(Review archived from November 2, 2014)
This game is a masterpiece. It is impeccably made and so well put together that it’s extremely difficult to find flaw with it. Some of the changes to core gameplay (8 way whip control, ‘whip waggling’, and controlling jumps in midair), might not be to everyone’s fancy but that comes down more to personal taste than to flawed gameplay. I need to single out one component of the game in particular, and that’s the music. The music in this game is jaw dropping. Each and every level nails a certain atmosphere and every level is perfectly represented by the accompanying musical score. Every time I play this game, I can’t wait to pass a level not only to see what the game will throw at me next, but also just to hear the next track in the game’s soundtrack. The entire game truly is a feast for the senses. I should mention that I’m actually a huge fan of the whip mechanics in this game. The whip is so fluid and responsive that it almost becomes an entirely separate entity unto itself. Whereas the attack structure in other Castlevania games takes on a brutal ‘hard style’, the attacks here are a wonderfully smooth and flowing ‘soft style’. It’s an absolute blast, and I’d liked to have seen this type of free flowing combat represented in a few other Castlevania games as well. It certainly makes this one stand out as being unique.
Leave a Reply