Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PlayStation)

Discuss Review + Want + Have Contribute

Written by  :  Seth Barkan (3) Written on  :  Aug 11, 2003 Platform  :  PlayStation Rating  :

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful write a review of this game read more reviews by Seth Barkan read more reviews for this game

Summary

The Ultimate Sidescrolling Platformer

The Good

This game has all of the elements of a great title: silky controls, great graphics, super style points (you can change the color of the interior and exterior of Alucard's cape), great story (yeah, its not much, but it does the job well enough), huge levels, great map design, tremendous replay value, oh, and did I mention that its Castlevania? The inclusion of a combo system, special moves, hundreds and hundreds of items, and a castle that is, literally, in hell, make this game great fun to play. The experience point elements of the game keep you coming back for more and more and more and more. The familiars are really fun too.

The Bad

... If I HAVE to say something here, I'd have to ad that the familiars come along a little late in the game and are very hard to power up into anything that can effectively help you combat drac's demon hordes. Still, I did get my skull familiar up to the 60's in terms of level (it only took three weeks! God, this game was addictive).

The Bottom Line

The best run and jumper ever made that doesn't use guns; Alucard can only use melee weapons (pursuent to the castlevania tradition).