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Review  Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
- By Francis Bonnet
It was a dark and stormy night. The year was 1987. I heard a knock on the door. Thank God, it’s just my friend and not a vampire. But what’s this he has in his hand? Why, it’s a new game for the NES called ‘Castlevania.’ We put the cartridge inside the system and turned the power on. After a few tries (you know, having to blow in the cartridge and all) we finally got the game to work. I watched as my friend controlled Simon Belmont through endless levels of demons, skeletons, and other monsters in what proved to be a very gothic and dark game. The sequels on the NES were just as intriguing, reaching a climax with Castlevania III. When the series went on to the new 16-bit platforms (Super NES & Genesis), it began to lose its magic. Soon the 16-bit systems had disappeared and the dawn of the 32-bit/64-bit era was upon us. In 1997, ten years after the original Castlevania was released for the NES, Konami completed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for PSX. The magic had returned! Castlevania was reborn! Now here we are, four years after the revival of Castlevania’s side-scrolling glory, Symphony of the Night and Konami has, once again, brought us a game that is every bit as long and in-depth as SotN was, except, now it’s portable. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon proves to be the best Castlevania game to date.
Gameplay:
In the year of 1830, an evil woman named Camilla has once again brought Dracula back from the grave. Morris Baldwin, with his two students Hugh Baldwin and Nathan Graves, come to Dracula’s castle to try and stop Camilla only to find that they’re too late. Dracula recognizes Morris as one of the original vampire hunters who sealed him away for so many years and decides that the two of them need to catch up on old times. However, since Hugh and Nathan are so young, Dracula decides it would be safer for him to destroy the ground beneath them so they fall hundreds of feet below his castle. Now, the two of you are stuck in Dracula’s castle and you’ve got to find out what happened to your master. Hugh decides to go off on his own and you play the game as Nathan.
Exploration is a big part of Circle of the Moon. The whole game may be limited to the inside of Dracula’s castle, but many parts of the castle cannot be accessed until you get the correct item or power up. Similar to an RPG, gamers must build up Nathan’s ‘level’ by defeating enemies and picking up items that they leave behind. You will be able to find armor and weapon upgrades to make you more powerful, something that is necessary because the enemies in further parts of the castle can get very strong. Make sure that you save your game at every save point as often as possible in order to avoid frustration.
One interesting addition to CotM is Nathan’s magic ability. Some enemies drop special DSS which you can use to enhance Nathan’s abilities. This is where the game gets interesting, because there are so many cards that you can pick up and then combine with other cards making the number of abilities available very high. Since the cards are magic, they drain Nathan’s magic meter each time you use them. Some card combinations barely drain your magic at all, while other card combinations drain it considerably.
The game itself is very long and you may go through more than one set of batteries to complete it entirely. CotM is huge, and even longer than Symphony of the Night. An average player will probably be able to finish the game in about 15- 20 hours. If you’re familiar with SotN, the learning curve isn’t very high, but if you haven’t played SotN, the learning curve isn’t very steep, you’ll know what’s going on within 10-20 minutes of beginning the game.
Aesthetics:
Although the graphics are decent, they don’t push the Game Boy Advance’s hardware. Many areas of the castle have only a single scrolling background. A few of the later areas, however, have two levels of scrolling to show depth. Some parts of the game have a little slowdown if a lot of enemies are on screen at one time, but that’s not that big of an issue because it’s barely noticeable. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you that even though the visuals are pretty, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BRIGHT LIGHT SOURCE!! Circle of the Moon is dark… very, very, very dark. I bought a Worm Light just so I could play the game when lighting wasn’t as bright as possible. Have you ever tried wearing sunglasses while playing the Legend of Zelda on your Gameboy Color? Well, that’s kind of what it feels like when playing Circle of the Moon. It’s games like this that make me wish that the GBA had some sort of backlight option.
Sound:
Never before in my life have I heard music this sweet on a handheld. As soon as I turned on my GBA, I was introduced to an orchestra of beauty… I almost thought that it was a CD! The music changes depending on which part of the castle you’re in. One thing I’ve always liked about Castlevania is the music, and Circle of the Moon mixes new and classic tracks that’ll make all you old-school Castlevania fans drool like dogs on pork chop night. Sound effects are equally good; the crack of Nathan’s whip, the echo of his shoes as he walks against the castle floor, even the screams of dying enemies (which are rather disturbing)… all get an A+.
Control:
Control is easy to get into right from the start. The ‘A’ button is used to jump, the ‘B’ button to crack Nathan’s trusty whip. Hold ‘up’ and ‘B’ to use the secondary item (Holy water, Cross, Ax, etc). Those are the Castlevania basics, which have been around since the original. However, the ‘L’ and ‘R’ buttons are new additions that help bring further depth into the game. The ‘L’ button activates magic (depending on which DSS card combination you have selected) and the ‘R’ button activates the “special moves” that is earned each time you beat a boss. New and old players will find the controls responsive and easy. Plus, if you don’t like the control setup the traditional way, you can always change it in the Configuration menu.
OVERALL:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is most definitely my favorite Game Boy Advance launch game and probably one of the best games ever made for a handheld. The game provides a great challenge without being cheap and never seems tedious or frustrating. Graphics, sound, and gameplay are blended beautifully in what is a MUST BUY game for fans of the genre. If you’re new to Castlevania, I couldn’t recommend a better game to introduce you to the series (except maybe for Symphony of the Night) and if you’re an old-timer you’ll certainly love to see how Castlevania has evolved. Let’s hope that Konami keeps the series where it belongs, in 2D!
The Lowdown on  Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
| Aesthetics: Above Average |
Control: Very Good |
| Gameplay: Awesome |
Multiplayer: |
| Sound: Awesome |
Innovation: 3/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 6/6 |
Rating Explanation |
Overall: Awesome!
"Top of the Genre"
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This game is:
Awesome
actual screens
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INFO |
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Release Date:
06.11.2001
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IN A
NUTSHELL: |
| Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is most definitely my favorite Game Boy Advance launch game and probably one of the best games ever made for a handheld. |
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