Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is a small leap forward for the 3D
Castlevania's, but not quite there yet. The graphics are a big
improvement. The added elements like experience points, leveling, and
Innocent Devils are a welcome return to form. The weapon forging and
loot drops add alot of depth to the game.
On the other hand,
the controls seemed slow and clumsy, I missed the platforming elements.
The storyline and characters are still not that compelling. The action
seemed a little repetitive at times. The puzzles are few and far
between.
While this is the closest thing we'll get to a 3D Symphony of the Night, it's not quite up to that standard just yet.
----------Battle System----------
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is a Hack / Slasher RPG. You will gain
experience for each kill, and gain a level after so many points. You
will carry a familiar around with you, this time called an "Innocent
Devil". These Innocent Devils are like sidekicks that travel room to
room with you. They also gain experience and levels with each kill.
There's 5 (+1 hidden) variety of Innocent Devils. There's the fairy
type, that heals you, the Battle type that fights, the Flying that
fights in the air, a Mage type that uses magic, and a Devil type. This
is pretty similar to the familiars in Symphony of the Night
Innocent Devils can transform into more powerful devils after they eat
so many Evo Crystals. Evo Crystals vary between what weapon you are
hold, for example if you are holding a Sword, then enemies will drop
Red crystals, if you are holding an Ax then they will drop Blue
crystals. If they eat so many Red crystals, then they might evolve into
a different direction a Devil might if he ate Blue crystals. Your
Innocent Devils will randomly drop eggs that you can use to restart a
new Innocent Devil of the same type. So if you don't like the direction
you took with your first Devil, you can always restart.
Each
Innocent Devil has atleast one special feature that can help you solve
puzzles. The fairy can open treasure chests and find secrets about
rooms, the battle type can open large iron doors, the flying type can
fly you across large gaps and so on. If you evolve multiple of these
characters you might learn they have extra skills too.
Enemies
often drop loot, like metals and other forging materials. You can use
these materials to create new weapons and armor on the fly. You don't
have to go to a shop to buy weapons in this game. There is a shop in
this game, but it's full of outdated armor by the time you get to it.
Enemies don't drop money in this game, so money is hard to get.
----------Characters / Story----------
You play as Hector. Hector was previously a servant for Dracula, but
rebelled after Dracula was defeated by the Belmont clan. Hector was
living a life of solitude until his wife was burned at the stake by
fellow servant of Dracula, Issac. It's your quest to find Issac and
take revenge.
Yeah, there's nothing to exciting going on wit
h the story. While the cutscenes look better, they're just as boring as
the last game. The story is predictable, the characters are boring, the
end.
----------Graphics----------
The graphics are a huge
leap forward in every way imaginable. The cutscenes look GREAT, not
just better than the last game, but they actually look really good.
They use the real time game engine, but pretty it up and it looks
awesome. The rooms, maps, and overall game is three times as big.
Character and enemy models look a little better too.
----------Sound----------
I like the music, they remixed some classic Castlevania tunes which
gave me a chill. The original music was good too. My biggest grief was
with the sound effects and voice overs. Overall there was nothing bad
about them, but I think my game was defective and if it's not then
there's something seriously wrong with this game. Either way, I ended
up having to turn my TV volume WAY up, and going into the options to
turn the music volume WAY down just so I could hear the voices and
sound effects, and even then I could barely hear them. I tested other
games, other systems. It wasn't my tv, it wasn't my Xbox, so I think it
just had to be the game. It's a shame, but oh well.
----------World Map----------
Curse of Darkness is a linear series of areas connected into a big
world map, this is different than Lament of Innocence because it was
all taken place in a single castle and warps. Everything connects in
this one, while it is linear it some paths do branch back into previous
areas opening up shortcuts. Curse of Darkness takes place in an entire
country, rather than a single castle. So this is different than most
Castlevania games, you do go through a few castles in the game though.
The maps are bigger than the previous Castlevania, but the levels seem
alot more generic. Since the camera is 100% free and there's almost no
platforming, there's little to do in the rooms. Atleast 90% of the
rooms just require you to kill all monsters to advance. There are some
puzzles in the game that require your Innocent Devils, but they're few
and far between.
I like the feature where you can mark Xs on
the map at any point in the game, this is an improved feature from the
previous game. For example, if you think a wall looks fishy, then go
into your map and slap an x over the room and comeback when you think
you can advance. It's a nice feature, but I didn't really use it to
often.
----------Time to Complete Game----------
19:09:44
Level: 67
HP: 697
Map: 93.27%
After you complete the game it unlocks Crazy Mode and you can play as Trevor.
