With season two of the Netflix show just started, Konami remaster two of the best entries in the classic Castlevania series.
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New indie titles inspired by Castlevania and Metroid appear almost weekly and yet, because theyre owned by major publishers who have other, more profitable, endeavours to attend to, official entries have become more and more scarce. There was a Metroid II remake last year on 3DS, and Metroid Prime 4 is on its way, but 2010s disastrous Metroid: Other M marks the last time Nintendo released a mainline entry in the Metroid franchise.
The last new Castlevania game was the equally dreadful Lords Of Shadow 2 in 2014, one of the last games before Konami kicked out Hideo Kojima and the company turned its back on video games in general. Theres been some recent signs that their attitude is softening but still no word on a new Castlevania, despite the fact that, quite improbably, theres now two seasons of an animated tie-in on Netflix. And even more strangely its actually quite good.
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Thats the reason behind his remaster, although its also implied to be the first of a new range of retro releases for the PlayStation 4 that will encompass various other publishers and franchises. That means its a Sony exclusive and not the long-rumoured Switch compilation, which in light of Castlevanias presence in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate shouldve been a no-brainer. Forgetting, of course, that no-brainers are exactly the sort of ideas that Nintendo routinely ignores. But for fans a new Castlevania release is worth celebrating no matter the circumstances.
Of course, theres nothing actually new here at all. Even the idea of bundling Symphony Of The Night and Rondo Of Blood together is an old idea, as thats exactly what 2007 PSP release The Dracula X Chronicles was. This is a new port, and Symphony Of The Night is no longer an unlockable extra, but otherwise its the same – including the controversial new script and voiceovers.
Rondo Of Blood was originally released in 1993 for the PC Engine CD but never made it out of Japan, despite being a key entry in the franchise and directly referenced at the beginning of the subsequent Symphony Of The Night. Its an unusual game in that its not really a Metroidvania, but although the levels are largely linear they do have multiple routes that lead to different encounters as the game progresses.
Because it was released on CD-ROM the presentation is much better than youd expect for such an old game, with one of the eras best soundtracks. Elements of it were reused in Symphony Of The Night and indeed so were many of the monsters. In fact, the 2D sprite work was so good that not only did it end up being used in the games sequel but some of them were still be reused in new DS games many years later.
Symphony Of The Night was released in 1997 for the original PlayStation 1 and remains probably the most famous entry since the original NES games. This was the point at which the series first embraced role-playing elements and cemented non-linear exploration as the series primary gameplay style. It utilised a small number of 3D effects but is still essentially a 2D sprite-based game, with main character Alucard losing all his weapons and abilities at the beginning of the game and having to collect them as he goes.
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The role-playing elements are minor, and can almost be ignored if youre not interested, but the constant stream of new weapons and abilities – including things like transforming into bats and clouds of mist – are used to their full potential with a wonderfully well-designed map that is teaming with secrets and giant-sized boss battles.
Both games are new ports, which is good because the version of Rondo Of Blood on the PSP was ruined by a sluggish frame rate and controls. Thats been fixed now but the new translations introduced at the time are retained, which completely wipes out the camp glory of Symphony Of Nights opening and the classic miserable little pile of secrets exchange. Alucards voiceover actor is also replaced with a far less entertaining performance.
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Considering thats some of the most famous dialogue in all gaming it seems madness to remove it without offering the option of swapping it back. Especially as the games do feature a reasonable number of display and audio options, including the Japanese voiceovers and easier-to-read on-screen text. Although there are no art or museum extras, and the cheap presentation of the new PlayStation 4 wrapper looks like it was knocked up in an afternoon.
All of which makes this a very difficult game to know how to score. Symphony Of The Night is a classic and in terms of gameplay its still as playable now as its ever been. Its relatively low difficulty also makes it perfectly accessible for newcomers to the series, unlike Rondo Of Blood which is punishingly hard from the first moment.
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But whenever we come back to Symphony Of The Night in the future we can tell you this will not be the version we play. We demand a certain amount of cheese with our vampire-slaying and Castlevania Requiem offers up only mild cheddar instead of a blue-veined stilton.
Castlevania Requiem: Symphony Of The Night & Rondo Of Blood
In Short: A very welcome double pack featuring two of the series most notable entries, but which inexplicably ruins the meme-inspiring intro of Symphony Of The Night.
Pros: Symphony Of The Night is an all-time classic and a definitive moment for the series and Metroidvania in general. Rondo Of Blood is of more academic interest but still impressive.
Cons: Symphony Of The Nights dialogue and voiceovers are blander than the original release. No significant new features or extra content, and not especially cheap.
Score: 7/10
Formats: PlayStation 4
Price: £15.99
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 26th October 2018
Age Rating: 16
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