Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

"You can't go wrong with this game."

Well first off Kanomi has shown that 2D beats practically most 3D games. Although the graphics are only 2D they still look better than those 3D graphics on most games. The 2D graphics are really pleasant to the eye and the rotating Clock Tower in the middle of the Castle Keep is extremely sweet! Well on to the review.

Graphics: 10/10
I simply love the graphics in this game. 3D graphics often are in blocks and most games these days use 3D, but 3D games don't nowhere near has the control like 2D. FMV in this game isn't really significant, but there is some FMV but about 4 minutes total worth of FMV in the entire game. But to me graphics really have little effect on the game itself, but the PSX can't really handle 2D real well, and sometimes you'll see slowdown when a Life Max materializes after each boss fight or when your in the Reverse Caverns room with a whole bunch of Octapus.

Music: 15/10
Definately derserved a higher than max score. The most significant music in this game would probably be the Clock Tower music. Although its changed alot over the years Castlevania fans who have not played CV:SOTN can tell its the Clock Tower music. Also the music blends in so well with the atmosphere of the game its just incredible. Also the song "I am the Wind" (can be heard after you have beaten the game or after a cleared game when you visit the Master Librarian) is very pleasant to hear and I find myself going back to the library and just listening to the song, and it was probably the perfect song to end the game with as well.

Gameplay and Control: 12/10
Like I said before the control in this game go far beyond your average game. In most 3D games I've played control can be a very serious problem, but 2D games like this one show that control is easily maintained. Once you first start the game as Alucard you'll automatically learn how to control him and you can't blame the controls for yourself losing. The gameplay is very simple yet far better than those Tomb Raider or Resident Evil games I've played where the control response wasn't very dead on. Its your 2D sidescroller with plenty of enemies to kill and bosses galore. Bosses in this game didn't really present much of a problem besides Beezelbub and Galamoth and that dissapointed me a bit. Also the RPG EXP plays into role in this game as you gain levels by killing enemies and that just makes level gaining fun instead of the usual fights in RPGs that would take about 1-3 minutes each. In this game gaining EXP is very quick, but I just wish enemies would give you more points in the later levels instead of just 1 measly EXP point and that makes it extremely long to get to level 99, because the higher your level the less expierience enemies will give you until they all just give you 1 EXP point. Also Alucard can equip items, armor, weapons, and accessories that he finds or if the enemy he slays drops it. Also when you play the game as Richter after beating the game he doesn't gain any levels and his defense is extremely weak. However once he starts collecting Life Max ups his defense will increase, so it really doesn't matter if he gains HP or not. Basically playing as Richter is more traditional to the CV series as Richter can go anywhere he wants except to the Nightmare location, areas where the spike breaker is needed, and through gates that would require a mist. I think the point that Richter fighting Shaft instead of Dracula is for two reasons:

a) Dracula was defeated by Richter remember early in the game?
b) Playing as Richter is like playing a part of Alucard's storyline. Richter supposedly is suppose to lose to Shaft and then Shaft would gain control of his mind.

Storyline: 8/10
Well not the best storyline but very effective to as why Alucard is fighting as also this is not what you would normally see in a 2D sidescroller. Well I'm not going to spoil the storyline for you so I'll just continue on.

Replay Value: 10/10
An excellent addition to the game that gave this game such a high score. Once you've defeated Richter you think you've won the game right? Wrong. This game has a total of 5 endings, 4 for Alucard and 1 for Richter and also a rumored 5th ending for Alucard. Richter's ending is very short and in all the endings you'll see the collapse of Castlevania. After you have recieved the Holy Glasses and destroy the Green Orb near Richter then its a completely new castle. Well sorta, its actually and inverted Castle and enemies here are about 5-10 times as tough and they can give you a lofty amount of EXP early on especially the Guardian in the Black Marble Gallery. Also it'll take a little getting use to as everything in the Castle is completely reversed from the original one and the puzzles are a bit different. And onced you've recieve a cleared game more options will be opened to you like getting a Duplicator, new Sound Test, Axelord Armor, and 99 luck. But the most significant is playing as the infamous Richter Belmont the descendant of Simon Belmont from Dracula X. For Richter you don't have to go through the puzzles and relic finding like Alucard does and you can comlete the game with just a 30%! Richter cannot collect relics and places where you find special weapons normally for Alucard is just a plain old single heart.

Overall: 10/10
This game will keep you entertained for quite a bit of time and playing through the game as Richter will keep you entertained even more. There are many secret areas and items in this game its unbelieveable. Also the Sword Familiar Glitch is a nice way to get over 200.6%. But I just wish that Japaneese games wouldn't have so much more than the U.S. versions. In the Japaneese Saturn version you get the chance to play as Maria and also a bunch of new side areas. But overall this game doesn't dissapoint and hopefully Kanomi won't switch to the 3D world like it's N64 counterpart.

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