I remember what seems like ages ago how much I loved my old Nintendo Entertainment System. And without a doubt Castlevania was one of my favorite games for that system. Then without hesitation I bought Castlevania IV when it arrived on the Super Nintendo. I was totally floored by the screen rotation effects, and other features the game included. Then naturally, being a PlayStation owner, I was looking forward to the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. "Oh, my god! What is this? 2D" I don't know about you, but I'm a serious graphics freak, I see big budget movies at the theater for the special FX.

Well, the day I had planned to buy a new game I overlooked this gem, taking in its place Nightmare Creatures. (What a mistake that was). Eventually though, I did buy this game. Excellent sound, reminding me of earlier Castlevania titles, with that gothic rock sorta quality. The game also have great gameplay, and more important than anything, fun! "Wow, this is actually fun!"
This game is good, and everything you've heard about it is true. Sure it seems a little dated visually, considering the games on the PSX these days, but you know what they say "If it's not broke, don't fix it." Even as a 2D side scroller, the games excels on every level.

If I have one problem with this title though, it had to be the RPG style level up feature. I'd did like the idea of my character gaining hit points as he leveled up, but this also caused the game to become to easy. I found myself becoming far too big for my britches. About 140 percent of the way through the game, I found a spot where killing the enemies was increasing my level at a sickening rate. Then after increasing ten or more levels, I was given a sword (the name of the weapon escapes me). Now, this sword proved to be the undoing of every foe in the game from that point on. Every time I hit anything, be it an enemy, a candle, anything, I gained eight hit points back. I was, from that point on, unstoppable. I reached Dracula with about 1100HP, and by the time I had beaten him, I still had 1000hp. The sword was rejuvenating my life as quickly as he could take it away from me.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a reason to not purchase this game, it's still worth every penny, but if you are an above average game play, you might find this one a little too easy on you. If you love Castlevania, and don't care if it's easy like I did, I'm sure you will like it regardless. Castlevania reborn, and better than ever.

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