Customer Reviews

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

That's right, this game is that worth it. Many years ago I bought the original version of Rondo of Blood for the Turbo Duo for $200 and even to this day I regard it not only as my favorite Castlevania ever, but probably my favorite video game ever. I also regard Symphony of the Night as one of the best, and if you're a fan of SOTN and have not played this, you are severely missing out. SOTN basically took everything from this game and expanded on it, turning it into a super metroid style game. You'll notice that most of the monster and character designs in SOTN were pulled directly from Rondo of Blood. Some peole may argue that SOTN is better. However, it's hard to compare the games to each other because the layout schemes are so different.

The best way I can describe it is as follows - Rondo of Blood is the hands down king of the old style [linear] Castlevania games, SOTN is the best of the newer metroid style [free-roam] Castlevania games. To own both of these on one disc is worth far more than the $30 price tag.

Quite possibly the most superior aspect of Rondo of Blood compared to ALL other Castlevania games (including SOTN)is the music. The soundtrack is the most top notch you will ever find in a video game and it makes for an extremely satisfying experience (don't get me wrong, SOTN also has an insanely good soundtrack, but it completely lakcs any original Castlevania remakes - Rondo of Blood has most of the classics). The game designers were obviously aware of the superiority of the score and that is most likely why so much of this remake focuses on music collection and customization. That's right, you can actually take songs from the orginal Rondo of Blood or SOTN and place whatever tracks in whatever levels you want of the remake! For me, this completely enhances replayability. Bored of the game? Well try substituting the orignal soundtrack into the new game, or better yet throw in some SOTN clasics like "Wandering Ghosts" or "The Tragic Prince" and see how the levels play out. It may not seem like much to some, but this is actually one of the greatest features I could have asked for.

As far as difficulty, this game is probably on par with Castlevania 1 or 3. Some people will complain that the play control in Rondo of Blood is not as good as in SOTN or Castlevania 4 for SNES, but to be honest with you, I think these people are way too spoiled on the newer Castlevania games, and the point behind Rondo of Blood is to keep the classic NES Castlevnia play control intact. Rondo of Blood truly is the missing link between the older and newer Castlevania generations.

All good points aside, there are a couple of criticisms I have about the remake. First off, Richter's backflip was a pretty handy technique in the orginal Rondo of Blood because it played smoothly into the controls, but in this remake it is absolutely ridiculous. I find myself accidentally doing backflips almost everytime I jump. In fact, I'd say unintentional backflipping is my number one cause of death in this game. I didn't remember the backflip being such a nuisance in the original so I figured maybe it was just weird because I was playing it on a PSP, but when I unlocked he original and started playing it, everything seemed as normal as ever, so this is obviously an annoyance exclusive to the remake. It's so bad it's hard to not choose Maria over Richter every level.

Another small gripe I have is about the screen size settings of the original Rondo of Blood and SOTN games included. First off, full screen is a must, unless you like feeling like you're playing a gameboy game on a TV with a super gameboy adapter. Full screen mode does eliminate the bottom borders, but still leave you with the side borders, which you fill in by choosing on of a few different frames. The frames all look completely lame, and why they could not allow you to choose just a solid black frame is beyond me. And I do realize these are old games that were made years ago to fit different resolutions, but come on - I had the original Rondo of Blood on my PSP over a year ago with an emulator and was still able to choose a stretched fit that looked fine, so this cheesy border thing is just inexcusable.

One final complaint about the originals is the voice acting. Rondo of Blood was never made in English, so I can't complain too much about the voices and dialogue. But there was absolutely no reason to toy around with the voice acting in SOTN. The voices are definitely different, and I even think some of the direct dialogue has been changed. Besides Richter now sounding like a whiny kid and Death, instead of sounding like a skeleton, now sounds like just some regular dude, the changes are in fact probably better overall because, to be honest with you, the voice acting is the original SOTN was just plain terrible. However, going back and changing something so major from what was supposed to be an "original game" definitely seems to diminish it's authenticity.

In summary, despite some minor undesirable nuances, this is still the best game released for the PSP to date, and if you're a Castlevania fan picking it up shouldn't even be a second thought. This is a great opportunity to own two of the best games ever made, along with a semi-decent remake enhanced with tremendous sountrack customization. I may as well toss the game case, because this game is never coming out of my PSP.

