Castlevania, Bloody Adventures: The Review.
In the cold dark hours of the night Simon Belmont approaches the entrance to the ancient decrepit castle of Dracula. It's a story retold a thousand times. A young brave warrior of light squaring off against the unholy forces of evil in all their revelry. Guide Simon Belmont through various levels of non stop classic Castlevania game play! And if you're fortunate enough to have survived the horrors of Dracula's castle and slay the demonic vampire in the wee hours of the morning you'll watch as the forces of evil have been vanquished once more. Once more the castle crumbles and collapses to the foundations! So this is a first for me, reviewing a hack for an NES game. But I'm a huge Castlevania fan, and I don't mean the modern games either. I'm talking mainly NES versions. But the Genesis and SNES didn't have bad Castlevania games either. But enough of that. Lets talk more about this game. I liked it, no I really liked it. Castlevania Bloody Adventures plays out just like the very first Castlevania game. (Obviously, it's a hack after all) But I'll get into all that a little later, as for now lets talk about the mechanics of the game. The graphics, sound and story stuff ya know.
Graphics: 7 Bloody Adventures is a pretty decent hack of the original Castlevania so expected the graphics are going to be just as great as the original. They did a great job with the various level designs, all based on the classic Castlevania once again but with a darker more Gothic styled build. Surprisingly, yes it's possible to make Castlevania more Gothic like in appearance. But it's not as visually impressive for some reason. Your character sprite has changed from the usual Belmont from Castlevania, this time he's sporting black and red. Some of the enemies sprites has changed as well. Not to badly, but the Medusa looks a little worse in my opinion. The intro with Simon Belmont entering the castle grounds on the original is just a tad bit more appealing, because of the color swap for the sky the intro almost looks like it's on a black and white screen for Bloody Adventures. Oh and the areas with water are now replaced with blood! (You don't say!) I give the graphics 7 sets of twin mummies out of 10.
Sound: 10 All the sounds are about the same from the original Castlevania game so no problem here! You'll be enjoying that brilliant theme again. The sound effects are the same as before demonstrating a classic case of "If it's not broke, don't fix it!" So yeah, not really much else to say there. If you love the classic Castlevania music you'll love the sound track in this game as well. And I really love the classic Castlevania sound track! I give the sound 10 flying Dracula heads out of 10!!
Addictive: 7 Well this game is pretty fun, and it's a lot easier than the original version, that's always good for a hack because you don't have to go through all that mind blowing frustration that is Castlevania. Either that or my skills have improved vastly as if by magic. Which I highly doubt has happened, irregardless of how much vizzed soda I've consumed!. I give the addictive game play 7 bloody flail whips out of 10
Story: 4 For those of you who do not know the story for the classic Castlevania games.. Is that even possible? Well just in case, here goes. You're a descendant of the Belmont bloodline who're all cursed to return to vanquish the evil that is Count Dracula every time he returns. That's the basics anyway. I give the story 4 Stop clocks out of 10
Depth: 3 Yep, there's just bucket loads of story and depth to this game. *nods* sure is.. If you haven't guessed I'm being sarcastic of course. The game is shorter than the original and just a bit easier, while that is a pleasant change and I was thankful enough for it. It didn't do anything for the depth of the game. Now granted I have only played through it once so there might be a bit more to it, and if that is the case I'll come back here and edit the review and let you know A.S.A.P! I give the depth 3 Throwing axes out of 10
Difficulty: 6 The difficulty isn't nearly as infuriating as the classic but it's still there. It's the perfect balance of difficult but not to difficult. Some of the worst places are the few places you can be knocked back into a pit and of course the bosses. And that's another thing. There isn't close to as many pit traps in this one as the original which is so far out! Trust me, the first time you fall into one of those traps because of a hit and you find yourself on a safe platform under it you'll be thanking the designer. The bosses are all nicely done and thankfully there is a pit trap to trick the hunch back into falling in while fighting Frankenstein's monster. He's probably the easiest boss here. I give the difficulty 6 Medusa head's out of 10
Over all: 7.5 So what do I think over all ? Well it's nice. The game is a very decent hack of an already outstanding NES title. The music is just awesome and perfect for the game. The sound effects are decent and the same. The enemies are only slightly changed mostly in just color swaps. The game is easier and a tad bit shorter. So all in all it's a great game. But I can't help but notice that when I'm playing it sort of makes me want to play the classic version in which case I'm going to do right now! I give the over all rating 7.5 zombies out of 10. That's right, seven and a half. But at least it's the top half! With that I leave you now, for Dracula has returned and it is both my destiny and my curse to vanquish him. Once and forever!
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