Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

"Tweaking a winning formula"

The third game in the series to be released for the DS, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia takes some familiar concepts and the same general idea of previous iterations of the series and applies them in a new way. Though several new tweaks have been made to the game, however, it still plays by and large the same as both previous Castlevania DS games. If you liked them, it's safe to say you'll like this; however, if you didn't, then don't expect to be wowed by Order of Ecclesia either. If you're a new player to the series, have no worries: Order of Ecclesia does not require playing any of the previous games and can easily be enjoyed to the fullest as a first foray into Dracula's Castle.

Sound and Graphics

Artistically, Order of Ecclesia is one of the DS's best offerings. The sprites are rich and detailed, truly one of the best looking 2D games out there. While the past DS games have largely borrowed and reused the same sprites from previous games over and over, resulting in a been-there-done-that feeling to the levels, Order of Ecclesia features an almost entirely new ensemble of pixel goodness. While the enemies might not be new, many of them have completely redone sprites and animations that will be sure to please. There are some bits of the game that attempt to mix 3D in with the 2D, but the 3D capabilities of the DS are sadly limiting, and the result is blocky and ugly designs. Thankfully, the use of 3D in the game is very restricted, so this is easily looked over and does little to take away from the otherwise great visual effect of the game.

The soundtrack to the game is, as with most Castlevania games, outstanding. Play the game with headphones if you can to get the most of out the experience so that you'll hear all the little nuances that the DS speakers just can't quite muster. The music sets the mood for the game and is really an essential part to the experience.

On a final note, there are small bits of voice-acting here and there, but these are largely just sound clips, so don't expect to have your dialogue read to you.

Story

While the Super Metroid reminiscent action is the main reason why the Castlevania series is so popular, the story to the recent Castlevania games have taken the series above and beyond the call with intriguing plots that are filled with twists and turns. Order of Ecclesia follows in these footsteps by providing a compelling tale that helps drive the player onwards and might even have a few surprises in store.

The player takes on the role of Shanoa, a member of a mysterious organization that is trying to utilize the power of glyphs to destroy Dracula's remains. The story begins with a fellow member of her order snatching the most powerful glyph and running off, leaving Shanoa without her memories or abilities and forced to trudge after him to both stop him and find out the truth behind these events. From there the plot introduces several more mysteries and unravels them bit by bit to entice the player into reaching the final showdown.

The characters might not have a whole ton of depth to them, and the story is not incredibly long, but the story does its purpose and is a fun romp while it lasts. The plot twists are enough to make it memorable, and there are a few touching scenes which make the characters likeable, too. Overall, the story adds to the game, and unless you absolutely loathe the idea of plots in video games, I doubt you'll find yourself mashing A to blast through the text.

Interface

Much like the other Castlevania DS titles, the game largely ignores the touch screen (it's only used for a few little easter eggs and a largely optional ability in one of the unlockable modes) and instead favors player input through the buttons. The setup is explained briefly in a short tutorial and is easily learned in a minute or two. The idea is fairly simple: you can attack with an assigned weapon/spell via the X or Y buttons which use up your eternally recharging magic meter, jump with B, backdash with L, or use a secondary ability such as a transformation with R. What makes this fun is the vast array of weapons and spells with which you can assign to the X and Y buttons. Want to dual wield swords? Go ahead. Want to cast lightning while throwing axes? You can do that, too; mix and match as much as you want.

This set up is similar in a lot of ways to Aria/Dawn of Sorrow's soul system, with the difference being that weapons and spells have been molded together to both take up smaller amounts of MP to be used with the new extremely quickly recharging bar. The effect of this bar is that it feels more like an action gauge in an action RPG than it feels like a set amount of magical energy that must be restored with items and the lot. This is a good change, since it eliminates the frustrating feeling of having spent all of your MP and being stuck with your dinky tiny weapon till you reach a save point, down one of those expensive MP restoring tonics, beat the boss, etc. Speaking of making it around to save points…

Exploration and Level/Boss Design

Instead of exploring one gigantic castle as players have done for nearly every game in the series since the days of Symphony of the Night and the PS1, the player proceeds through multiple mini-stages. In this aspect, the game throws back to older games in the series upon which this sort of stage-based gameplay is a tradition. However, it still plays much like the Super Metroid inspired games that have populated the Game Boy Advance and DS in years past; don't expect something like Rondo of Blood or Castlevania IV unless you like disappointment. Basically, you'll be exploring the equivalent of a tiny castle whereupon you will go room from room fighting bad guys, running past bad guys if your health is low or you're getting tired of messing with little minions, jumping over obstacles and using new abilities to fling yourself by others, and in general exploring and platforming till you reach the next area or find yourself up against a boss.

This is where the game really sets itself apart from the other recent installments. Order of Ecclesia is hard. Getting through the levels is generally easy, but when it comes time for the boss battles, the game is merciless about getting hit. Even grinding to level up will do little to help you against the punishingly powerful attacks with which every boss in the game is armed. If you're good at dodging attacks once you know the pattern, you'll probably be able to beat most of the bosses after a good couple tries, but a lot of the bosses toward the end of the game just get ridiculous about how much they require out of the player and will challenge even the most seasoned players. If you enjoy this type of challenge, then this game is probably for you: it even comes with a hard mode once you beat the game for the first time. If you hate games that will make you pull your hair out from rage, then this game might not be up your alley.

Length and Replay Value

While the difficult factor of the game may or may not be a good thing to you, I can imagine that either way you'd want a game that will keep you occupied for a while. Sadly, Order of Ecclesia is a rather short game. Though there are around 20 different levels to journey across by the end, the majority of these can be beaten extremely quickly. With the exception of the very last level, I don't believe any of the levels took me much longer than an hour to beat, and anything over 30 minutes was due to repeated restarting from dying at a boss. Overall gameplay time for the main story is probably within the range of 5 hours to 15 hours depending on how much you like or dislike collecting all items/weapons or finishing quests. I did almost all of the quests and collected a good portion of the glyphs in the game with a gameplay time of eight and a half hours, so take that as you will.

Is the game fun the second time around? I should think so. As said, there are tons of items to collect, glyphs to harvest, quests to complete, maps to fill out, and even a hard mode and a second playable character to unlock. There are even a few multiplayer modes – local and online – to the game which involve racing against a friend through a custom level or slashing through the bosses in boss rush mode together. So while the game is not entirely lengthy on just the merits of the main game, there are plenty of extras to keep the player coming back for his/her money's worth.

Conclusion

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia brings the charm of older Castlevania games to life with a few fresh tweaks to a series that was beginning to grow stale with repetition. However, the game still appeals to mostly the same core audience and with a difficulty curve that soars all over the place, this is not the kind of universally beloved game that anyone can pick up and name as one of their favorites. On the other hand, if you're part of that audience it's great for, then the game will likely nudge its way into your top ten one way or another. Either way, the game is worth a try if you're even slightly interested and a definite buy if you're a longtime fan or it simply really appeals to you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/08

Game Release: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (US, 10/21/08)