 |
 |
|
Castlevania Reviews - Castlevania Bloodlines 
Castlevania Bloodlines:
Castlevania: Bloodlines was the only Castlevania game released for the Sega Genesis, released in 1994. In Europe it was called Castlevania: The New Generation, and in Japan was simply titled Vampire Killer. Set in the year of 1917, this game gives you control of not a Belmont, but two Belmont descendants by the name of John Morris and Eric LeCarde. Morris is the son of Quincy Morris, who succeeded in driving a wooden stake into the heart of Dracula in 1897, but dying himself moments later due to injuries inflicted by Dracula's minions. So the story goes, the 2 year old John and 5 year old Eric witnessed Quincy's showdown with Dracula from the shadows. In the year 1917, a witch by the name of Drolta Tzuentes accidentally resurrects Dracula's niece Elizabeth Bartley, herself an evil vampire. Bartley now seeks to resurrect her uncle Dracula, and Morris and LeCarde are led to Castlevania. Besides their duties as Belmont descendants and as the witnessors of Quincy's death, Eric's girlfriend Gwendolyn has been turned into a vampire by Bartley. Morris wields the legendary Vampire Killer family whip, and LeCarde the powerful Alcarde spear. And now, a brief overview of gameplay.M/P>
Gameplay: Although the game retains the platform feel of the previous Castlevania games, it has a different feel to it overall, but a cool feel. The characters move much faster than the previous Belmonts but the walking animations are a bit jerky, particularly on John. My friend swears he walks like a monkey. One major difference in this and the other Castlevania games is that the regular every day enemies can actually be tough! Instead of wandering around aimlessly waiting for a flick of the whip to dispatch them, the skeletons of Bloodlines literally jump onto your head out of nowhere! Also, the skeletons armed with swords and shields need to be taken apart piece by piece. And the mermen are freakin' HUGE compared to the old ones, and now they spit streams of acid. (Wasn't it just water in CV IV? Well it's green in this one.) John Morris is a wielder of the Vampire Killer, but he doesn't play like a Simon or a Trevor in control. Eric LeCarde (who coincidentally shares my birthday - May 3rd) wields the trident like Alcarde spear, just as fun to use as the whip. John can swing from ceilings, and Eric can pole vault. This game does have a password and continue function, but you are only allowed two continues. At least they take you back to the start of whatever section of a level you were on, rather than the very beginning, when you continue. The password entry is similar to Castlevania 3 and 4's password function. Oh, and for some Bloodlines nostalgia in Symphony Of The Night, check out the room between the save point in the library and the section of the library with the flea armors. It's the background of the Bloodlines save screen, and one of those armors must be Sir Grakul from Super Castlevania IV. On more nostalgia notes, check tunes #'s 14, 15 and 16 in the Bloodlines BGM soundtest. Not appearing in the game as a background music, these tracks are classics Beginning, Bloody Tears and Vampire Killer. Also track 20 is Theme Of Simon, which appears before the battle with Dracula. Some more notes on Bloodlines: After beating the game on Normal difficulty level, you are given access to Expert difficulty. Do NOT attempt Expert difficulty unless you find The Castlevania Adventure only mildly frustrating, because it is H-A-R-D hard! There are ghosts EVERYWHERE, and those little bastards are hard to hit, and they take 2 hits at that! So just a warning if you're attempting Expert. Oh, there are no hearts in this game, but rather jewels. There are also no religious symbols in this game, the cross boomerang being replaced with the crystal blade boomerang and the rosary being replaced by the mirror of truth. I don't know if this was a necessary change, since I didn't feel brainwashed by seeing a cross in a video game as a child, but they work the same. There is no dagger or stopwatch, but the axe and holy water ("sacred water") remain. There are item crashes which can be executed by pressing up at the same time as C. As for whip power-ups, there are 3. They go: John: Leather Whip Chain Whip (Short Morning Star) Vampire Killer (Morning Star) Lightning Whip. The Lightning Whip brings with it a powerful lightning sub-weapon which uses 8 hearts, but the whip power and sub-weapon are lost when you take a hit. Eric: Alcarde Spear Double Bladed (Axe Blade) Alcarde Spear Trident (Opening) Alcarde Spear Flaming Alcarde Spear. The flaming Alcarde spear is powered up by a blue flame, which also brings with it a powerful sub-weapon, but it is also lost with a hit. Tip: How to get back the lightning or flame power-up after running out of enough jewels or getting a new sub-weapon: 
