Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Playstation

Konami 1997?

A revolutionary game, for me and video games as a whole. To my knowledge, this is the first great Action-RPG, and it's also the first gay main character in a video game, unless you count Ken in Street Fighter. Alucard, the limp-wristed son of Dracula, is trying to rid the castle of the evil Richter Belmont. Like a standard RPG, Alucard levels up by killing enemies, and they occasionally drop stuff for you to use, including weapons, money, defense items, and occasionally food. Alucard finds some super (or is it "thhhhuper?") buddies to help him along the way: a faerie (the second fairy in the game, if you catch my drift), a ghost named Skully, demon named Horny, a bat named Batty (duh), and a sword named Stabby. The game features an immense map, with over 2000 rooms to explore. It features five endings, and if you beat the game a certain way, you get to play through again in an upside-down version of the same castle, with different (harder) enemies and bosses. The weapon variety in the game is so huge it's actually a hassle to try to find specific items in the menu by the end of the game. Whatever. The game has everything you could ask for: references to the old-school Castlevania, an innovative gameplay system, magic, gay vampires, vampire killers, lots of goofy long-haired guys, all kinds of demons and skeletons and stuff, and just about anything else you could imagine. Leveling up your familiars (funny named things about halfway up from here) gets you special stuff, including the ability to use the sword familiar as a weapon and destroy damn near anything in sight. The game has immense replay value, and an awe-inspiring soundtrack. I have no complaints.

What liked: This game is totally badass. Rather than listing everything, I'll go on a normalesque rant about it. What can you complain about? You can transform into a bat, wolf, or mist (eventually powers up to poison gas!) and kill stuff, you get little demons and stuff to fight with you, and you get to totally wreck stuff in the most enormous house ever.

What disliked: I don't like RPG's at all. Gaining levels, taking that in mind, can be a little tiresome. I spend my time looking for enemies that provide lots of experience, and kill them repeatedly till they aren't worth the trouble, then don't level for a while. It's a weird process. For example, I kill that huge wolf thing for 2 levels to start the game, Mermen for the three levels, and then get into the real game at level six. After flipping the castle, I kill a Yorick about 50 times (seriously) and get another few levels. It's dumb, it's tedious, it's the only way. Some guys are a pain to kill anyway. Enemies are equipped to be immune to certain attack types (none/any of fire, thunder, stone, ice, cut, poison) so you change weapons every now and then to accomodate. One boss (Galamoth) is absolutely impossible without using a cheap trick to beat him. I absolutely hated him.

What to expect: A gay vampire with serious "father issues," good replay value, an amazing soundtrack, and an all-around solid work.

What not to expect: Castlevania. Simon, Trevor, Richter and the gang were much straighter than Alucard.

Ratings on:

Control: 9 - Lots of buttons, and they were well used. Very easy to remember, even the various transformations.

Graphics: 8 - Characters looked good, bosses were enormous and detailed, levels and backgrounds were both very intricate.

Sound: 9 - Phenomenal music, but slightly annoying sound effects.

Style: 8 - It's an action game AND an RPG. Novel. Loads of options and variety, and a fairly original concept.

1st hour: 7 - Leveling sucks.

5th hour: 8 - Dying sucks, but I'm getting stuff.

1st week: 9 - Improving quickly, plowing through second castle.

5th week: 9 - Still missing 6% of the map. It's a pain to look for, but the game is immense amounts of fun, and the cheats you can input let the new games be even more interesting.

#1 reason why I hate this game: I'll say that getting levels is a hassle, with a close second being the fact that Alucard would be SO much cooler if he wasn't into guys.

I am Skeletor, spawn of the Hellbeast, and I command you to hang up the phone.

Alucard running toward the castle at "sssthuper speed."

by Evil X