Castlevania Reviews - Castlevania 64

And finally, the long awaited Castlevania 64 review:

Pic from Konami's web site.

Taking place in the year 1847, when motorcycles and chainsaws were all the rage in Transylvania. Wait a minute...what? Well, Dracula was ahead of his time. This game is in the mid-19th century. Anyhow, now that I finally own an N64 (thanks for the b-day present Audra ;)) , I can finally give a review.

Gameplay: For some of us, this is our first foray into the world of the N64, just like Symphony was the first reason some people had to buy the Playstation. And if you aren't used to the N64 analogue controller, this one will be H-A-R-D!...At first. The jumping and grabbing platforms and walking on thin little catwalks carrying volatile TNT (I got that on my first try, too, give me a hand!) can be a major pain in the ass for the shaky of hand. The jumping parts favor Carrie, but I'm still a dedicated whip-toter and even though Reinhardt looks like a disco reject with wacked out hair, I can still dig the guy. And check out the way he walks! It's like he's goin' "Yeaaaahhhhh. I'm a bad mamma jamma."

Carrie's homing orb weapons are not bad either, and each character also has a close-up weapon. Carrie has razor sharp rings and Reinhardt a short sword, and the close-up weapons, though weaker, are sometimes better. Example: When the Stone Dogs bite on to you when the Gardener ( Frankenstein ) is chasing you around in level 3, you can use the short weapon to knock them off of you. Also, when fighting vampires, if your whip isn't powered up ( the whip is always leather, but gets longer and glowing red...cool! ) and you can't take them out distanced and fast, run around and slash away with the short weapon, they can't grab on to you to bite you this way. And that brings us to vampires...

Vampires!: In this one, we finally see more vampires other than Drac himself, just the normal vampire servants of the count. And a bite can cause you to become a vampire yourself, and you'll need a purifying crystal to cleanse the blood. These vamps are:

Villagers: These are bad-ass looking werewolf-like vampires. They are also the easiest to defeat though. They basically run around slashing for the most part and can be taken out the quickest. You will face one Villlager vampire as a boss at the end of stage 3 though, naturally he's tougher. They can also turn into bats and mist.

Butlers: A bit harder to deal with than the Villager, these guys look like Dracula a bit, blue skinned and bearded. They also slash for their main attack.

Maids: The hardest of the 4 I think, Maids constantly grab on and bite you, and they are very hard to get a shot off on. Any vampire can be easily taken care of with holy water, but the Maids are quick. Try running and sword or ring slashing.

Maidens: Freshly turned vampires, Maidens can turn into mist and bats and crawl like spiders, also making them difficult to hit like Maids. The female vamps are the worst! Try the run and slash or if you can get a well placed holy water or axe in, do it. You will face a maiden after defeating the Villager vampire at the end of stage 3.

Villager vampire.

Some Other Things: In this one there's a weird demon guy named Renon who looks like a cross between Instant Karma! video John Lennon and Benedict from The Last Action Hero. He sells you things like Roast Chicken, Roast Beef, Cure Ampoules ( for poison ), etc. But watch out: when you spend over 30,000 on his items, he attacks you later. We also meet Malus ( a little kid, he's got a secret, too ), Rosa, a vampire chick who tends to roses ( white roses?..wha? ) and Charlie Vincent, an old vampire hunter who hangs around the mansion. ( I thought he was Richter, age 70 and using a new name! ).

Overall: There are a few bad reviews of this one, because it truthfully might have been rushed, ( the deletion of Cornel Reinhardt and Coller attests ), but I do dig this game. One very cool feature is the special gems which allow you to access hard level and gain special outfits when you beat the game. They are found in stages 1 and 7. Reinhardt gains Simon's armor from the Castlevania 1 box, and he looks much more like a Belmont. Carrie gains a pink dress. About the game overall, I do have some gripes. True, it doesn't feel as much like CV when it's 3-d, and most of the music is new (and there is no music in level 1), and the music is actually a letdown after Symphony. (Levels 2, 3, 5 and Reinhardt's level 7 are pretty good...if anyone knows where I can get Mp3's or Midi's lemme know).

But, for old similarities, Dracula's 1st form, the imposter, dresses exactly like Drac did in Legends, the big sleeping bull in level 5 is the dead creature from Symphony's colloseum and he chased you in Dracula X, and when you enter the Castle Wall (level 2) and when you fight the Villager vampire at the end of the Villa ( level 3 ), listen for an echo of Bloody Tears, plus stage 6 is a slower version of Reincarnated Soul from Bloodlines I believe, with a few elements of Psycho Warrior from Belmont's Revenge, the first Dracula battle is Illusionary Dance from Dracula X and Symphony, and right before the first form of Dracula comes out to fight you hear the reverse Colloseum music from Symphony.

Okay, though, now my major gripes. There are way, way, way, way WAY too many FALLING DEATHS! Nobody, repeat NOBODY has fun in games where 90% of the deaths come from FALLING! That's why so many people have trashed Castlevania Adventure. Level 6 with Reinhardt is the most frustrating Castlevania level, EVER, and levels 7 and 9 are pretty damn irritating too! No save points (in level 6) and all these inane falling deaths. More battle and less jumping I say, it's CHEESY, it's LAME! And one thing that attributes to some jumping deaths is the horrible camera angles. Sometimes you can't even see what you are jumping on, and the camera also does this when you are fighting every now and then. Not that I don't like the game, I do, I just had to add those things.

The big battles are no problem, I beat Death and Dracula's first form both on my first tries, it's just all the damn jumping and falling that screws the game up. But I do still like it, it's just no Symphony. I have beaten it with both characters, but my first game with Reinhardt I got the "bad" ending which you get when you take too long, and I think mostly everyone takes too long their first game. But in my second game with Carrie I got the real ending, and I still haven't had to fight Renon. So now that you've heard the good and the bad, check the game out.