The lightning or flaming power-ups each use 8 jewels to use the devastating sub-weapons. If you get to below 8 jewels, or pick up a new sub-weapon, the special power remains on your whip or spear but the sub-weapon is lost, and whatever sub-weapon was "under" the flame or lightning power-up returns. But there is a way to regain - I'm not perfectly sure, but I've done this a few times and I think that once you get back to 8 jewels, or if you had enough to begin with, that if you pick up the weapon that you had "under" the flame or lightning , the flame or lightning returns. A manga merman! Thanks to Zack at the Bloodlines page! Da Bosses! Here is a summary of every Bloodlines boss and what to do up against them. Level 1 Boss A: The Hellhound. Arooo! Well, the Hellhound is the first boss of the game you face and he shouldn't give you too much trouble. He usually starts out my breathing fire which he drags up and down before backing up and breathing more fire or howling to break the windows. You can easily stick and move when he's breathing fire, but the shards of glass from the windows usually hit you. When he starts breaking windows, just jump around as much as possible until the glass stops falling and continue the wailing on him. If you charge in and let him have it and let him breathe his fire, sometimes he won't get a chance to break any windows. Boss B: The Mecha-Knight. I'll bite your legs off! The Mecha-Knight will jump around and swing his axe and spear at you, but you can take him apart piece by piece without much trouble. When he has no arms, he'll start kicking at you and charging. The crystal blade boomerang helps here, or perhaps the lighting/fire power-up. Level 2 Boss A: The Water Magician. This guy's name might as well be Marvin P. Crimpetcake. He's the lamest Castlevania boss of all time. He tries to slowly drown you by filling the shrine up with water. Just jump and hit him without using sub-weapons and he's dead, dead, dead.
Bosses B and C: Magic Knights. Magic Knight # 1. He attacks using a huge Morning Star, but you can duck right under it. Just wail away and throw an axe here and there. Magic Knight # 2. He wields a huge axe, which cannot be ducked under, but by throwing your own axes and jumping back he isn't too hard. When he's low on power, he jumps right in front of you, at which point you should hit him quickly until he drops. Boss D: The Golem. This guy's funny. He's easier to beat with John, because you can jump and whip diagonally at his head, where he has to be hit, right in the eye. With Eric you need to throw axes, do the boomerang or holy water item crash, or take out his lower body first. After you beat him, he shakes his fist at you as he sinks to the ground, as if to say "I curse you in hell!! I'll be back if we ever get a sequellllll.......*" Level 3: Boss A: The Bone Dragon King. (Appears only in Normal and Expert modes). He doesn't even deserve boss status. Just take him out as you normally would a Bone Dragon. Only thing is he's mildly hard to hit, but he also won't be hitting you at the same time. Axes work best. Boss B: The Gargoyle ("The Rock-Tailed Bat"). I wonder if the designers noticed the sick joke, since the song "Get Your Rocks Off" was popular in 1994. You'll see what I mean when you fight him. When you first encounter him, he'll be even more frustrating than Frankenstein and Igor ever were, but after a few battles you'll pick up the pattern. Just jump each time he shoots out rocks and hit him once or toss a few axes or boomerangs when you can. When he gets to about 1/4 power just sidestep his dive-bomb attacks and land a hit. He gives a satisfying scream when you finally take him out. Who's bad now, ya bat-bitch!   