I've been playing Konami games since the very beginning. Ever since the original Nintendo Entertainment System was graced with Castlevania, a mark was set by Konami. The game featured tight controls, fearsome enemies, and was decently long for all the content in that cartridge. The original NES Castlevania was also difficult; the best way to quantify this difficulty is in the pile of broken controllers I used to have.
Over the years the games have seemed to get progressively easier over time. By the time Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was released on the DS, the game was essentially a cakewalk.
Then came Portrait of Ruin. This game brought back that sort of classic difficulty only a Castlevania game could bring, while keeping the free roaming game play of the recent entries.
Now Order of Ecclesia graces my DS screen. This game is HARD. REALLY hard. It's been a long time in a Castlevania game since I've been completely nuked by the first boss (mainly due to my speed running play style). This is definitely not a game to take lightly at all. While this experience was humbling, it brought a wry grin to my face. It's been quite a while since I've seen a game so merciless that it pushed me to keep playing through frustrating defeats.
It's not like the game takes cheap shots either. When you die, you know exactly what you did wrong, and what to try to avoid the next time through. The game is a monumental challenge and can be frustrating especially in the early stages of the game, but after a few hours of game play it becomes second nature. Of course, if all else fails, the RPG elements in the game allow you to grind away until you are at a level that you can handle the enemies at.
For what amounts to about the first half of the game, all the areas are broken up into areas on a map, it's not too much of a change, but don't expect to many gigantic stages as in Portrait of Ruin. Of course, this all changes once you reach Dracula's castle, which is absolutely enormous. I won't let any spoilers go, but this stage alone comprises about 50% of the game and is well worth the grind to get to.
You may have noticed I've stayed away from the story until now, This is because I can't stress enough the incredible challenge of a game presented here. The story revolves around new characters from a new group called the 'Order of Ecclesia'. You play as a female mage of some sort, and... wait a minute... What ever happened to the Belmont clan? Seriously... the last time a Belmont was in Castlevania was when Bloodlines was remade for the PSP. We've gone from the late 1800's to the 21st century in the last few games (honestly I'm getting as confused about the Castlevania time line as I am about the Zelda time line, but that's another subject) But we've barely seen anything of the Belmonts outside of bonus characters. Sure, Johnathan Morris is RELATED to the Belmonts, but that's about as close as we get.
Anyway, you are some chick from the Order of Ecclesia, your job is to deftly loose your memory within the first cut scene, and start beating the crap of the demons of wherever the hell this is. That's about all i got from the story. I could care less about storyline mostly, but if you DO enjoy storyline, there is certainly enough here to keep one interested.
No, what I care about is two main things in a game. Technical prowess , and game play. Technical Prowess doesn't necessarily mean a game has the best graphics, but in the case of Order of Ecclesia, it really takes advantage of the 2D processing in the DS. You'd be hard pressed to find any 2D sprite based game to have this level of animation. Also, the 3D effects, though subtle, work extremely well and seem to be organic to the game environment. One level has waves moving up and down, crashing over platforms as you cross, and in the background sits a fully rendered pirate ship of some sort being thrown around in the heavy seas. Scenes like this give an extremely foreboding feeling, like your character has no business in these situations. It really makes the game feel that much more imposing.
As for game play, two of the face buttons are mapped to weapons, one for each hand. You can continually fling attacks by alternating button presses, or perform powerful glyph unions. Hearts are still here, used for performing unions, and the magic meter is back, though it's used for attacking with various weapons and magic spells that you collect through the course of the game by absorbing them in your back. While that sounds bad at first, the MP meter fills extremely rapidly after you cease your attack for a moment. This makes the game a balance of throwing attacks, conserving hearts for when you really need to hit something hard, and backing off for a moment to regain magic power and the ability to continue your attack. It feels really tight and balanced and only adds to the already challenging enemies. Personally I like it, but keeping track of so many things may be a turn off for some.
The bottom line is that this game is certainly not for everyone. It's a throwback to when games were truly challenging. There is story here if you care, there are graphics that will put a tear in your eye, and possibly a load in your pants, and it has the same tight 2D gameplay we've come to expect on hand held Castlevania games.
Technical score: 90%
Game play score: 90%
DISCLAIMER: The Castlevania series, Konami, Nintendo and all of their various products are property of their respective companies. The names have been used under 'fair use' as they were necessary to this review. I am neither employed by, or affiliated with any of these companies or their respective products.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Prognosis Fatal - First Songs Released!
Prognosis Fatal (the progressive rock band I play keyboards for) is well on its way to releasing our first CD. Midnight Murder Ballads (working title) will most likely be 10-12 songs when finished, but for now here are links to the first 5 songs that are complete or nearing completion:
More will be posted as we finish them.
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