kenshin-guy's Full Review: Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow for Game Boy Advance (...
Before I start the review, what is up with all the symphonic musical titles? "Symphony of the Night," "Harmony of Dissonance," and now "Aria Of Sorrow." I don't especially mind but when I think vampires, I think you know, BLOOD. Anyway, I haven't played many CV games in my day. I believe I remember playing the original 8-Bit versions on my Nintendo and I tried to venture out to Drac's castle on the Nintendo 64 version, but I was never really satisfied. So I wonder, why did I remember buy "Aria of Sorrow?" I really honestly don't know. Maybe I was sleeping or something, but I came back from Gamespot with it and alongside it an employee application. Go figure.
If you've played many CV games, then you're bound to know the basis of the plot. Dracula is back and he wants YOU! Well, not you exactly, but your blood. Duh, he's the king of all vampires. But see, there's a twist, at the end of the last CV game Drac's castle was trapped in a Solar Eclipse. (Don't ask how, that's how people get killed.) Anyway, his castle was trapped in an eclipse and well, sh!t happens and now you (and your cute girlfriend) have been sucked into the eclipse with some fairly strange people. Now all you have to do is stop Drac from being reborn and save mankind. Wow, that doesn't sound hard does it? That's the basic plot synopsis really. Oh, and the main protagonist, Soma Cruz, looks like a quasi-FF9 Kuja rip-off. Just thought you should know.
Castlevania games have always maintained the same simple platform style gameplay (sans the N64 versions) and it's worked for them. It works here, and looks better than ever. The most striking change to the gameplay that I noticed is well; you're not a Belmont. You're not even a descendent of the Belmonts. You're not their friends; you're not their neighbors or even distant cousins. Just struck me as kind of odd. This means you don't use a whip. Now, I think whips are cool, so I was bummed out. What is cooler than a whip though? ("SWORDS!") Yeah, Swords! The whole game, you use different swords and lances and there's a handgun tossed into the mix but it's uber-weak. You can also employ the use of certain souls (which you receive by defeating other demons/monsters) to help you become stronger and fire cooler attacks and advance.
As Soma, you just try and make your way through the castle unraveling the story and trying to slay the evil bloodsucker. It's easy enough, just slay some baddies, collect their souls, beat a boss, save, repeat. The formula works and the gameplay is fast enough to keep you on your toes. It becomes a bit repetitive at times but never too much. Overall, it's a fun game to spend even 5 mins playing between jobs and homework. The graphics are easy on the eyes too, so that won't dawdle your demon killing. It's probably one of the better looking games on the GBA, the best looking game is currently being held by The Legend Of Zelda and Dragonball Z: LOG2. I know I'll get some mad comments about that too...so comment away! Seriously though, AoS is a fine looking game; everything has texture and a feel to it. When you enter a creepy (Well...creepier) section of the castle, it's very finely illustrated and presented to us.
The graphics are always used to illustrate a new environment but what I felt was lacking was ambience. I realize the GBA isn't a spectacular system in terms of setting tones that will jump out and grab you but in other CV games, there was always a very dark tone to it. AoS seems like it was trying to be dark but didn't succeed. At times I felt the only reason the castle was haunted was because the storyline said it was. It just didn't work for me. What the sound DOES do however, is fulfill its quota of tunes we hear around the game. I wasn't exactly thrilled with what I heard but I didn't turn down the volume either. The music simply is assigned to what is happening. No real emotion or drive behind it though. The sound effects are pretty cool, everything from gunshots to falling water and sword slashes have their own distinct sound and that helps when you don't know what is coming next.
How's the game fare in the long run? Well, I'd say the game gives the experienced player a good 10-15 or even 20 hours if they are willing to complete the game 100% with every item. Like SotN, AoS offers multiple endings and a few endings for unlockable characters! WHOA! I said too much! Well, I'll just say that you can't play through a CV game without whipping it out once and a while...take that as you will. :-D
Overall, CV:AoS is a good buy if you love the genre. If you were going on a long car ride, this would also be a good choice to bring along with you. What is very useful here is the ability to just pick it up and play. The learning curve is virtually nonexistent here. The story isn't exactly high art either so you can just pick it up, slay a few demons, reap a few souls and get out of there. I personally like to play it during my English Classes, but that's just me.
Well, that about does it for this review, knowing my procrastinating self I probably won't have the other 2 I promised for this W/O done today but hey! Rome wasn't built in a day!
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