Hey! Quit tryin' to get your rocks off on me, pervert! Level 4: Boss A: The Monster (Appears only in Normal and Expert levels). Frankie wanna be a Belmont! Frankenfurter actually uses a whip in this one, well an electricity whip. He's also pretty damn big. But you'll get a pattern right away and he isn't all too terribly hard. Sometimes, you are lucky enough to have the flame or lightning power-up; if so, avoid the first swing of his electricity whip and let him have it. Boss B: The Gears Monster (Gear Steamer). This guy's a scream! He goes buck-wild flying all over the place and after he beats you he victoriously raises his gear arms and spins around, no matter what size you beat him to. Hard the first few times, but you just have to know when to hit multiple times and when to jump away. You'll probably have holy water here, and it does a little damage but not much. Drop one now and then on his head or try the item crash. Level 5: Boss A: Magic Knight # 3. (Appears only in Normal and Expert modes). This Magic Knight isn't armed except for his shooting hand, and he's easier than the Magic Knight armed with the axe. I don't know why you fight him this late. Just stick and move, or use the boomerang which is given to you here, or maybe keep your axe and use it as you would on the first 2 Magic Knights. Boss B: The Enchanted Pillars.Two big statue heads and a pillar that shoot out little balls of light. Freakily. Easiest with Eric, just aim up in the center of the pillar and brandish the spear. When the faces disappear, you should inflict a good amount of damage onto the pillar, and the brandishing should take care of the lights. Boomerangs are a good counter to the lights as well. Boss C: Princess Of Moss (Princess Of Moths it has to be, this is just a bad Japanese to English translation most likely). Okay, what's Mothra doing in Castlevania? She starts out as a woman in white who looks like Sypha and just floats around a little. After you hit her a few times, she turns into Mothra. Really. Avoid the eggs and moth-dust and try to throw axes or hit diagonally in the air with John, or aim the spear up with Eric. She's not all that hard. Level 6: Boss A: Death. Grimmy-o's has a deck of cards in this one, and you stand underneath him and hit the cards. Depending on which one you hit, you either get a blast from Death, a whole slew of pot roasts, or you fight one of these 3 bosses over: Gargoyle, Golem, Gears Monster. ( Ain't nothin' but a G thang). After defeating the 3 bosses, you get to fight Death himself. You can hit him with axes when he's in the air ( provided you have jewels ), and land multiple hits when he's trying to suck you in with his sickle twirl. Luckily, when you die against Death and you come back, you don't have to face the 3 bosses over. You can cheat before fighting Death, Elizabeth Bartley and Dracula by going up and down the stairs right before fighting them and stocking up on jewels. Boss B: Medusa (Elizabeth Bartley in the form of Medusa). Very easy once you get her pattern, Elizabeth Bartley takes the form of Medusa for your first encounter with her. Her first attack is a swirling fire which you can jump right through and land some hits. Her second attack is a long tongue of fire which curls downward, which you can back off from and then land some hits. Her third attack is a tail swipe which is easily jumped over. After that she just inches towards you, and you can wail on her. She takes a hit well, but her offense is easily avoided. Boss C: The True Elizabeth Bartley. (Appears only in Normal and Expert modes). Now SHE is pretty hard the first few times. When she appears, she will make 4 or 5 balls of light rotate around her. Each time you hit her one disappears, but she loses no power, until there is only one left. If you are quick enough to hit her then, she loses power. If not, it will do something nasty, like make 4 flea men come out, produce a ring of fire, etc. Just be quick with the hits and you'll be able to take her down, but it may take a few tries.
Boss D: Dracula! Okay, you know Drac and his shape-shifting. First incarnation is the usual teleport and fireballs Drac. Just stand right in front of him and jump and hit his head when he appears, he takes a hit and you shouldn't. The next form is a little cloaked, flying Drac that looks somewhat like Death. If you stocked up on jewels and have axes, use em now, or aim straight up with Eric or jump and whip diagonally with John. Not too hard. Next is the evil Crotch-Mouth Drac! Seriously, he turns into a huge demon with a mouth in his crotch who shoots fireballs. Use your axes and jumping hits, or Eric's diagonal and straight overhead stabs, and you should be able to send Crotch-Mouth back whence he came. Overall: CV Bloodlines should be a part of everyone's Sega Genesis collection, even if you don't dig Castlevania, though why would you be here if you didn't! It's also interesting to have just to see the odd-looking versions of known enemies, and to look at how much things changed in the technology of video games between 1994's Bloodlines and 1997's Symphony Of The Night. And I do love this one. 
| |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
