CastlevaniaLike with life in the real world, in order to keep a species alive, it must evolve, and evolution in the mid/late 90s meant becoming 3D. Mario and Zelda had already turned from a mass of sprites to a mass of polygons, so why not Castlevania? I mean, Super Mario 64 and Ocarina Of Time were both considered successful, so what's to stop Dracula and friends from becoming a mass of polygons, too? Well, sort of. On the surface, it seems like a good transition from 2D to 3D. Not as good as Mario and Zelda, but good regardless. However, when you actually play the game, you'll start to notice that maybe it's not such a good transition, due to a few problems that really just *bleep*s you over time and time again.
Story: In the year 1852, Dracula is reborn due to humanity's constant sinning, and it's up to two people - Reinhardt Schneider and Carrie Fernandez - to put Dracula back in his place. There is a twist later on in the game, and there are different endings depending on which of the two you chose, and how long you took to reach a specific point in the game, so at least it's willing enough to tell a story beyond "Dracula has arisen; go kill him". It's nothing to shake a stick at, but it at least works as a story. I mean... at least there are cutscenes (or at least dialogue) to move the story along...
Gameplay: Hopefully, you didn't play Symphony Of The Night on the Playstation 1 before playing through this, because the second fifth generation Castlevania game is a lot more linear, choosing to play more like its older incarnations while adding a third dimension and the Z-axis, rather than the "Metroid with swords and spells" thing Symphony Of The Night had going on (and still has, actually - look at the Castlevania games on the GBA and DS). If you're unsure as to how 2D Castlevania works, basically, you go from Point A to Point B, whipping the undead until they die, and jumping across chasms. Sounds like a typical action platformer, eh? Well, let's see how well this turned out...
In combat, you either use Reinhardt's whip or Carrie's spells to take down the undead. Combat is easily the best part of the game. Now, Reinhardt is nowhere near as skilled with the whip as Gabriel is (or even Simon, for that matter), as all he can really do is a single forward whip as opposed to many different combos or multi-directional whipping, but what's here works well enough, as I'm not expecting Lords Of Shadow in 1999. Carrie, on the other hand, can attack from a distance, and fire off either a quick shot, or a charged shot that leaves her vulnerable for a little while. Both have access to sub weapons like the good old knives, axes, cross boomerangs and holy water from the old games, and they work as well in 3D as they do in 2D (well okay, cross boomerangs aren't quite the game killers that they were, but they still work), so no complaints there. In fact, I like that you'll probably find yourself not relying on items quite as much as you would in the earlier games (well, okay, healing items, yeah, but that's to be expected).
The enemies are simple enough – just whip them from a distance. However, some are persistent bastards that eat health bars for breakfast (or dinner, actually), and they will eat yours if you don't dodge their attacks. Combat gets really good when you encounter a boss. The bosses in this game really test your ability to study patterns and counterattack appropriately, as well as finding weak spots. It's these kinds of fights that inspire developers to want to expand beyond the source material, just to recreate these epic moments with even better combat engines and graphics.
There are puzzles thrown into the mix. Some of them involve solving riddles and navigating mazes, and they managed to work out well enough to give your brain a little bit of exercise. Unfortunately, the other puzzles suck ass, as they generally consist of running around a level, finding levers, pulling them, running around that same level and finding what you just opened or activated. Oh yeah, what a laugh *bleep*ing riot! So *bleep*ing challenging! Seriously, if you want me to explore the level, just let me do it at my own discretion, not because you want me to pull some levers and run around, looking for what that lever did. I don't remember Castlevania doing this beforehand (well, okay, Symphony Of The Night did, but that game had interesting designs - this doesn't), and if this is the best that they can do, they ought to stop... but I heard this game had to be rushed, so perhaps they couldn't incorporate any cool puzzles; just this lame shit. Oh well.
But the big problem is in the platforming. Yep, as a Castlevania game, there should be some really tricky platforming segments that will have you on the edge of a platform just to barely make the next jump... as bad of an idea as that sounds, that's actually what Konami does. A fair amount of the jumps you'll encounter requires precision that rivals brain surgery, and even one mistake will send you right back to the last white crystal you touched and saved at. No lives, no continues – just reload your save. You'll often find yourself having to fight enemies that throw shit at you while platforming, and half the time, you'll find yourself missing a platform because the camera – WHICH YOU CANNOT CONTROL – obscures it. It's obvious that Konami hates their fans, or else, the platforming sections would be at least a little more lax... Kids, welcome to hell! Population – a bunch of frustrated gamers!
