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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Extremely Awesome Experience, October 21, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I've been a long time fan of the Castlevania series, dating back since the release of Symphony of the Night on the Playstation. Every experience with Castlevania has wowed me to the point where I hardly play ANY 3D games anymore. In the recent years, fans have been upset due to the fact that Castlevania has deviated from it's roots. Well, now is the time for rejoice CV fans for the Metroidvania style of play has returned. Now let me start official review.
Story: I feel no need to give anything away but let me tell you that the story starts out with main-character Shanoa on her way to reciece the supreme glyph Dominus. When she nearly recieves this glyph, her peer named Albus attacks her and steals Dominus. I'm sorry that I'm being very skimpy on the details but that's the point so to find out more please play this game.
Gameplay: This is where the game truly shines. The new glyph system is absolutely an astounding revelation for the Castlevania series. The way it works is, certain enemies will contain glyphs that you must absorb by either killing them or in some cases wait till the enemy performs it's most powerful attack and hold up to absorb it. Now before you start to think that this is anything like Dawn of Sorrow's soul system allow me to elaborate. First of all Shanoa's attack are completely based off of an speedily replenishing MP bar that will continuously regenerate as long as she is not attacking. Another thing to note is that, where in DoS the soul system was essentially the spells, the glyph system is basically the weapons and the spells. Glyphs can be equipped on the back and on both hands. The hand glyphs are usually your basic spells, swords, and axes, while back glyphs will be stat boosts, summons (brought back from SotN) and transformations (yes that's right). The same glyph can be assigned to both hands and chain attacks can be performed, as well as something called a glyph union which is essentially an item crash but it uses hearts instead of MP. Now I want to separately review the pacing of this game.
Pacing: This game will spring tough enemies and bosses on you from the get-go. This said, new glyphs will often be provided. Not every enemy has a glyph and glyphs are easier to obtain most of the time, than the souls from DoS. Mind you, this is NOT an easy game. Fortunately, I found that repeatedly dieing was not all that frustrating. Of course, it goes without saying that even if you are skilled at CV games, you will die A LOT!!!! All I can say is, don't let it get you down because even if you are not an avid CV player, with each death you will become more skilled in dodging and quickly executing each enemy.
Graphics and Music: I coupled these sections up because they are both extremely short. The graphics are quite literally astounding. The only 2D game that comes to mind with art as beautiful as this game is Odin Sphere for the PS2. The character models are executed, and all of Shanoa's movements seem as if they're being performed at 30 FPS (which of course they are not but literally everything Shanoa does that involves movement seems to flow quite well). The sound is where this game most suprised me. I didn't think it was all that good. CV games are usually highly praised for their music but this just didn't stack up in my opinion.
I hope you enjoyed the review and please remember that everything I said that wasn't a fact about the game was MY OPINION, and should not in anyway detract from your experience in buying and playing this game.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A solid Castlevania title with a few twists, November 6, 2008
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is a really good game. Not great like some of its predecessors, but very, very good.
If you haven't played a Castlevania game before, the basic premise of the game is that every once in a while Dracula comes back from destruction in an effort to enslave the souls of man into dark servitude. The player explores Dracula's castle, gains levels, finds lots of loot, learns spells, and generally trashes Dracula's well thought out plans. Much like the Metroid series, backtracking to old regions is an important aspect of the game as you gain new abilities that increase you're character's mobility and lethality.
This iteration of Castlevania has done away with some sacred cows of the Castlevania legend. You don't play a Belmont, you don't use a whip, and you aren't Alucard (Dracula's half-human son, for the uninitiated). For the first half of the game you don't even spend any time in Dracula's castle. You will explore light houses, forests, ocean reefs, and rescue the residents of a small village for about half of the maps. This is different and generally works well. Instead of equipping weapons, this iteration of the game utilizes a "magic-only" concept and your character equips glyphs... which mostly act exactly like weapons in previous games. A large number of the enemies have received graphical facelifts, which is nice and I've seen a large number of creatures that are completely new to the game.
WHAT'S DEVILISHLY GOOD ABOUT ECCLESIA?
+++ The graphics and art-style are excellent.
+++ Stepping outside of the castle is good, but there are issues.
+++ Monster redesigns are excellent and the new animations feel fresh.
+++ The music is very good
+++ Gameplay mechanics have changed. The new glyph system takes some adjustment, but it is different from previous iterations of the game and works well.
+++ Villagers give you optional mini-missions, which is a nice bonus that extends the play. I wish there were more of these.
+++ The last half of the game is very excellent, so good that the first half is worthwhile.
WHAT SUCKS THE LIFE OUT OF THIS GAME?
--- The first half of the game is no where near as good as the last half.
--- The learning curve on this game is completely out of whack and unbalanced in the first half of the game.
--- While the music is good, most other Castlevanias have done better. As a fan of the series, I was let down by my high expectations of superior tunes.
