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(More customer reviews)Castlevania: Symphony of the Night harkens back to the early and great Castlevanias of the old NES, but with vastly updated graphics, gameplay, and even ambiance.Sure, it's still a 2-D scroller where you roam around and jump around on platforms and what not, but it's at the top of the heap.The game starts somewhat oddly with you as a vampire hunter facing off against Dracula in a fairly wacky fight that always reminds me of a pro wrestling match.You beat Dracula, at which point time warps ahead and you switch to Alucard, Dracula's remorseful son (spell Alucard backwards..yah, clever) who brings the fight to Dracula's vast and labyrinthe castle in an effort to do away with his evil sire for all time.At first I was put off by what I thought was a bizarre and inelegant introduction (the human vampire hunter is a character from one of the mediocre middle Castlevania games, and is very unwieldy) but it turns out the manner in which you use him to defeat Dracula "historically" in the plot affects Alucard's starting abilities.Meaning if you beat up on Drakula with magic, Alucard later favors magic.Ditto for melee combat.
Anyway, the game is lush and filled with endless amounts of loot.Any monster has a chance to drop rare goodies when slain (based on Alucard's Luck stat), fake walls crumble to reveal hidden platemail, accidentally-tripped switches open bookcases or trapdoors, and zillions of types of monsters appear from all over the place.The music is great and quite haunting, and the game's RPG and money system are quite well developed.Alucard has quick "combo" spells you can use while fighting, and many of the weapons, shields, and armors he finds have their own effects which have to be discovered in game play.I've located weapons that let Alucard teleport, summon the undead to fight for him, call lightning, ice, or fire, or even waves of holy light down on his foes.Everything from helms to circlets to rings to boots can be worn, and Alucard eventually even develops the ability to transform into traditional vampire modes.Dissipate into a swirling cloud of mist and waft through a ceiling vent to escape your enemies, turn into a wolf and charge through crowds of zombies, or transform into a bat and fly around breathing fire on everyone.Lastly Alucard collects various magical relics throughout the game, that do everything from let him breathe underwater to have permament familiars that float around with him on screen and help him out (the dancing runesword is not to be missed).As an example of the thought put into this game, your familiars themselves even gain experience and go up levels, growing both stronger and smarter over time.For example, the runesword familiar at first just kinda floats along behind you, lethargically swinging at things long after they took a bite out of you.But after a while it turns into a gleaming heat seeking weapon of vengeance, mercilessly smiting anything the second it shows up on screen.At one point I turned Alucard into mist and just drifted around while the sword familiar took out a boss for me.This game also has more items and secrets in it than your average Final Fantasy, and is more addictive.It is also one of the least frustrating games you can find; you can save as often as you want in save rooms you find on your map (in a coffin, natch), heal yourself easily, and as a vampire you're more than a match for the sluggish beasts you meet early on.The challenge of the game comes from an easy balance of combat and puzzle solving, rather than a heavy reliance on one or the other.
Lastly, and most entertainingly, the bosses in this game are amazing.Unlike earlier side scrollers where the game progressed through 'levels', in Symphony of the Night you simply roam around an enormous, maze-like castle.You never know when suddenly a steel grate will drop behind you and you'll find yourself trapped in a fight with, oh, a grotesque giant mummy suspended on steel hooks that takes up 6 screens worth of animation.That's just the sort of thing that's worth the price of admission.
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castlevania symphony of the night for sony playstation, rpg
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