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A fan of Castlevania, but this one just OK

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It has been long that we compare every Castlevania to Symthony of the night. This one is 3D view but the graphic is just OK. Forging demond pets are the bulk of the content but to me it seems not much fun there. THe maps are a bit boring since the rooms are quite similar to each other.
After all although I am a big fan of the serie since 1987 but this one is just OK, acceptable but not a milestone for sure.

Waste of time and $$$

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was expecting much more from this game based on the rep of castlevania. Unfortunately, this game did not even come close to my expectations. The enemies are replicated throughout the game, only they level up as you do. If they weren't hard in level 1, they won't be hard as a level 25 or 30. The replay value of this game is 0 because for the most part the storyline won't change based on certain actions you take.

Whatever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok, first off, I'm here to defend this game. Yes, it is basically the same formula as LOI, but also extremely different. Everyone keeps complaining that the plot (stolen girl) is repeated, well, yes, but what do you want from a vampire story? If it takes Konami a few tries to get 3D right, then let them. I bought this game the day it was released and I'm still enjoying it. It has great replay value when you find yourself with some downtime. All of you who keep saying that the game is too easy, well, I doubt you have 100% of the map completed. The only problem I have with this game is that you have to have the game guide to finish it properly. Konami made it almost impossible to figure out what to do without it. Yes, the combining system is tedious, but the guide tells you what to do and tells you how to use those hard to find materials. I'm not going to go on with this review forever because the game speaks for itself. It's not easy in the least and it is very reminiscent of SOTN. In conclusion, if you want to give this game justice, then buy the guide or don't play it at all.

Not and RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I liked this game for the most part but think the "rpg" elements, combining and the buying and selling a bit much for a what is basically a good old fashioned hack and slash. The hacking and slashing was great and the bosses were a good challenge but picking up drops and finding weapon upgrades in a secret panel or chest etc. would have been better in my view. Graphics are nice and controls are tight.

It starts out ok, but the last level is a whip to your face

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania has long been one of my favorite games, the original, the third one, super castlevania 4 on the snes, and finally their sgt. peppers, symphony of the night. This game drove me gradually insane throughout. They keep using the tired metroid formula (using your newly found abilities to access new areas of the game) which was introduced in 1985(!!!!!!!). The end is an equally punishingly old-school romp where they make you not only fight every enemy again but also give you some 4 stage end boss that just keeps regenerating itself (ugggggggggg). Can't they move on from this 20 year old game convention? The N64 games were more fresh than this, and everyone hates them. But this is rated as a step up somehow. Overall, the antiquated design and slow pacing put this game securely in it's coffin.

Meh another cash in.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Don't get me wrong its not a bad game but frankly Konami is following in Capcoms step of relaseing games that are a shadow of what they where and not really evolving the gameplay after that,Castlevania in 3D was always missing something this one is no different for a real gamer is on the menu but for someone whos not interested is fooling with the gimmicks shallow story and gameplay move on to another title.

BTW Konami/Capcom put the darn Japaneses tracks in these games the US voice acting is horrid....

Another mediocre 3D entry in an otherwise great and long-lived game series

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It seems that Konami just can't bring the richness of the old 2D Castlevania games to life as a 3D game. First "Lament of Innocence" (LoI) presented us with a lackluster 3D rendering of the Castlevania series, and now "Curse of Darkness" (CoD) follows in its footsteps. For those who remember the old side-scroller Castlevania games, you'll remember that there were a lot of little details that made the game a visual feast. As you made your way through Dracula's castle, haunted paintings would come to life, the spirit of a watchman wept for his dog when you slew it, and ghostly dancers would spiral about in a macabre pirouette as you made your way through a ballroom.