--- Inventory feels more limited than previous games and provides fewer options.
Dare I say it, this Castlevania possibly possesses the best 2D art (mixed with some 3D effects) the series has seen. Graphically, I think Symphony of the Night was finally surpassed, but only because the art looks crisper and sharper. The downside is that some of these gorgeous backgrounds are little over-used so some areas give the player too much of a sense of deja vu. More variety from screen to screen would have been nice. The storyline is presented stiffly and painfully, full of cliches common to video games. There is some very limited voice acting, and it is at its best, mediocre; at its worst, embarrassingly bad. But no one plays Castlevania for the story. We know the story... Dracula is bad and he must be stopped. We play the game to explore and experience awesome classic 2D gameplay.
My biggest complaint probably won't bother hardcore fans of the Castlevania series, but I think the unbalanced difficulty level in the first half of the game could turn a lot of semi-casual players off from this game. It almost feels like some really tough monsters were randomly tossed into early parts of the game without recognizing that the character would only have a handful of levels and a lot of weak weapons and spells. To top it off, a few boss fights feel downright cheap and unfair in the first half of the game. I think the first 30% of the game is more immensely more difficult than the later sections, and in some cases just switching the play order of the different zones would fix most of these issues. My girlfriend loved the first two DS Castlevania games. She's just a casual gamer and focuses on if a game is fun. The first two DS Castlevanias had a smoother learning curve and eased new players into the franchise, but I know this game will frustrate her and it isn't likely she will try to complete this version.
All in all, I recommend this game to all Castlevania fans. To newcomers, I recommend playing through at least one of the other DS Castlevanias first (I recommend Portrait of Ruin personally). Once you've got your Castlevania chops up, dive into this one.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best Castlevania's, October 28, 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Pros:
+A good story
+Glyph system is incredible
+A good challenge
+Very addictive gameplay
+Backtracking and getting lost is kept to a minimal
+Good artistic design
+Fantastic Soundtrack
Cons:
-It's challenging; you will die
In 2005, Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow brought the franchise to the DS and is often considered one of the best games in the series, rivaling Symphony of the Night as the best Castlevania title out there. Just two years ago, however, Portrait of Ruin didn't make as strong of a run. Portrait of Ruin was a good game on its own, yet switching between two characters felt like a gimmick after a while, and it was obvious that some of the exploration was becoming a drag. Order of Ecclesia works to put some life into the franchise the same way Symphony of the Night did in 1997, and the way Aria of Sorrow did in 2003. Fans will be pleased to know that it does a great job.
Order of Ecclesia puts you in the role of Shanoa as she has to go forth and once again vanquish Dracula. While Castlevania has never been too much for story, it has slowly begun to put an emphasis on its story through the years. While it centers firmly on its gameplay, Order of Ecclesia actually has a pretty good story, and Shanoa is easily one of the series's most likable characters.
Since 1997's Symphony of Night, Castlevania has abandoned it's level by level design and has a had a more Metroid style approach ever since. Order of Ecclesia holds onto that, but it also brings back the level by level run. You'll got to a "level" but you'll be able to explore it in the Metroid style way you've no doubt become accustomed to. It helps keep backtracking and running around aimlessly to a minimum. Most of the areas aren't too big either and it's a little hard to get lost. Yet there are plenty of optional things to do later on that will lead you back to these areas. So while it has a level by level design, exploring is still encouraged.
Order of Ecclesia's biggest strength is its glyph system. Throughout the game, Shanoa can absorb glyphs that give her certain abilities. At first it starts off being very basic things such as using a Rapier or being a magnet to shoot yourself from one spot to another. But they get more complex and allow for several different combinations. If you enjoyed the soul system from Dawn of Sorrow and Aria of Sorrow, you'll love the glyph system. It allows for many more combinations than the soul system does and allows you to utilize the glyphs more strategically.
Streategy is especially important in Order of Ecclesia. It's a tough game. One of the hardest Castlevania titles out there to be sure. While you probably won't have too much trouble getting through each area, you'll be put to the test in the game's boss battles, and they are by far some of the toughest moments in Order of Ecclesia.
Despite that, Order of Ecclesia is as simple to pick up as any Castlevania before it. Not only that, but the game still has a beautiful art design. As far as 2D Castlevania games go, Order of Ecclesia has some fantastic art design. You'll admire many of the backgrounds. In particular, the boss designs are some of the best the series has ever had. Artistically it's fantastic. On the other hand, it's not really a step above Dawn of Sorrow or Portrait of Ruin.
The biggest strength of Order of Ecclesia (and the Castlevania series in general) is easily its fantastic soundtrack. The Castlevania series is well known for having some of the best music in gaming and Order of Ecclesia sets a new high for the music in handheld video games.
Order of Ecclesia is one of the best Castlevania games out there. In terms of the DS games, it rivals Dawn of Sorrow as being the best on the handheld. If you're a Castlevania fan, you'll love it.
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