Castlevania

"A reasonable instalment in a generally outstanding series."

The Castlevania series always attract special interest from me. When I was young I remember saving money to buy the 8 bit Nes just to play it. And I loved it. And many summers later - I got the SNES for much the same reason. It is a great series.

The N64 incarnation made the leap across the canyon from the traditional 2D scroller to 3D and the results are mixed. Graphics-wise it is par for the course. As akin to other 3D N64 titles of this kind --the graphics tend to be blurry when it comes to details. The faces of the two protaganists comes to mind but this in no way detracts the gameplay - and generally the backgrounds and interact- able props are sufficiently detailed to make exploring and fighting quite an enjoyable undertaking. Fogging is extensive at parts but to be fair most of the action occurs indoors anyway so its apparent side effects are not too glaring - unlike in Turok 1.

Whipping in 3D? Don't expect Zelda-like precision in aiming and fighting bosses. In fact the auto-lock system coded by Konami can be a real pain when facing multiple enemies. It is not an intuitive system and you get the feeling that you're never really in control at what you want to aim and where exactly you want to stand. My main gripe (maybe due to my own inadequacies!) is making Schneider or Carrie be WHERE I want them to be when on the offensive in a major battle. Most of the time luck comes into the equation when you furiously thumb away in all sorts of direction and ending up being nowhere strategically better. The stages are huge in terms of dimension though not in size. The Villas are opulent - the caves are cavernous and passages wide enough to have an 18 - wheeler pass through. Generally the environment is not as restrictive nor in tight confines ala Resident Evil although having said that : dodging enemy attacks is still not as easy regardless of the space.

In reference to the standard Castlevania scrollers and the RPG style Castlevania titles, this version leans on the former with a small twist in that there are puzzles to be solved. They are not difficult and it being in a linear form - there aren't many permutations that you can dabble with before finding the solution.

Gameplay-wise it is difficult and rest-assured there will be many deaths peppered along your quest. Death comes very easily at the hands of various enemies - if not through your own impetuosity in falling off cliffs, chasms and other obstacles. I rate the difficulty as moderate to high. The action moves at a fair clip and the sequence where two invincible rabid dogs and a chainsaw-equipped Frankenstein chases you round a hedge maze gives you a fair idea of a decent cardiac workout that awaits you with this title.

In conclusion - is it a step forward that we have been looking for? Not really. I enjoyed it but not as much as the old titles. There is a certain charm of the old scrollers that is missing in this title. My favourite it still Castlevania 3 (4 characters and you can even become a bat!) and maybe with the addition of those kind of elements - this title could have been more. But speaking as a Castlevania fan - there are still enough virtues of this version to warrant adding this to your collection.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99