With CoD, you get none of that. While the graphics themselves are respectable, the level designs are fairly bland and straightforward. In fact, it's pretty obvious where the collision boundaries lie, because there is absolutely no interaction with the environment - aside from smashing a singular kind of sconce for money, hearts, and other goodies. So in a cave there may appear to be an interesting alcove here and there, but your character can't even approach it because it's past the collision boundary set for the room. There are some visual effects, like rays of moonlight filtering through windows... but there are none of the spooky little details gamers have come to love from Castlevania games. Overall, the level designs are linear and boring, which often makes it a chore to have to backtrack through them once you get an "Innocent Devil" (ID) that allows you to access a new section of an area you previously fought through. Overall the animation on the characters in the game is good, but the CGI sequences are somewhat stiff looking, despite some decent rotoscoping used to convey the characters' body language.

In CoD, you'll be able to pick up raw materials left by enemies and forge them into new weapons and armor. While this sounds cool, the end result isn't much different than finding new weapons, and can sometimes lead you into trouble if you haven't saved your game recently. Occasionally you'll find some special materials that lead you to believe that you'll be able to use them to forge some dynammite weapons. Unfortunately, while this is sometimes true, at other times you wind up forging something silly like a frying pan, squeaky hammer, broomstick, or cowboy hat. The large diversity of weapons is basically an add-on, and not really of much use. For the most part, you'll probably find yourself working your way up the fairly decent ladder of swords. There are also axes, spears, "knuckle" weapons like claws, and special weapons which are sometimes useful, and other times more silly garbage. As a result, you'll get some good items as you progress, but also wind up carrying around a lot of extra, useless items that simply clutter up your inventory. Finding new weapons would have been a lot more straightforward, as the combining system seems forced , awkward, and ultimately pointless.

Likewise, you also forge your Innocent Devils. Most of them look fairly uninteresting, and a few of them look downright silly. Your nemesis, Issac, parades around with a fairly impressive looking devil in many of the CGI sequences, but you get stuck with throwbacks from The Wizard of Oz. At times these IDs prove handy. In fact, one of the IDs... the silliest looking of them all... can take out the first form of the final boss in almost 2 hits!! But, a lot of the time they just get in your way, blocking the view by flying in front of the camera and such. Also, there are moderately extensive evolution trees for your IDs.

Your IDs evolve by collecting "Evo Crystals" that are dropped by slain enemies. The kind of crystal dropped depends on the weapon you are using. Different crystals will make the IDs evolve in different ways. The problem is that while there are many combinations to evolving an ID, they require you to fight through levels over and over simply to gain enough crystals (generally between 40 and 90) to evolve your ID. This wouldn't be a problem if the levels weren't uninteresting and the battles weren't repetitive. But, as a result of the bland design and uninteresting combat, you probably won't care enough about the game to want to evolve your IDs in all of the ways possible.

Another problem comes from the fact that the leveling system is like an experience point-based RPG system. As you gain EXP, you level up and with your level increase comes raises in hit points, damage, defense, etc. You can get up to level 99, but by the time you're close to the end of the game, you'll only be around level 50 or 60 without any real "grinding" (fighting simply for EXP, not to progress the game).

This creates a problem in relation to the relative ease of the game. For the most part, the monsters and bosses are no real challenge regardless of what level you're at. You just dodge their attacks and hit back when you can and you beat them in no time. In later levels, you may get so sick of bashing the same monsters over and over that you'll just run past them and not worry about fighting them.

That is...... until the final boss. The final boss has two forms and deals a LOT of damage in the second. While there are a few useful odds and ends dropped here and there for healing items, the kinds of healing items you can actually purchase are almost worthless. You can only find one or two healing items that fully recharge your health. The ones you can buy will give you 200 to 50 HP back. The added problem is you can only carry 3 to 5 of these, so your healing ability is VERY limited if you've been using special healing items through the game instead of hoarding them for the very last boss.

So, the problem this creates is that the game is very easy until the very end. Then it is so hard that you'll almost have to level up to 99 just to have a fighting chance. By this time, however, you probably will be so sick of the game that you won't care about beating it and will just be glad to wash your hands of it.

Fortunately, you can find the ending CGI sequence on YouTube so that you're not forced to fight the final boss if you're just sick of it.

