(LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD)



   It's 2001 and the greatest minds at Konami were plotting to make a new Castlevania game. One of the best ones they could. They had already lost so much when the 64 Castlevania games bombed. So after months of developing a new Castlevania game. So on March 21st in Japan and on June 8th in America they decided to release, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.

   In this new addition to the already amazing franchise that is Castlevania, the year is 1830. Within the rusted and cracked walls of an ancient Austrian castle, Worshipers of Chaos had attempted to revive the one and only, Dracula. However, from a number of sources, Morris Baldwin had heard of the Resurrection of Dracula. Morris comes from the Baldwin family, which happens to be together with the Belmont Family. So with Vampire Killer blood souring through Morris' veins and body, Morris heads to Castlevania with his two apprentices, his son Hugh Baldwin, and Nathan Greeves. As soon as Dawn was now dusk, the trio found the Castle where the Resurrection currently awaits. The trio rapidly advances into the castle, however, it was too late. A minion of Dracula known only as Camilla, had already started the ritual. In order for Dracula to regain his former power, he would need to wait until the full moon ritual was completed. Before the trio could fight Dracula and reseal him, Dracula broke the floor that Nathan and Hugh were currently on, causing them to plummet down an extraordinarily large hole, leaving Morris alone with Dracula and Camilla. Suprisingly, Nathan and Hugh survived the fall. Hugh ran off to save his father after telling Nathan to leave the castle. Nathan, also wanting to find his master, did not leave the castle, and instead, decided to go and look for his master. Along the long journey Nathan has chosen, he duels with many of Dracula's minions including, the soul stealer Death himself, Fallen angles. And his own personal minion,Camilla.

   After conquering Camilla, Nathan learned that Hugh was possessed by Dracula. Dracula was able to exploit Nathan's most hidden desire, his desire to become more powerful than Nathan. He wanted to prove that he was superior to Nathan so his Father would bestow the Hunter Whip named Vampire Killer to him instead of Nathan. When Nathan defeated Hugh, Hugh accepts the fact that Nathan is superior, and comes back to his senses. Hugh being upset at himself for his selfish desires. Hugh tells Nathan to Look for Dracula. Nathan arrives at the ceremonial room to vanquish Dracula and save his master from being a sacrifice in the ritual. After what seems like Dracula succumbing to being defeated he shouts" I need my full power", and he disappears to his homeland, Right before Nathan was going to chase after Dracula, Hugh freed his father and said to Nathan, "Please Vanquish Dracula and rid the demon from this world once and for all! Something I am not able to do. As Hugh carries his Father's body out of the castle, Nathan chases after Dracula, where he sees Dracula's Ultimate Form. After a long, drawn-out, intense battle, Nathan succeeds in Vanquishing Dracula's ultimate form. Before he was sealed, Dracula stated "It is a wasted effort. I will never be truly gone. So long as there is darkness and desire in the soul of man, I will continue to be revived". Nathan replied, "And we will be there to stop you, you foul Monster". Dracula is defeated and the castle is destroyed, Nathan then leaves to continue his training with his master Morris, and his good friend Nathan.

   If that amazing story didn't make you interested then gameplay will. The gameplay in Circle of the Moon is in the type of a Metroid-Vania type of game, in which the player must explore a gigantic castle filled with undead enemies in a non-linear fashion. All enemies defeated can sometimes drop useful items and equipment, and also give Nathan Experience points which increase Nathan's power. Bosses  provide plot progression, and their defeat allows Nathan to usually get equipped with a new ability which will then allow him to explore more of the castle. Normally in a Castlevania game a crystallized orb would appear after a boss fight, however in this game, none of those will appear. - 0.1 of score. One of the best things about this game is the DSS ability. In which certain monsters will drop DSS cards that Nathan can pick up and fuse to get a special ability. Some of the abilities include, Whip elements, attribute buffs, and familiars. These can help Nathan by doing all sorts of things, more damage, range, abilities, act. 

   The music is another amazing thing about this already fantastic game. From the second you start playing, until you've already beaten it, all the tunes you listen to throughout your playthough are some of the most amazing video game songs on the whole Gameboy Advanced music library. They've brought back some classic songs,and made some new ones. Sometimes while you play, you'll just want to stop playing and take a listen. However, my only complaint is that they didn't have Bloody tears in the game. -0.1 of score

   So that ends my first draft of this review on Castlevania Circle of the Moon, Soon enough ill have an updated version with more diversity! Thanks for reading!

                                                                                                                                                                                    Rating - 9.8
   

first draft huh..

Yeah i'm hoping that this weekend i can add more to it. I Didn't like the fact how short it was.

Circle of Moon is a real interesting game. I'm not familiar with many games beyond the original 4 or anything beyond Symphony of the Night, but this game has been pretty interesting.

For a first draft, this is pretty good! If you plan on making longer game reviews in the future or if this review can get even better, I can't wait to see what you write about next. Nice job!

Thank you! I'm planning on releasing the final review on Halloween with a 3 hour long video of the game from start to finish! (In the video I use glitches to make it to Dracula early. I Cannot remember who I dont fight but I'm pretty sure I stop at the duel dragon heads.) Thank you for enjoying the review and I hope the final thing is better than ever!

Never mind what I said about not beating the game fully! I do use a glitch to make it to dracula early but instead of finishing the game I just took the level ups dracula gave me and I went on playing the game!