First and foremost, I gotta start out with the one aspect of the game I hated the most-- the voice acting. Oh sure, you've heard whining about it countless times, but this game seems to find room near the bottom of my list of worsts. It's not sound quality, that's definetly there. But if you've played Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night and loved the voices in that game, you'll feel cheated here. I can't help but comment how late-20th century "American" the new voices sound --both in accented speech and in chosen words-- for something supposedly set in 16th century central Europe. Anyone remember how erotic Maria sounded as she pronounced "Richter" in CSOTN? That's gone. Gone is the deep, dark voice of Shaft, replaced with what sounds like a mid-20-year-old. So is Dracula's commanding voice of grandeur. It may just be me, but almost all the voices are replaced with, what seems like, an almost identicle voice actor to every character in the game (aside a few of the females). I'm sure they are different, but...they are just TOO similar for my tastes. I haven't played through completely to give my full accessment, but there IS an option to change it to the original Japanese voices. Are these the same Japanese voices as 10 years ago? Probably not, but Japan does a much better job picking appropriate voice actors for their games than we (Americans) do.

I really don't mean to b*tch and moan, but the game had alot of other things that kind of irritated me. For instance, if you want to play CSOTN or Rondo of Blood from the main menu, select it, then go grab yourself a Latte, because it takes at LEAST 45 seconds for the game to load. Music, too, from these classic games takes a few seconds to load. No, it's not the end of the world, and this is a minor nitpick, but when you're used to the PSX version smoothly transitioning music between tracks, you really notice the 3 - 4 second silence. This probably could not be helped.

Okay, now for the good stuff. The plot is the same as almost every other Castlevania-- Dracula is back, and your job is to kill 'im. The graphics are GREAT in the remake game. The backgrounds, baddies, and cut scenes, though short, are a real treat for something on this platform. It has alot of replay value, since you need to accomplish a few things before getting the best ending. The music, most remixed, a few new "replaced" themes, is fantatic (EXCEPT for Dance Of Illusions, which kind of disappointed me). The sound effects-- most were really good, and some were...not. For example, a few of the cut scenes were stock. The "crashing" door the Minotaur made sounded like loud knocking. The skulls Death controlled made a humming harmonica-ish sound, which just came off as silly. Other than that, the rest was gravy.

Before you purchase, take note that this is modeled after classic Castlevania, where the controls are stiff, the baddies have the upper hand in movement, and it takes REAL skill to maneuver your character around and out of danger. This means 4 - 5 hits equals death, whether it be at the blade of an enormous ax, balls of fire and chaos, or simply landing on a frog. Also note that because of it's age and genre, the characters can be slow for some. This is old school at it's finest, my friend.

If you've trained yourself not to care at all about some aspects and love the Castlevania series, then give this game a shot. But if it's the complete package of cutting-edge graphics, music, control, plot, and voice work, you'll have some complaints.

PROS:
It's Castlevania
Original Games Symphony Of the Night, Rondo Of Blood
Improved Graphics and music on the remake
Switch between Japanese/English voices
Old school feel / Challenging

CONS:
Nothing too new
Voices and dialogue completely changed, and suck big time
Old school feel / Difficult for some
If you beat the game, viewing the ENTIRE list of credits is mandatory... EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

