Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku

"A great side scroller game with RPG elements"

Story- Well I was never a fan of the past castlevania games at all. But somehow a story with the main character as a good vampire is really better done here than the game call Legacy of Kain. There is also many endings. Also there are twists in the storylines if you manage to discover certain secrets. Anyway yes people do talk in the game. They also give you important clues that can advance the story lines. Too bad conversations are rare and few in the game.

Graphics- I never really notice anything bad about the graphics. I guess its never supposed to be a game that is great on graphics of the characters. They look small but the background looked excellent to me.Yes the stages are very beautifully designed. The bigg enemies also looked good. In fact you begin to wonder why did they make the characters to be small size ones. I guess it makes it easier to have them jump about ?

Soundtrack- Yes the soundtrack is good and excellent. You will defintaley love the spooky tunes that are in the game.

Gameplay- Well basically this is a side scroller where you go about jumping around here and there and killing monsters here and there and exploring here and there. No this game is not as simple as you think it is. The castle is also much bigger than you think it is. There are many secrets to be discovered and many new items and skills to pick up. You will be trap in the castle for days and wandering when the game will end.Seriously I really like a game like this one and was wondering why other action RPGS do not try to imitate the great features in this game.

As for the characters that are in the game. Sadly only one guy the lead character Alucard is worth playing. He has more variety of spells and moves and other stuff to do. Yes you can tell that they really made the game based on him when they first design the game. The other characters were there just to make up the numbers. Yes they are really simple with hardly any moves or stuff compared to Alucard. They are also tedious and irritating and tiring to play as .Perhaps they expect people would not be playing as them anyway.

Conclusion- This is one of the rare games that are made for the Sega Saturn. Although it came out later after the PS version it features an additional character that was not found on the PS. But seriously I would not advise you to get this game if you already own the PS version since the game is still quite similar in terms of gameplay. Also I do not the additional female character is a good reason for you to buy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/03, Updated 06/19/03