Customer Reviews

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [Online Game Code]

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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for Xbox Live Arcade is a port of the PlayStation 1 game. Castlevania:SOTN is arguably the best Castlevania game in the series and one of the best games on the PS1. I had a lot of fun playing this game right when it came out and at a $10 price point, it's kinda hard to beat. This is the first game in the series to play like the Metriod games on the Nintendo systems or use the "Metriodvania" style but, it has integrated RPG elements into the gameplay. If you are a fan of classic 2D games then you will love this game or if you loved this game back on the PS1, it's still worth getting.

I missed out on Symphony of the Night during its first run. After being a long-time fan of the GBA Castlevania's, I became more and more disappointed in having never played this seminal chapter in the series. However, when XBLA released this classic, I bought it immediately. To my amazement, the game was more than I thought it could be, and is still the best in the Castlevania series to date. If you've enjoyed ANY of the GBA or DS Castlevania games, you owe it to yourself to experience this piece of history, and witness how great 'vania can be.

So I get this game free with purchase of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (which is also a pretty good game). People say Lords of Shadow is a great game, but it is NOT a Castlevania game. So to figure out what Castlevania games are all about I give Castlevania: Symphony of the Night a try. AND WOW JUST WOW. This game is simply incredible. After finishing this game (both actual and secret endings) here is what I thoght.

***************PROS********************

CASTLE EXPLORATION GAMEPLAY: No spoiler here, but most Castlevania games are about going into Count Dracula's castle and finding and destroying him and in process of doing so, encountering and finding a great number of vicious enemies, some really awesome monsterous bosses and awesome weapons and upgrades. Similar to other Castlevania games, this one also has A HUGE CASTLE where you, the son of dracula, can roam around structure to another doing everything stated above.

WEAPONS, SECONDARY WEAPONS, SUMMONS, RELICS, UPGRADES, TRANSFORMATIONS AND ALL TYPE OF SPLENDID STUFF: While exploring HUGE castle (emphasis on the word huge) you will find great number of different weapons (swords, mace, blades), secondary weapons (holy water, throwing axe and some weird things) and relics that will either allow you to summon various allies by your side or transform you into beasts with different abilities. Guess being a human sympathetic son of dracula comes with its own advantages. Search for these items will really push you explore the castle. While some are not so hard to find, the good ones are well hidden and will require a through exploration (or use of a guide).

RIDICULOUS VARIETY IN ENEMIES AND TREMENDOUS BOSSES: Loved it just loved it. I was surprised to see there were so many different types of enemies in the game. To top it off, defeating them and making your way through the castle rewards you with spectacular boss fights. These bosses vary from your own doppelganger to almighty you know who. There are so many so many awesome bosses. JUST BE SURE TO EXPLORE THE CASTLE THROUGHLY.

CASTLE AND REVERSE CASTLE: Now if you just rush through the game without exploring all the area, you will not get to challenge the real main boss of the game. To do so you have to explore the castle throughly, meet certain conditions and unlock the REVERSE CASTLE, which is practically a reverse version of castle you play, but with tougher enemies and more awesome bosses. I can't tell you much without spoiling, but it is not hard to do. You just have to know something.

LEVELING UP THE MAIN CHARACTER: Beating enemies and bosses will give you XPs and level you up making you stronger adding RPG element to the game. So if you are not as skilled then leveling up and then fighting the boss is always an option. I personally got addicted to this and finding items.

GREAT GRAPHICS, ART, LEVEL DESIGNS FOR A PS1 GAME: Yup not much to elaborate here. I loved the REVERSE CASTLE design and idea. Again you have to play it to see what I am talking about.

PLAY WITH DIFFERENT CHARACTER: In addition to son of dracula, you can also play as a Vampire hunter with very different abilities, you just have to finish the game once.

******************CONS******************

SECRETIVE PLACES: While you can get map of the castle early on, you still can't locate many important secret places on that map. I wish they had some type of secret map available so one wouldn't have to rely on online guides. Other than this I can complain about the graphics and stuff, but it is a PS1 game, so judging it by today's standard won't be fair.

*************CONCLUSION********************

If you are new to castlevania franchise and want to learn more, this is a great place to start. It will truly give you a good idea what Castlevania games are all about and why lords of shadow is a great game, but it is not exactly a Castlevania to be precise.

If you haven't played the castlevania series then this is a fun one to start with; unlike some of the earliest ones it is very non-linear and there is lots of exploring to do. If you are familiar with the series then this is a fairly faithful port of the original US version (hence only 5 familiars and no extras like on the saturn version). As far as I can tell, most everything is the same, even the glitches (like the sword brothers money glitch). Have had a couple of issues with it freezing when I try to access my inventory, but only rarely and at the very end (when I was over 190%); just be sure to save often!

As far as the purchase process goes it is very straightforward. Just find the game on Xbox Live, go to Redeem Code and then enter the code you get from Amazon. It gets downloaded to your hardrive so that anyone using the xbox can play it. It is also tied to your username, so if you get a new xbox you can re-download it, although in this case it will only be available when signed in as the original user.

This is Undeniably the best caslevania that has ever been released. The Game is Amazingly long if you can find the right items and have the equipped during the Key Battles of the Game. *enhances the Story Line and lengthens it* The Game is fast paced and never fails to deliver. If you have ever played any of the Castlevania games then this is a must have.