First thing first, if this were a review for "Symphony of the Night," and "Symphony of the Night" only, there would be 5 shiny gold stars at the top. However, this is a review for "The Dracula X Chronicles," the largest part of which is the remake of "Rondo of Blood"--thus: 1 star for including "SotN" as BONUS CONTENT (you'll have to beat "Rondo" to play "Symphony"), and 2 stars for "Rondo of Blood."
Now I know that such a rating will border on blasphemy to the Castlevania faithful, but so be it. This isn't a review for them. This is for any but the most hardcore gamers who are Castlevania fans, for those who might be as turned off as I was by this game's most serious deficiency: playability.
I define "playability" as the X factor [meaning it may be many things in many different games] that causes the player to never want to put the game down; it's the thing that keeps you up into the early hours of the morning playing "just one more level." And, most importantly, it's the thing that puts a smile on your face. Playability leaves you anxious for more, and satisfied once you've finished that 100% completion; it's the thing that makes you just the tiniest bit unhappy when you're done because you don't know how long it will be before you have such a rich, rewarding gaming experience again.
It is this type of playability that "Rondo" lacks. It's a beautiful game to look at, and it certainly delivers a solid 3D/2D side-scrolling Castlevania experience. BUT that experience is hampered by the masochistic difficulty of the game. I'm all for challenging gameplay, and I wholeheartedly believe that a game should reward the gamer's developing skills by increasing in difficulty as levels get higher, but "Rondo of Blood" is punishingly, frustratingly difficult from the beginning--and extremely unforgiving of small mistakes: time and again you will find yourself taking damage due to the most miniscule misplacement of your character, and even small enemies deal out damage that drains large amounts from your health meter. Again, I love a good challenge, but I also like to be rewarded for gaining the skills to overcome that challenge. I want that feeling of satisfaction that comes when you know you've finally figured out the key to passing a certain level or beating a certain enemy--that you've risen to the challenge. Unfortunately, that feeling is rare with "Rondo." Rather, the feeling I most often had at the end of a level was relief that I'd finally broken through, and the suspicion that it was luck more than anything else that finally got me there. And I was usually ready to turn the game off, which in my opinion is the one emotion that a game should never, ever evoke in a player: you should always shut down your system with regret, not relief! And, more than anything, the gamer should NEVER want to throw his controller (or entire system in this case) out of frustration. I'm looking for positive emotions from my gaming experiences, and that type of deep frustration is as negative as it gets--but it's one that I felt all too often playing "Rondo of Blood."
I am a very casual gamer (2 or 3 titles per year), and there are just too many good games out there for me to spend time on anything that delivers so much frustration and so little satisfaction.
I love Castlevania, and "Symphony of the Night" is my favorite game of all time, but I just can't recommend "The Dracula X Chronicles" to anyone but the most hardcore Castlevania fans.

[This review is from one of my sons.]Back in 1997 when 'Castlevania: Symphony of the Night' was released, I was instantly enthralled with the series, and I've been wanting more ever since. The game I wanted the very most, however, was the original game with Richter. I once had a test-play on Dracula X at a PlaySource store, but it wasn't long before I learned that the said title was a pathetic redo of an awesome legendary PC game only released in Japan. I was severely disappointed that this awesome title would never rest in my hands. Fortunately, 9 months ago I received word of the PSP port and remake and instantly decided that I would be getting a PSP just for this.

After finally playing the Remake, the Original Rondo and Symphony again, I realize that this game is a complete steal - $30 for two (three, if you count the Remake and Original as separate) legendary games on a handheld. The Super Nintedo game "Dracula X" is not included, but Rondo of Blood is much better anyway. You have to unlock the original games, but you will so happy to play the Remake and look around for its secrets this shouldn't take long. You even can unlock "Akumajyo Dracula Peke", a silly Easter egg that originally played on the original PC game when said PC was imcompatible with the disc.

About the Remake: the game is really fun, and has great graphics, almost like a 2D game with a Lament of Innocence look. After playing the Original Rondo all the way through, I realized this Remake is not exactly the same - there are some various changes throughout, such as having to find all the maidens before being able to rescue Annette, and having to fight the Hydra on level 5'. If you save all the maidens, you also have to Dracula in a third form, much harder than the first two (which you can almost easily beat without a scratch). There are also various puzzles to find various record discs which you can use to Assign Music to different stages. Said music includes music from all three games. It can be quite funny to fight Dracula with the Long Library's (from SotN) music!

The Original Rondo was somewhat more fun to play for me; for some reason I have a taste for old school games, even the remake is awesome. The graphics in this game are great too, considering it was made 14 years ago. While no doubt still being challenging, it is a bit easier than some of the older titles, such as the very first Castlevania. The Item Crash also gives you an edge, as does the backflip(which actually works better than it does in SotN) against enemies, especially against a large horde attacking all at once. After playing through all the stages, alternative stages and all, you can see why they called this the Holy Grail of the old school games.

Symphony of the Night is something most CV gamers probably already have, but for some reason playing it on a handheld makes it more convenient and fun. This game is not exactly the same as the PS version, as there are new familiars from the Saturn Japan Only version, as well a fight with Maria and being able to play her once you beat the game but, sadly, the missing levels were not added. If they were going to add so much Saturn additions, why not include all of the addition features? Still, the additions to the classic game are interesting, even though I would have liked to have seen the two extra levels as well.

As I have said before, this game is a steal. It is cheaper than most other PSP games and, in my opinion, is the best PSP game on the market currently. A lost (and awesome, and vital) chapter in the Castlevania series is finally here in the US, so if you want a thrill and a bundle of fun for weeks (and years of replaying), look no further. You're looking at a bundle of the two best games of both generations of Castlevania gaming.

