Ahaha, wow. Minor upgrade spoilers:
Anyway, I think I'm most of the way through the game now. I'm at 7:18 with 80%. I kinda plowed through it, I guess. I should probably have beaten it 100% by 9 hours at the latest.
I think it's a really good game. It's basically 2D God of War with sprinkles of Classicvania and Metroidvania here and there. I think it establishes a great framework for a new style of 2D Castlevania games, and I'd love to see it expanded and improved upon in a sequel.
I also gotta say, this game makes excellent use of the 3D. There are some scenes that really give you a good feel for how big the castle is, more than any previous game. Though this is the first game I haven't been able to play at max 3D. I had to turn the slider down to about halfway.
My biggest complaint is how liberal the checkpoints are. The game itself isn't easy; like I said earlier, enemies do a lot of damage even on the normal difficulty, and it can be easy for them to pile on top of you and kick your ass if you let them. But if you die, it just drops you right back before the battle or possibly even partway through the boss. There's no sense of tension because there's not really any penalty for dying.
I think I'd have preferred if they'd used the save room system from the Metroidvanias. Fighting your way through a tough area, getting low on health, and barely making it to the next save room was always pretty exciting and intense.
It's disappointing to see so much negativity directed at this game. I think if a lot of people could let go of their preconceptions about what a Castlevania game should be, they'd find a pretty good action game. Just like how when people let go of their preconceptions about what Castlevania should be, they were able to find an excellent game Symphony of the Night.
This game literally has the Spider Ball tracks from Metroid Prime in it. I kept seeing these things and thinking, "Huh, those look a lot like Spider Ball tracks." Then I got an upgrade that said it would let me attach my whip to magnetic rail systems. And if you're not aware, those are the exact words Metroid Prime uses to describe its Spider Ball tracks.
It's definitely not unintentional, but kind of a weird thing to reference.
It's definitely not unintentional, but kind of a weird thing to reference.
Anyway, I think I'm most of the way through the game now. I'm at 7:18 with 80%. I kinda plowed through it, I guess. I should probably have beaten it 100% by 9 hours at the latest.
I think it's a really good game. It's basically 2D God of War with sprinkles of Classicvania and Metroidvania here and there. I think it establishes a great framework for a new style of 2D Castlevania games, and I'd love to see it expanded and improved upon in a sequel.
I also gotta say, this game makes excellent use of the 3D. There are some scenes that really give you a good feel for how big the castle is, more than any previous game. Though this is the first game I haven't been able to play at max 3D. I had to turn the slider down to about halfway.
My biggest complaint is how liberal the checkpoints are. The game itself isn't easy; like I said earlier, enemies do a lot of damage even on the normal difficulty, and it can be easy for them to pile on top of you and kick your ass if you let them. But if you die, it just drops you right back before the battle or possibly even partway through the boss. There's no sense of tension because there's not really any penalty for dying.
I think I'd have preferred if they'd used the save room system from the Metroidvanias. Fighting your way through a tough area, getting low on health, and barely making it to the next save room was always pretty exciting and intense.
It's disappointing to see so much negativity directed at this game. I think if a lot of people could let go of their preconceptions about what a Castlevania game should be, they'd find a pretty good action game. Just like how when people let go of their preconceptions about what Castlevania should be, they were able to find an excellent game Symphony of the Night.