that figured out considering the camera usually works perfectly fine here.
SunlitSonata
8 months ago
I played both games back-to-back recently! I SLIGHLTY prefer Lament over Curse for general consistency, but Curse is certainly more ambitious with its robust monster taming tree concept and more options available in combat more consistently, in spite of how annoying it can make progression in a handful of instances, on top of the storytelling and game camera actually being worse.