I'm a late adopter of the PSP, having bought it when the PSP Slim was first released as part of the PSP Daxter Entertainment Pack - Ice Silver. At the time, I didn't know that this game was coming, and I hesitated, not knowing if the PSP would be worth the cash when I have much more faith in Nintendo systems. Mega Man Powered Up was what pushed me over the edge, but if I had known about this, I would have bought the PSP with that much more confidence. This game is a Castlevania fan's dream. If you are one, and own a PSP, stop reading this immediately and buy the game. If you're less familiar with the series, read on.

"Akumaj' Dracula X Chi no Rondo", or "Demon Castle Dracula X Rondo of Blood", was released in 1993 for the PC Engine Super CD, a CD-based add-on to the PC Engine, known as TurboGrafx-16 in North America. The TurboGrafx-16 was never particularly popular here, and the Super CD was quite rare, perhaps impossible to find in some areas. As such, Rondo of Blood never made it to America. When PC-based console emulation became popular in the late 90's and beyond, American gamers re-discovered Rondo of Blood, playing it in its original Japanese on the Magic Engine, a PC Engine/Super CD emulator. For those who did so, they needed to either buy the game from an auction site, which could cost $100 or more, or download it illegally, a questionable practice. With either method, if said gamer does not know Japanese, the plot is completely lost; despite this, many hardcore Castlevania fans enjoyed the game regardless, hailing Rondo of Blood as one the finest of the early Castlevania games.

14 years after its original Japanese release, Rondo of Blood is back in a remastered 2.5D format, with CGI cinematic sequences and live voice acting in both English and Japanese - though, interestingly, the opening cinematic is in German with subtitles. Even if you don't prefer remastered games, the original PC Engine version is unlockable by finding a special item hidden in the remastered game (NOT by simply beating the remastered game). Also lurking in the game is an unlockable version of the PlayStation classic, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! Additional new features include audio track items that enable you to customize the music in the game, boss strategies that can be purchased with money dropped from enemies, and four prisoners to rescue, three of which grant you new abilities and one an additional playable character. All of the levels of Rondo of Blood have two exits, which lead to a "normal" path and an "alternate" path. From the file select screen you can choose to replay any level you've completed, in case you want to search for pick-ups or prisoners you've missed.

Rondo of Blood is a fairly short, highly difficult game, though truly no more difficult than the first three NES Castlevania games I grew up with. Most NES games (Contra, another Konami game, comes to mind here) stretched replay value by making games so hard that you'd routinely throw a controller out the window. While I don't recommend doing that with a PSP, Rondo of Blood may seem incredibly challenging to less experienced players. Although you can complete the entire game solely as the whip-wielding Richter Belmont, rescuing Maria Renard in Stage 2 is highly recommended, as the game is much easier to complete with her. She is more frail, but her double-jump and unique variety of special weapons makes even Dracula a pushover to defeat.

Symphony of the Night, being a bit easier and a lot longer in gameplay, nicely balances the nasty, brutish and short experience that is Rondo of Blood. If you're a veteran of the PlayStation or Saturn version, you may notice that the entire game has been re-done with new voice acting (minor unimportant changes have been introduced in the script as well), two new familiars - helper characters - have been added, one new boss has been added and one new playable character has been added as an extra after beating the game as Alucard. Even if you've played it before, it's definitely worth a replay or two.

The only downside to this game is that none of it is really "new". If you know Japanese, have played the Japanese version of Rondo of Blood, and have played any version of Symphony of the Night, you MIGHT just be bored with this - but if you're a hardcore enough Castlevania fan to have imported Rondo of Blood, you'll probably want to pick this game up anyway. If you're against 2D games in general, though, you might as well skip this one.

Finally a spruced up old-school castlevania. I fell in love with the series when i played the original gba title circle of the moon since then i have done my best to get as many as i could.

Originally i was more excited to have a portable Symphony of the Night and the remake of Rondo of blood was an added bonus. I have spent far more time with the remake of Rondo than anything else.

The backgrounds are simply put amazing and gorgeous. Yes this follows the linear castlevania formula with clunky controls no ability to change direction after a jump. But these are easy to get used to. unlocking maria as a playable character makes control issues less of a problem as she is far more menuverable.

As mentioned above this has an unlockable version of symphony which is a superb game to say the least. Also the original Rondo is included which make for some fun comparisons between old and new.

Bottomline This is a treasure in my video game collection. the Remake of Rondo is a must for any fans of old-school gaming. If you have only played the recent castlevania titles i would recommend trying to track down some other older titles that are cheaper just to see if you dig the style. Overall this is a great package the satisfies my hunger for linear and non-linear gameplay.