As you play, you'll notice that day can change to night, and vice versa. Immediately, Simon's Quest is the first thing that pops into your mind. "Oh god, is the game going to stop for ten tedious seconds to tell me that it's *bleep*ing night time"? Well, no. It's all smooth. Sadly, the one thing Simon's Quest did correctly that 64 didn't exactly was make the enemies a lot stronger. During the night here, the enemies are maybe a little stronger... too bad you won't *bleep*ing notice it! MAYBE at the end of the game? Whatever. Oh, and some events won't take place until a certain period, which is silly, given the linear nature of this game, but given its biggest problems, this is just a nuisance.
Replay Value: In fact, all that the day and night mechanic does is determine whether you get a good ending or not. If you spend too many in-game days and nights getting to a specific point, you'll get the bad ending, but if you're quick about it, you'll get the good ending. So if you got the bad ending, you'll end up wanting to replay it just so you can get the good ending. Also, the endings are a bit different between the two characters. Say that you completed the game as Reinhardt, and you're a bit curious as to how it'll be different for Carrie... well, surprise surprise, her ending is different! Maybe a little, but it's something. Oh, and perhaps you can try buying less from your friendly demonic salesman... or more. He plays an even more important part if you give him too much gold that you collect from his dead buddies. However, that seems to be the only motivation, as the game isn't really all that enjoyable...
Controls: Unfortunately, the controls don't quite work as well as they should. For one thing, you can't move while targeting an enemy unless you constantly jump like a bunny, which is not a good idea when you're teetering over small platforms, but when fighting big mobs, you just think to jump, and then you fall, and then you die.
The second issue has to do with jumping - as movement is quite sensitive, a lot more often than not, before you start jumping, you'll finding yourself tapping the stick in the direction you're about to jump towards before making the leap. I mean, sure, you could run and jump, but half the time, it'll end with you heading back to the last white crystal you used. This kind of shit ends up really pissing me off after a while, because with COMPETENT controls, these segments aren't too bad. Christ, I've had a much easier time with NES Castlevania's jumping controls, as while that game just had some tough jumps, this has platforming segments that were forged by Lucifer himself! Add the fact that there is shit all camera control, and it just screams DISASTER! Worse off, camera angles love to be positioned anywhere BUT where they ought to be, resulting in bullshit deaths and forcing bullshit trial and error where you're forced to alter your playstyle to compensate for horrific game style choices...
Oh, and by the by, having to press a button to collect stuff, with its own little animation? Really? What happened to just... running over them? Screw the button!
Graphics: When you look at the game, you'd think it'd at least have some good visuals as far as fifth generation graphics go... well actually, it does. From an artistic standpoint, the game shines. The skeletons look accurate, some of the monsters look pretty cool, and the bosses at least look menacing enough to make you think they pose some sort of threat to you. Color usage is a little pastel-y for something that's supposed to be all gothic and spooky, but it's definitely got the right colors... it almost works. From a technical standpoint, eh, it's the fifth generation, aka, the awkward transition from 2D to 3D, and a few blurry textures aside, it's at least aesthetically presentable.
Audio: As for sound design, the soundtrack manages to convey the correct atmosphere. Each of the tunes manage to carry on the Castlevania spirit even into the third dimension. However, while most Castlevania games consistently keep it up, Castlevania 64 wavers a bit here and there. No, it's not when they decide to mute the soundtrack, because it actually sets an atmosphere... provided that it's backed up by some gothic sounds (windy sounds that often set up spooky castle scenes, perhaps?), but more in the sense that some of the songs here are just dull and uninspired, like they got to a certain point, and just threw their arms up in the air and shouted “who gives a shit”, because clearly, they didn't. Oh well. At least the voice acting brings it back up after that, right? Nope, because... it barely exists. Two lines, tops, and I've found better voice acting in Symphony Of The Night – from Richter Belmont, I might add. Eh. Still good, though.
Overall: Castlevania 64 is an alright game. It's both an accurate and inaccurate 3D translation of the 2D games, as while combat is more engaging, the platforming is just *bleep*ing bullshit, and that goes double for most of the “puzzles” in this game. Overall, the game is just too frustrating to play through due to the platforming segments and lack of creativity in the puzzle department barring maybe two or three. Really, it's just the presentation of the game and the bosses that gives this game substance.
