following up castlevania must have been a daunting task, and i understand why the team at konami made the decisions they did; unfortunately i feel this is just a less interesting version of konami's own getsu fuma den.
there's tons of cool stuff here, arguably a better soundtrack than the first game despite its sparsity, but compared to CV1 the presentation is really lacking. i lovelovelove simon's red armor look but the absence of color in every sprite palette is totally egregious and makes everything kind of blend together.. i think some areas look very cool (the endgame town is a great moment) but there's a total of maybe 5-6 unique screen types in the whole game recolored haphazardly to represent what is supposedly the transylvanian countryside and iunno, i just wasn't able to buy it. the first game's castle had both scale and tangibility, yet in spite being an outright bigger map and longer playtime CV2 feels so much smaller!
the things in simon's quest that people talk about the most (secret floors, day/night cycle, hearts as currency AND ammo) didn't end up really bothering me this time around, in fact i think they're some of the things that really work for this game and help make it unique. the base gameplay is pretty damn good but it'd have to be since it's the same combat and platforming as CV1, though the selection of subweapons is really bad (no axe or boomerang? THREE knives???)
maybe this game's biggest step down from the first is that it's... not hard? a few enemies have some tricky patterns and can sap health (the SLIMES oh my GOD) but with very few exceptions you will never get set back THAT far, unless you're trying to get the morningstar (game overs here put you in the exact same place you died, just with no hearts). even the mansions are kind of a cakewalk, it's hard NOT to have enough money to buy the oak stake! and oh my god the bosses are such a JOKE and there's THREE of them you don't have to even look up the dracula trick to know it's the most obvious course of action!! am i stepping into the shadows of the hell house or the shadows of weenie hut jr??!!??!!??
anyway i know my rating is kind of high given everything i've said but i really think this game is not bad, it's just not very interesting. i'm definitely not getting the transcendent experience others get out of it, but that's fine, it's still kind of a fun curiosity and i'm glad it exists.
(writing this at 2am sorry if it is a mess!)
there's tons of cool stuff here, arguably a better soundtrack than the first game despite its sparsity, but compared to CV1 the presentation is really lacking. i lovelovelove simon's red armor look but the absence of color in every sprite palette is totally egregious and makes everything kind of blend together.. i think some areas look very cool (the endgame town is a great moment) but there's a total of maybe 5-6 unique screen types in the whole game recolored haphazardly to represent what is supposedly the transylvanian countryside and iunno, i just wasn't able to buy it. the first game's castle had both scale and tangibility, yet in spite being an outright bigger map and longer playtime CV2 feels so much smaller!
the things in simon's quest that people talk about the most (secret floors, day/night cycle, hearts as currency AND ammo) didn't end up really bothering me this time around, in fact i think they're some of the things that really work for this game and help make it unique. the base gameplay is pretty damn good but it'd have to be since it's the same combat and platforming as CV1, though the selection of subweapons is really bad (no axe or boomerang? THREE knives???)
maybe this game's biggest step down from the first is that it's... not hard? a few enemies have some tricky patterns and can sap health (the SLIMES oh my GOD) but with very few exceptions you will never get set back THAT far, unless you're trying to get the morningstar (game overs here put you in the exact same place you died, just with no hearts). even the mansions are kind of a cakewalk, it's hard NOT to have enough money to buy the oak stake! and oh my god the bosses are such a JOKE and there's THREE of them you don't have to even look up the dracula trick to know it's the most obvious course of action!! am i stepping into the shadows of the hell house or the shadows of weenie hut jr??!!??!!??
anyway i know my rating is kind of high given everything i've said but i really think this game is not bad, it's just not very interesting. i'm definitely not getting the transcendent experience others get out of it, but that's fine, it's still kind of a fun curiosity and i'm glad it exists.
(writing this at 2am sorry if it is a mess!)