The re-mastered version of Rondo of Blood is one of the hardest Castlevania games I have ever played. It is not so much the enemies or the obstacles you have to overcome, it's the restrictions of the main character-Richter Belmont. Once you get to the third stage you can rescue Maria and use her as a playable character. She is much easier to control than Richter. You can also unlock Symphony of Night ("S.o.N") and the Original Rondo of Blood in subsequent stages. You can also use the old cheats for S.o.N which makes things interesting. The graphics are really incredible for the re-mastered Rondo of Blood, but it is really frustrating to get through the stages because of Richter's restrictions. If you are a fan of the series you won't be disappointed; just try not to break your PSP.

Castlevania is one of the most beloved games of all time in video game history. Way back in 1986 it made a big splash with it's introduction on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then the series has progressed, and here in 2008 the series is as popular as it was back in 1986. People who have never played the series, now might be a good time with this gem of a catch, and I personally consider it to be the best PSP game around at this point.

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is a collection of 3 games. The first unlocked game you're available to play off the bat is Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. This game overlooked by many was never released in the U.S, and finally in the palm of your hand. It's an amazing game from all directions, including amazing graphics, tremendous sound, and awesome gameplay. If you never played it before, this game is strictly focuing on the action aspects of the series. Lots of jumping, slashing and running from enemies. No worries about using magic or RPG elements to slow the game down. This is do, or die for this vampire slashing game. This particular version of Rondo of Blood can be considered a remix of the original(also included). What's so great about it, Castlevania fans will recognize the remixed music brought back from many of the original Castlevania games including the orignal level theme from the original Castlevania on the NES!! A true fans dream of hearing this music all new and synthesized with the power of the PSP. Even better, when you unlock the levels, you can setup each level with each theme song you want to use for that particular level, now how cool is that??? All that with new updated graphics, sound, etc. Rondo's graphics are amazing, the 3D cutscenes look great and although the game is considered to be 2D like the classic Castlevania games, you can probalby say it's 2.5 with the 3D look it has while all the action is taking place.

Word of warning, Rondo of Blood is an unbalanced game in difficulty with parts amazingly easy to get through and bouts of amazing difficulty levels that will frustrated casual gamers from the start. Replenishing energy is so sparse and the game makes you start levels over adds to the frustration. Even levels in the beginning will be test of ones patience because you're going to die, a lot. But the reward of getting through this game will be worth the price of admission because along your journey in Rondo, you can unlock probably the greatest game of all time, Symphony of the Night.

When you finally manage to unlock Castlevania Symphony of the Night (which by the way, is no easy task) this game alone would have been worth the price you pay for the game, that's how good it is. Before I get into the game itself, I have to slap Konami across the face not allowing people to play this game right out of the box. And considering it's right on the cover as one of the game choices, I was a bit angry myself when I turned the game on and couldn't jump right into Symphony. If you need to know exactly how to unlock it, there is a nice video of a guy on the youtube that shows you the path, that's probably your best bet unless you want to waste time looking for it yourself, because I will tell you, I would have never found it without knowing first.

Symphony of the Night orignally released in 1996 on the Playstation. It was kind of a rebirth for the series. Going back to it's roots with awesome action and incredible presentation. Considered by many to also be the best orchestrated score for any video game, ever, is quite a statement. And considering the gameplay is almost as good, you can't really pass this game up. What's so great about the game too is its' enormous size, it's a pretty long game, especially considering it's age, and once again, it's still considered by many to be the best adventure games ever. I actually didn't think the game would be awesome like it was on the PS1, boy was I wrong. The music, the graphics, the gameplay, it's all better on the PSP. Heck, they even redid the characters voices with all new dialogue. You need to crank this baby up with some nice headphones, wow! The game has an enormous amount of depth, the weapons, the magic, the things you can do seems unlimited and the amount of levels is astounding. Defintely take this game for those long road trips.

If you're looking for a PSP game that is worth money, you really can't go wrong with Castlevania Chronicles, it's three great games in one. I personally bought the game for being able to play Symphony of the Night in the palm of my hand, but amazingly, Rondo is very very fun too as long as you can deal with it's difficulty spats. Great sound, great graphics, fast load times, and 3 games in one. Sound good to you? Me too.

