So today, I'm doing a review of Castlevania 2 - Simon's Redaction, a much more simpler and easy to understand version of the nes classic. This is my first review so I'm open to constructive criticism. Anyway, let's begin.
First off, there's the graphics. Nothing special for today's standards but back then, in the 80s, these graphics were seen as very high in quality. Rarely is a glitch ever seen, so the game looks very polished. Also, the enemy sprites are top notch, with everything looking like it should: villagers look like villagers, skeletons and the like look realistic to some extent, and the animations for the whip and sub-weapons look very nice. With all this in mind, it's still somewhat difficult to ignore the choices for the color scheme. All in all, I'd give the graphics an 8.
Moving on, let's talk about the sound and boy, is it good! The music is amazing (including one of the greatest tunes of the series: Bloody Tears) and the sound effects are really crisp and sound very nice. Not to say that other games aren't better (i.E. Super Mario Bros 3, Castlevania 3 - Dracula's Curse, The Legend of Zelda, etc.), but this game really holds it's own among the system's greats. Sound-wise, I'll give it 7.
Third of all, the addictiveness. This game is very long, and I don't recommend playing it more than once. Sure it has some nice factors, but it takes a lot to complete, demanding a whopping 13 hours of game play. My suggestion is that if you want to experience a different kind of Castlevania for the NES, then play this, but make sure to steer clear of the original. For addictiveness, this game gets a 4.
Now the story. Honestly, it's isn't very in depth. Basically, the story is that after you defeated Dracula in the first game (Castlevania), a "damsel in distress" informs Simon that Dracula has cast a curse on the land of Transylvania, making all the monsters much (2 times) stronger during the night, and that, in order to kill Dracula once and for all, Simon must retrieve all of Dracula's remains, take them to Dracula's castle's ruins, resurrect him, and, finally, kill him, ending the curse and getting the happy ending. Mind you, the story isn't explained in-game, you would have to own the instruction booklet in order to understand the story. Overall, this story gets a 3
Fourth point, the depth of the game. This game is very, VERY big, as explained by the required play time. There are a lot of items and sub-weapons to get, not to mention the different crystals required to access certain areas of the game in order to continue (but don't worry, these crystals are well explained in the game). Even with the save states, this game will take a while to beat, so brace yourself, and make sure you get all of the secret items. Rating for depth : an 8.
And finally, the difficulty. In terms of control, the game handles very nicely. Controls are tight, there's barely any delay of motion (except for the whip, but that makes sense) and they make it so that it's very easy to just pick up and play. Just make sure you have enough skill to fill in the holes.
The same cannot be said about the raw difficulty. There are many hard jumps to make in the game, especially those that require pixel-perfect precision, as well as the constant invisible pitfalls in the dungeon areas. Also, for those that are new to the series, beware the spikes. Difficulty gets a 4.
In the end, this game is above average. All of it's high points out-weigh it's low points (safe for the depth). With scores of 8 for the graphics, 7 for the sound, 4 for addictiveness, 3 for the story, an 8 for the depth and a 4 for the difficulty, this game gets a grand total of 8 out of 10. So today, I'm doing a review of Castlevania 2 - Simon's Redaction, a much more simpler and easy to understand version of the nes classic. This is my first review so I'm open to constructive criticism. Anyway, let's begin.
First off, there's the graphics. Nothing special for today's standards but back then, in the 80s, these graphics were seen as very high in quality. Rarely is a glitch ever seen, so the game looks very polished. Also, the enemy sprites are top notch, with everything looking like it should: villagers look like villagers, skeletons and the like look realistic to some extent, and the animations for the whip and sub-weapons look very nice. With all this in mind, it's still somewhat difficult to ignore the choices for the color scheme. All in all, I'd give the graphics an 8.
Moving on, let's talk about the sound and boy, is it good! The music is amazing (including one of the greatest tunes of the series: Bloody Tears) and the sound effects are really crisp and sound very nice. Not to say that other games aren't better (i.E. Super Mario Bros 3, Castlevania 3 - Dracula's Curse, The Legend of Zelda, etc.), but this game really holds it's own among the system's greats. Sound-wise, I'll give it 7.
Third of all, the addictiveness. This game is very long, and I don't recommend playing it more than once. Sure it has some nice factors, but it takes a lot to complete, demanding a whopping 13 hours of game play. My suggestion is that if you want to experience a different kind of Castlevania for the NES, then play this, but make sure to steer clear of the original. For addictiveness, this game gets a 4.
Now the story. Honestly, it's isn't very in depth. Basically, the story is that after you defeated Dracula in the first game (Castlevania), a "damsel in distress" informs Simon that Dracula has cast a curse on the land of Transylvania, making all the monsters much (2 times) stronger during the night, and that, in order to kill Dracula once and for all, Simon must retrieve all of Dracula's remains, take them to Dracula's castle's ruins, resurrect him, and, finally, kill him, ending the curse and getting the happy ending. Mind you, the story isn't explained in-game, you would have to own the instruction booklet in order to understand the story. Overall, this story gets a 3
Fourth point, the depth of the game. This game is very, VERY big, as explained by the required play time. There are a lot of items and sub-weapons to get, not to mention the different crystals required to access certain areas of the game in order to continue (but don't worry, these crystals are well explained in the game). Even with the save states, this game will take a while to beat, so brace yourself, and make sure you get all of the secret items. Rating for depth : an 8.
And finally, the difficulty. In terms of control, the game handles very nicely. Controls are tight, there's barely any delay of motion (except for the whip, but that makes sense) and they make it so that it's very easy to just pick up and play. Just make sure you have enough skill to fill in the holes.
The same cannot be said about the raw difficulty. There are many hard jumps to make in the game, especially those that require pixel-perfect precision, as well as the constant invisible pitfalls in the dungeon areas. Also, for those that are new to the series, beware the spikes. Difficulty gets a 4.
In the end, this game is above average. All of it's high points out-weigh it's low points (safe for the depth). With scores of 8 for the graphics, 7 for the sound, 4 for addictiveness, 3 for the story, an 8 for the depth and a 4 for the difficulty, this game gets a grand total of 8 out of 10. |
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