Go back to the beginning again

I got Castlevania Lament of Innocence a few days ago. It was at a cheap price so I thought why the heck not I am a big fan of the Castlevania series, I even liked the 3d N64 ones so I decided to pick it up.

If you don’t know Castlevania is a horror game series spent around leading a whip wielding vampire killer (usually the character has the last name of Belmont) into Dracula’s castle in order to do battle with the legendary vampire. The 2d ones are known to be the best 2d action games of all times, the N64 ones where pretty good but they lacked a lot of polish. Crazy camera angels and controls that weren’t as sharp has they should be often lead to more frustration then it was really worth. So how does the first of the 3d Castlevania games on the PS2 fare well read on to find out.

Story.
Castlevania Lament of Innocence takes us back to the beginning again just like Castlevania 3 did, and Castlevania Legends. This time it takes us back to the 11th century but if you ask me if they keep making Castlevania games where going to wind up in 1 billion BC and with OG and his legendary vampire whacking club. But anyways the story follows around Leon Belmont a mighty knight that along with his friend Mathais has been undefeated in the crusades. But when the two return home Mathais found out that is wife had passed away. Mathais was so stricken with grief that he became bed ridden. While is friend is sick Leon notices that there are monsters coming out of a place called the forest of darkness but the church won’t give him permission to sortie. One night Mathis comes out of his death bed and comes to tell Leon that the woman he was engaged to Sara has been kidnapped by the vampire Walter. Leon renounces his post and head into the forest to rescue his beloved.

Before entering the castle he meets an old man named Renaldo who has set up shop. Seems that the reason behind Walter kidnapping people is he likes to play games of cat and mouse with vampire hunter. Renaldo is allowed to help people who come to the castle because it makes the game more interesting. Before Leon sets foot into the castle Renaldo gives him a whip made by Alchemy. Armed with only the whip and Renaldo advice Leon enters to face the dangers of the castle.

The story lines as a few good plot twists in typical Castlevania style but the story isn’t very large or deep but we do see a lot of origin story. Origins of the Belmont family, there legendary vampire killing whip, and the origins of Dracula.

Graphics:
The graphics in the game are verily good the monsters come in well detail and as to the human characters. The animation and the frame rate remain solid for the most part. In order to avoid the camera disasters that the N64 one had they decided to give you a fixed camera for every room of the castle that Leon enters. While this does fix some of the bizarre camera angels that the N64 gave you, it causes other problems as well. Enemies will attack you from off the screen and you will easily miss doors and items that are out of view of the camera. It gets a little frustrating sometimes that you can’t move it all. Luckily all the platforming that the N64 one has been taken out for the most part so no worries about leaping to your death.

Sound.
The music is ok but where are the classic Castlevania music. No Bloody Tear, no theme of Simon Belmando. You get to hear a remix of Vampire Killer late into the closing credits themes but that’s it. That said it is ok and you do get some good music worthy of Castlevania franchise but it’s not the same has hearing some of those classical music. The VA’s are pretty good a few of the English ones have done VA’s for the cartoon network (Leon’s voice should be familiar to any fan of Naruto)

Gameplay.
The gameplay is akin to the nonlinear free exploring of the newer 2d ones but removes most of the RPG elements to it. Also each area is more define into a stage, despite being free exploring within a stage there is a main hub in which you get to choose a stage. In each stage you will enter rooms and kill monsters in order to proceed.

The battle combo system is a bit like the one that Konami used on the first Ninja Turtles game based off the 4kids series. It’s a lot tighter and better done of course but it goes around pressing certain buttons to do combos. This does give it a bit of a brawler feel to it when you enter combos, but unlike a lot of brawlers these combos will actually give you an edge in combat.

Other then rooms to kill monsters you will have to solve puzzles and find switches and items in order to proceed. Sometimes you will have to find multiple switches in order to open a door to the area. Sometimes hitting switches and opening doors are optional but you will find a powerful item or something to improve your stats. Your end goal is of course to reach the boss and kill it. Once the boss is dead you will get one of the 5 orbs you need in order to challenge Walter to one last duel. But the orbs have powers of there own, much like magic spell books in Harmony of Dissonance did. When you pick up a sub item and use it with an orb equip the effect of the item is different. This gives you an up word of 6 different weapons you can use per sub weapon. The sub weapons themselves are the pretty standard Castlevania fare: Knifes, Crosses, Axe, holy water, and crystals.

Of course there is magic to as well. You will find relics that give you special powers or increase a stat. Activating these will use magic. But the interesting thing is rather then be refilled gradually like in most Castlevania games you will refill magic by defending enemy blows. By defending against special moves by monsters Leon will refill his magic.

The worse part of the gameplay.
If I have to point out the worst part of the game. Well rather then the fixed camera that can get in the way the worst part may be that it’s a really easy and short game. It will take you between 5-10 hours to beat the game and I only died a few times when I was at bosses. All though Konami does have a way of balancing it out. Once beaten your able to do codes when you enter your name. You can start off in a harder difficult, have Leon have all his skills and abilities, or have the famous Castlevania 2nd no story character. In this one it’s a vampire name Joachnim.

Final Recommendation.
Castlevania 3d games aren’t as good has there 2d games. Castlevania games on the GBA and the DS are better games, but Castlevania Lament of Innocence isn’t a bad game. It defiantly has improvements over the N64 and if you’re a fan of the Belmont clan then this game is a pickup especially seeing how it’s starting to hit the $10 and under rack at game stores.