As it's suggested by the title, this review will not be about the praises of "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles" but rather about the game's faults that you gamers should know before you make the choice of purchasing this title. Although, that's not to imply that you shouldn't get this game, far from it. It's a good PSP game at a good price. However, there are things about this game that annoy me and it needs to be spelled out, so that's how it's going to be.

-1: The controls. I can congratulate IGA for replicating the original for the 3-D Remake (with a few changes), but does he have to keep the same controls intact? Richter Belmont doesn't seem to inherit the preciseness of Simon Belmont ala "Super Castlevania IV", so he handles like a golem with a backache. He walks ALL THE TIME w/ no dash feature, his whip attacks are troublesome against flying creatures and has no whip-shaking ability, and his jumps are just as accurate as his whip attack, meaning it's all about timing and distance if I want to jump from one platform to the other. If the enemies didn't try to kill me, the sluggish controls will try to make that happen, which deals with my next problem.

-2: Difficulty. Now that is pretty subjective: some people just love to have their games to be hard-as-hell. I for one don't mind having some challenges in games, but thanks to the golem-w/-backache controls, it's an exercise in frustration. Some enemies and bosses take a great deal of exploiting Richter's disadvantages, especially the unfair Hydra boss (sometimes, I'm glad this game has an Item Crush ability). The level designs can also be irritating, mainly the ones that require jumping from one ground to the other without falling in a hole or a watery pit as some take the "Mega Man" method of walking to the nearest edge till only one foot touches the edge and jump to the other side, hoping the cheap level design won't lead me to my grave. When this game combines all these factions, they end up killing Richter over and over, with me cursing again and again.

The game became even more absurd when I saved good-golly Maria Renard from the perverted clutches of Dracula's Army. As a playable character, she can move faster, double-jump, obtains useful familiars (aka sub-weapons) that can also be powerful item crashes, and she can SLIDE. Her accessible abilities make the game, what was once hard and strenuous, a walk across candyland; there weren't a whole lot of challenges using her. Not to say Maria isn't fun to play...she just removes the tension that was in the game. There's an imbalance issue involved in the player selection, where I have to choose a character that's too hard or a character that's too easy.

-3: Emulation issues. It's great that the original "Rondo of Blood" port is included and it plays just as smoothly as the remake, meaning it's just as stiff and ridiculous-frustrating to play; although, the port is much faster due to the specs, so the enemies aren't as easy to dodge. The real problem isn't so much the gameplay but rather the cutscenes. For some of the cheesy anime cutscenes, the audio doesn't seem to sync with what's happening on the screen, whether I set it in English or Japanese. Every time the UMD boots (quite loudly), the voice-overs are set back for a few seconds, so for those who are interested in the cutscenes might be disappointed by this issue.

There's also an issue that deals with both "Rondo of Blood" and "Symphony of the Night", as there were audio gaps. Sometimes during gameplay, the UMB boots which causes the audio to mute for a few seconds before it plays again. Basically, the emulation issues are audio issues; aside from that, the ports are very accurate. As long as you don't expect flawless ports, you're going to be just fine with them.

-4: UMD booting. On the subject from the last flaw, the game likes to load a lot. Even during gameplay, and on the PSP slim, the UMD keeps making that loud noise whenever it boot, and it's constant. I guess IGA had little idea how to properly streamline the content that's in the UMD.

-5: No option to re-watch the cutscenes (besides the ending). In the remake, once a cutscene has been shown, it can't be seen again unless a player starts a new game data. I can understand it not being done at the time of the original port and in "Symphony" (it's an action-RPG after all), but I find it odd that I have to start a new game just to see it again, whether or not from a different character. Again, this problem is for those that are into the story.


I could complain about the graphics and the voices, but the graphics aren't that bad and at least there's a language option (for all games), so if anyone doesn't like the lack-of-bravado from the english cast or in the re-dub of "Symphony", they can just change it. I could also complain that the remake last about an hour or two, but considering the extra content and that "Dracula X Chronicles" is only 30 dollars, the game provides some needed value. Even with my complaints, in reality, this game is only must-buy because it's our only chance to actually play a rare Castlevania game that's unreleased in the U.S., and that's the selling point. You just need to know the game, while not bad, can be a hassle.

Rondo of Blood in the US! Finally! Not to mention the 2.5D visuals look fantastic! The biggest reason I bought this game was to have SotN on my PSP, but Rondo of Blood was a surprising treat that I enjoyed just as much as SotN. This represents the turning point in Castlevania history that made the series what it is today. If you have a PSP and don't own this game, you need to rethink your priorities.