A run through what this game has to offerCastlevania, this name name me think of Dracula. I'm not sure why, probably the link to Transylvania and Dracula there and the name sounded alike made me think that. Boy, what a game. This was the first hardest game - and I mean proper hard core tricky - that I played. The story starts out with a castle appearing out of nowhere. This castle is called....Castlevania. The castle of Count Dracula himself, an evil vampire that wishes to cover the world in darkness, something like that. He's not called the Prince of Darkness for nothing! You are Simon Belmont, a vampire slayer set out to kill Dracula and return the world to peace.
The controls are a little stiff. You don't have much control over jumping. Your movement is fixed, meaning you can't move in mid-air. Once you get used to this, the controls are fine. By pressing up and B, you can use your sub-weapon. These sub-weapons need hearts to use. They are ammo, not health. Whenever you see a heart, get it, you'll need it for the boss battles. The big hearts are worth 5 hearts. Where do you get these "hearts"? In candles, of course. I know, the logic in the game isn't perfect, it's a little lob-sided. Try destroying as many candles as you can. You'll get money bags for points, hearts for sub-weapons, and even some sub-weapons themselves. But be careful, on more than one time, I had a good sub-weapon, only for it to be replaced with one I really didn't need.
The sub-weapons can also be sued two or three times in one sitting. You just need the double and triple power. They can be found in cracks in the wall. That's right, cracks in the wall. It's a old castle, you go to expect the walls to be weaker than they once were. You can find pieces of chicken that heal your health, double power (or tripple power if you already have the double power), big hearts and maybe even a little secret.
Secrets? Like secret rooms filled with money bags, the best sub-weapon and lots of hearts?
NO! No, nothing like that. If you find a space you whipped open on a wall, but it's empty with nothing it in, try standing in it. You might get some point bonus. Secrets arn't just that, either....
Sometimes you need to press down somewhere, sometimes you need to jump somewhere, sometimes you need to drop down from somewhere. I think I found them all, but there might be one or two that might have missed me.
Now the music. Needless to say, superb. This is the kind of music that you know will stick worth the name Castlevania forever, no matter what (ok, maybe one time in Castlevania 64, little or no music what-so-ever). Enough said. Music awesome! ^^ (ok, maybe there is never an enough said on this matter).
The boss battles are epic. You get to fight Death himself, scythe and all. Death in this game is Dracula's right-hand man. Death is to be respected in all manners (I have done this in the other games, he's just so cool!). Seriously, this is one boss you don't want to fight again. He's deadly (pun unintended). He will kill you over and over and will most likley be the stopping point in this game. So give him hell when you fight him for me!
Overall, this game is one of the most remarkable classics you'll ever play. The music matched with the difficulty and game play, with it's eerie grapthics and monsters and weaponry makes it one of the greats. It's in the top 10 in the lists of "top 10 greatest platformers". One Castlevania game springs to mind as the only one being better than this one. What is that? I hear you ask, I'll do a review all about it next time. But it begins with "S" and ends with IV with the air of epic engraved all over it...
Overall, I give it 9.3/10
Graphics
7 Sound
10 Addictive
6 Depth
7 Story
2 Difficulty
10