Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Back in the days of the NES, a platforming game took the gaming world by storm- not only showing gamers that a simple jumping game could be fun, but that it could also be deep and incredibly long too. And, best of all, the games did not have the label “Mario” on them, like what most expected- but rather the name Castlevania, and the creation of a huge chronological series following the Belmont family in their quest to rid the world of Dracula whenever he surfaced in the human realm.

However, being an avid Castlevania fan, I have to admit that there was a point in which virtually everyone believed that the series was doomed. While more recent games like Castlevania: Dracula X and Castlevania: Bloodlines had been released, they were not much other than simple rehashes of the series- somewhat malformed ports of the original game, only with updated graphics and different levels.

But in 1997, the series was saved. On the newly released Sony Playstation system, a 2D game emerged known as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Retaining it's 2D heritage and simply reworking the engine to meet newer standards, Symphony of the Night hit us all like a brick- but it's time to explain why. Now, almost 10 years later, I intend to go back to the roots of the game, and, in today's standards, examine if it was a truly good game- or just a savior from the mediocrity of earlier titles.



First, let me get the standard fare out of the way and explain what makes Symphony of the Night different. As I mentioned above, it is 2D and built on the same platforming engine as many of the older titles, however, the feel is so much different it could have not been labeled Castlevania and no-one would have drawn a conclusion. The whole game is built around a castle- freely explorable and usable, and uses an almost Legend of Zelda type system to prevent you from going too far (You need ____ to get through certain doors, etc). Using the essentially limitless powers of the Playstation system, there are virtually no load times and the entire game is only broken down when it comes to the bare bones of rooms, meaning that there are no pointless transitions between areas in the castle. Extra moving effects, such as the ability to fly or the like, add more maneuverability to the game- but that does not even scratch the surface.

As you play Dracula's son Alucard, you will notice that the game also drops the Belmont aspect entirely and rather relies on the vampiric and basic abilities of Alucard to survive. There are no “Whips” or even “Whip Power ups”- rather, Alucard levels up by fighting enemies and gaining experience points, which allows him to be stronger and use more abilities. Being able to equip shields or swords in either hand (or sometimes both), it is very evident from the outset of Symphony of the Night that the developers at Konami made a special effort to lose the whip and gain an arsenal.

But now, let me actually segue into the game itself. Symphony of the Night chronicles the travel of Dracula's son Alucard to destroy his father- who he has opposed and put himself into what he wished to be eternal sleep to prevent the creation of more vampires. Being awoken by the disturbing return of the castle Castlevania, he runs in to meet Maria Renard, who is looking for Richter Belmont, the character from the last Castlevania game who had officially destroyed Dracula- or at least had hoped to do so.

With this in mind, there is something absolutely awesome about not having your character end with the name Belmont, and every bit of that is reflected in the game. Vampiric powers, such as the ability to harm enemies and gain health, play a large part of the game, which is essentially a great excuse for Konami to add a bunch of really cool stuff for virtually no reason. This addition adds an even more exciting function to the game- the fact that the castle is so vast and so varied, that many gamers are still today enjoying the discoveries they make in the cavernous halls of the game. Die hard players will note that these secrets are very strange- but they are so plain awesome, that they are definitely worth the hours of work to find them. This implementation of abilities within the castle- that is, the ability to use spells and tricks in the castle to discover new things or advance progress- is rarely, if ever, seen anywhere outside of this Castlevania game.



However, I am way ahead of myself- it is almost a sin for me to ignore the crowning jewel of this game- the graphics. While many of you are probably thinking I am crazy for enjoying 2D this much, I have to say that the graphical quality of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night may be the best work in 2D art I have ever seen in a video game, period. The fluid way in which every single character moves, teamed with the impeccable amount of detail all over the castle in every nook and cranny, makes this game a work of art to view and not even to play. This is not even referring to the character art of the Castlevania series, which I have mentioned before to be awesome- this is the entire game, from start to finish. I will try to add the best quality images I can to this review, but even if I do, I will probably be under representing the series, as the best way to view this game is to see it in operation, in it's absolutely flawlessly fluid animation.

Also, I must mention the soundtrack, which was, for officially the first time, completely stereo in beautiful full quality sound. Still considered one of the best soundtracks of all time by many gamers (“The Tragic Prince” probably being the best gaming song of all time, or maybe just by me), Castlevania: Symphony of the Night excels where all other games fail in this category, and basically pushes the Playstation to it's full capacity regarding audio. Of course, if you read below, that doesn't mean that they were PERFECT in the Audio department (In some places, they failed horribly), but no-one said you couldn't just pause it and crank up the music.

Of course, I cannot drool over this game for too long without mentioning it's key flaw, and that is in the storyline and presentation. As virtually every gamer has heard and made fun of, Symphony of the Night totes one of the absolute worst sets of voice acting in the history of mankind. The lines, somewhat poorly translated from the Japanese and then read with horrible fake accents and tones, make me want to take a drill and drive it through my skull, turning my whole head into a thick slurry of lines like “WHAT ARE HUMANS? A PILE OF MISERABLE SECRETS!”. This is not so much geeky hatred of a mistaken line, it is rather just an adequate reaction to what has to be an affront to voice acting as we know it today.

Also, depending on your perspective on the subject, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is rather simplistic to play, sometimes bordering on the absolutely brainlessly easy. Because the leveling system was new to Konami, I believe they did not think through the concept that simply attacking all enemies constantly would reap high levels early in the game, and the resulting game would be made insanely easy from it. The sad thing is, that is exactly what any gamer with RPG experience will do- just level Alucard until he becomes insanely powerful, then blast through like a bullet. This by no means does not make the game fun, and it does not mean that even current Castlevania games have this flaw, but it still does exist.



In conclusion, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a phenomenal game, just as it was almost 10 years ago. It right now pulls hundreds of dollars A PIECE for a taste of this wonderful gaming glory, and is still one of the most desired games of all time. If you ever see this game- if it ever crosses your eyes, flits in front of you at a store, or even shows up in the middle of the street- buy it without mercy. All problems aside, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a legend, a game that will be referenced by people 100 years from now as a forerunner of perfected gameplay. And then they'll pay something like $10,000 to hear a line like “DIE MONSTER. YOU DO NOT BELONG IN THIS WORLD.”. I slightly pity them.

5 star(s) out of 5

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