Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest

NES

Konami 198x

Oh what a game. After purchasing the first game in the series some time in the last year, and owning the third for quite some time, I always felt this game was the orphan (albeit amazingly good orphan) in the series, like if Bill Clinton's family adopted Mother Theresa and they were both children at the time because of some weird gap in the space-time continuum so my analogy made sense, but I digress. While the first and third games featured largely side-scrolling action and cruising (well, struggling) from level to level, this game introduced several different paths, back tracking, a few dead ends, and a load of weapons and levels. Symphony of the Night incorporated many of these aspects into another fantastic Action-RPG (fine, I admit it, I play an RPG-ey game) and produced another excellent game in the series that someone else should probably review some other time.

What I liked:

WOW! So many weapons.

Awesome bosses. Actually, only like two come to mind, but whatever.

This game takes forever, for better or worse. I say better, cuz it's a very deep game.

What I didn't:

Pretty tough at the beginning

Stair Climbing SUCKS

Dead ends are evil

The game requires a lot of extended-time crouching to unlock secrets. What a hassle.

That lava stuff really ruins the game a lot of times.

Controls: 8. Fine, but brushbacks are a bother.

Graphics: 7. Solid for the time, but nothing great.

Sound: 7. Pretty good, but some FX are irritating.

Style: 9. Wandering aimlessly + Side-scrolling = Action-RPG. Novel.

1st hour: 7. Where am I? What should i do?

2nd hour: 7. Wow, I'm getting hearts. Wait, I died and they're gone. Damn.

1st week: 8. Getting stuff, killing stuff. Good times for all.

2nd week: 10. Dude...I'm equipped. I'm gonna punish some mummies.

1st month: 10. What a game. So much to do, so much easier to use the password.

12 years after purchase: 9. This was the 4th game I got (SMB, Turtles, MM2) and I appreciate this more than any game I own, with the exception of Mario 3.

The number one reason I HATE THIS GAME is because some tasks that should be soooooooooooo simple (coughTradingCrystalscough) take FOR-E-VER (for-e-ver, for-e-ver) because you have to trek across the globe to do it.

by Evil X