It's a pity. The Castlevania series was such a rich tapestry of gothic details in the 2D games, but seems to have become just a watered-down vaguely horror-based button masher in its 3D incarnations. Seriously, Nightmare Creatures was a better gothic game than any of the 3D Castlevania games to date.

Second Verse, Same as the First...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

"Castlevania: Curse of Darkness" is a game that fails in two very important areas. First of all, it does very little to improve upon the formula of its predecessor, "Lament of Innocence" -- and there was already a lot of room for improvement. Second, and of equal importance, is the fact that it fails to evoke the "Castlevania" brand nine times out of ten. With little in the way of nostalgia going for it to longtime vets of the Konami series, and very little to offer that's new in any way, it's very nearly a bust.

Fortunately, there is something to be said for mindless hacking and slashing. This "Curse of Darkness" has in great supply. Combat is frequent, fast, furious, and smoothly animated. The controls are highly responsive, making for some excellent arcade-like battle sequences. Enemies are many and varied, and far more memorable than their "Lament" counterparts, and this is true of boss encounters as well. Here, at least, the developers decided to take the initiative and move forward a few steps.

Level designs remain unchanged since "Lament," however. The flat, narrow and generally unadorned corridors were one of that game's greatest flaws -- and the same is true of "Nanobreaker," another Konami effort from the same producers. You might rightfully expect something to have been done about this after two games were fashioned of the same broken mold, but you would be mistaken if you were to assume as much. Although the environments are diverse and strive to have their own gothic personality, each one is basically the same as the last once you move beyond the aesthetics. Even though "Curse" offers more outdoor areas, they are merely a novelty, as they are designed in the exact same fashion as all those halls and corridors. The word "linear" doesn't even begin to cover it.

One unique gameplay element unique to "Curse" are summoned creatures called Innocent Devils. The game makes much ado about them, and they do prove useful during the course of the campaign, but they certainly don't revolutionize the gameplay inherent in the series. In fact, their presence gives "Curse" more of a generic fantasy vibe than one of "Castlevania" origins.

This just doesn't feel like "Castlevania." For all its faults, at least "Lament" managed a few real nostalgic moments. Not so here, apart from some returning enemies and a soundtrack that pays homage to the Nintendo originals. A good storyline might have gone a long way to make this game better than the sum of all its parts, but no such luck here either. The new hero character, the Forgemaster Hector, is brash and unlikable, the actor portraying him always screaming his lines. To make matters worse, it's the usual anime fluff about slain girlfriends, rival peers, and a desire for vengeance... which makes it virtually identical the plot of its predecessor.

Unless you loved "Lament," there's very little reason to go out of your way to play "Curse." Even longtime "Castlevania" enthusiasts aren't guaranteed a good time here. That said, if you have a space in your schedule between "Devil May Cry" games and don't mind some mindless hacking and slashing, you could do a lot worse. It just so happens, however, that you could do much better. Konami really needs to dig deeper than this if they want the franchise to survive for another decade or more.

Great Game in the Series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After a very disappointing experiment with the N64 games I was happy to see the rebirth of one of my favorite game series Castlevania .Like every 3D environment game there are some glitches but nothing that is horrible .The storyline is fairly straight forward but has enough mystery to keep you guessing .The gameplay is a lot like the previous entry C:LOS but different enough to be a new experience . I'm looking forward to the next release .Be Seeing You .

WTF???

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Why can't Konami just re-release Castlevania Symphony of the Night?
I'd buy it again, wouldn't all you guys??
I mean, it sounds like most people compare every new Castlevania game to S.O.T.N. so why don't they remake it?
My PSOne is broken so I can't play my old one and I'm not going to buy a new one just for one game (well, maybe, we'll see).

They remade the first one and released it on the gameboy... so it's not like the concept of remaking a game is beyond Konami...

Did they forget how to make a good game??
Can't they figure out how to make S.O.T.N again?

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