BaronSamedi3's Full Review: Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon for Game Boy Advan...
Ever since the glory days of 8-bit gaming, decent gamers like us have seen good old Count Dracula rise up from his grave time and time again, only so we could lay him to rest time and time again. I'm sure that part of this phenomenon lies in the fact that our weapon of choice the vast majority of the time has been a leather whip, which was never approved as a vamp-combat weapon in any of the legends I've read. Maybe if we exchanged the whip for a stake through the heart or the occaisional ray of light every now and then, ol' Pointy Teeth would probably stay dead awhile longer. But if he stayed dead, we wouldn't be able to play games like Castlevania.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is Drac's latest attempt to bring himself back into this world, and since our reliable old friends the Belmonts are nowhere to be found this time, the weighty task of slaying him falls into the hands of veteran vampire hunter Morris Baldwin, his son Hugh and his successor Nathan Graves. We meet our three heroes at the beginning of the game, just after Dracula is ressurected by his loyal servant Camilla. Morris, Hugh and Nathan run into the room a minute too late to stop Camilla, and although Drac is weak from being dead for so long, he still has enough power to take Morris hostage and send Hugh and Nathan plummeting into the lower depths of his castle. Hugh, jealous over the fact that Nathan was chosen as his father's successor over him, immediately runs off to find Dracula and slay him in an attempt to prove he's a better vampire hunter than Nathan.
And so you take control over Nathan as you guide him through the undead palace that Dracula calls home, battling skeletons, werewolves and the Game Boy Advance's lack of a backlight as you race to find Dracula, slay him, free your master and maybe prove your superiority to Hugh. Along the way, you gather sub-weapons, magic cards and special items capable of enhancing your abilities, thus allowing you access to previously inaccessable areas of the castle.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should. Have you ever heard of a little game called Metroid? Well, that old NES classic clearly had an influence on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Indeed, Circle of the Moon simply reeks of Metroid, from it's size right down to a point where you can freeze enemies and use them as platforms. Now I know that some of the skeptics out there are rolling their eyes, asking themselves "Why would I want to buy this game if it plays like an old game I used to play back in the day?". I answer that question with another question: Was Metroid such a bad game? I follow it up with another question: Has a decent version of Metroid ever been available for play on a handheld system? And don't bother bringing up those meager Game Boy Castlevania games.
I'm by no means a Castlevania veteran. The last time I picked up a Castlevania game was when I played Simon's Quest on my best friend's NES way back in the day, so don't expect me to talk about how great this game is compared to the others in the series. All I can talk about is how good this game is as compared to Metroid and some of the other legendary side-scrolling action-adventure games. And as far as that goes, Circle of the Moon stacks up pretty damn well.
What's so great about it? First, and most importantly, the gameplay. This game is HUGE and has tons of items to collect and secrets to find, so the possibilities for exploration are almost endless. And the designers knew that RPGs are popular these days, so they decided to try to make a bit of money off that-Circle of the Moon has an almost perfect balance of action-adventure and role-playing. As Nathan defeats enemies, he levels up RPG style and earns new types of armor and items which he can then equip to enhance his abilities. Among the more unique items Nathan obtains are cards which are used to enhance his abilities and atributes. When you find the cards, you select a card for an ability and a card for an atribute and you activate your devilish concoction by pressing L. You'll want to learn what does what quickly, as these abilities can be life savers during the challenging boss fights. Nathan comes equiped with the standard trademark Castlevania whip, and he can pick up the standard trademark Castlevania sub-weapons, like daggers, holy water and even a watch that stops Drac's buddies dead in their tracks. If they had added a better storyline and a monetary system, Circle of the Moon would have been the perfect balance between action-adventure and role-playing. But hey, I'm not complaining.
With all those moves and only four buttons, the game better control good. Fortunately, it does. Controlling Nate is as simple as pressing the combinations of buttons needed to get him to perform his special moves, and the special moves are all given by in-game dialogue boxes and easy to remember. A jumps, B attacks, holding B makes Nathan spin his whip, L activates whatever card ability he's equiped with and R is used in conjunction with the others to perform special moves. All is well and good until you're in the middle of an attack and have to jump out of the way quickly-you can't jump in mid-whip (although you can jump and attack), so you're left vulnerable for a moment if you miss. Also, the game suffers from throwback syndrome-you get knocked back a bit if you get hit, which can get very frustrating in mid-jump or on a narrow ledge.
Now the technics: I love the graphics. Or at least what I can see of them! The graphics are so dark you'd think the designers of the Game Boy Advance forgot to include a backlight. ... Oh, wait, they did forget to include a backlight. That's exactly the problem! And the designers of the game made the graphics dark to fit the setting, which is, of course, a castle. The two designs of darkness don't mix well, so expect to be killed a few times by what you can't see. When you do play under good light, though, Circle of the Moon has perfectly gothic graphics to match the setting. The sprites are a bit on the stiff side, but they look fine. The backgrounds are amazing and perfectly matched to their rooms. In the stairway, you can actually see the spiraling staircase behind you, and in another room, the moon looms omenously through a window.
Circle of the Moon has simply the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a handheld game. Some sounds, like the creaking of doors, are so realistic they're frightning, and the sweeping orchestrated music is a perfect compliment to the gloomy background. There are times when you'll want to pause the game just to sit back and listen to the musical splendor, even if it will send cold shivers down your spine.
I said I wasn't going to compare Circle of the Moon to another Castlevania game, and I didn't, so that means all you Castlevania vets disillusioned by the supposedly horrendous Nintendo 64 Castlevania games will just have to take my word for it or go off to read Circle of the Moon reviews by other Castlevania vets. But don't discount my opinion just because I don't know the series. I still know a really great game when I play one, and this, dear readers, is a really great game. If you love side-scrollers, action-adventure games and role-playing games, or any combination therof, then Castlevania: Circle of the Moon has something in it for you.
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Nintendo's Classic NES Series for the Game Boy Advance brings back many memories for old school gamers. CASTLEVANIA is no exception. This classic was ...More at GameQuest Direct. com
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