Castlevania has had its fair share of “Ups and Downs” over the years, which started with the famous gameplay schism that began with the PlayStation title, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. What was once an insanely hard right to left platforming game starring a chain whip wielding warrior from the legendary Belmont family, is now home to a new type of gameplay that heavily borrows item upgrading and exploration from Super Metroid. With the introduction of new characters with no relation to any Belmonts whatsoever, the story has taken a lot of dramatic twists and turns (good and bad) over the years. The series had a hard time moving up to three dimensions starting with Caslevania 64, and the current 3-D versions that have hit the market with consistent critical reviews. Due to the fact that the 3-D universe has always been marked with such animosity, it is the 2-D games that continue to prosper on the Nintendo DS, and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is no different.

For those of you who haven’t kept tabs on this series that started in 1986 with Akumaj? Dracula (released as Castlevania on the NES), you take the role of various vampire hunters throughout the ages on a hopeless quest to kill the infamous Count Dracula and his minions using various classic weapons such as holy water, or white magic consisting of beams of holy light. “Pre-Symphony of the Night” chapters had you controlling characters with a family curse wielding the legendary whip known as the “Vampire Killer,” while the “Post-Symphony of the Night” games don’t follow any standard weapon, nor do they conform to any specific set of rules that was followed in the previous installments.

Castlevaina: Order of Ecclesia stars a woman by the name of Shanoa, who is a member of a secret society whose sole purpose is disposing Dracula after the disappearance of the Belmont clan in the 1800s. She is handpicked by the Order’s leader, Barlowe, to put a stop to the resurrection of Dracula due to her ability to harness a triad of magical “Glyphs” based on Dracula’s own power “Dominus.” In the beginning of the first act, she is betrayed by a former Order member by the name of Albus, who steals the “Dominus” for himself, and wipes out Shanoa’s memory. It is now up to Shanoa to track down Albus to re-obtain the “Dominus” to keep Dracula in his eternal slumber.

Castlevania games have tried to increase the story line with many of it’s “Post-Symphony” games by adding new character backgrounds and new sub-plots, but considering that these games no longer follow the famous Belmont clan, and that all the characters change from each DS iteration, it is really hard to care for these characters or missions. With the limited amount of tools at the “script-writers” disposal, it doesn’t leave them with many options for creativity or an epic storyline. This is also apparent by its easily predictable story chapters and lack of compassion for character cause and effect. This is one area where less is more.

When the game begins, the player is immediately thrown into a small tutorial with sample enemies with instructions on how to control Shanoa and use these newly acquired “Glyphs.” Once you have completed the tutorial, you are shown the world map. The map is bare initially, but expands as you complete each stage. The first phrase that comes to mind while playing through the various stages is: “Don’t fix what isn’t broken.” The game is essentially identical to the previous DS incarnations. You use the top screen as a map as you plow as many enemies down as possible until you reach a block that cannot be reached without a certain item or weapon that can only be found by defeating various bosses, digging deeper in other stages, or simply leveling up Shanoa to withstand the tougher enemies.

The biggest upgrade to the Castlevania series is the newly added “Glyph” system. Instead of obtaining weapons for battle such as swords, axes, knives, etc., you must defeat certain enemies and “hope” they drop a Glyph. I say “hope” because while they drop freely in the beginning of the game, in later stages they are nearly impossible to obtain without destroying dozens and dozens of the enemies over and over again. You can assign different Glyphs to the “X,” “Y,” and “R” buttons to perform multiple weapon combinations. The player can save three different configurations that can be cycled during gameplay by holding A and pressing “L” or “R.” Unfortunately, the later stages in the game have various enemies on the screen with different weakness and you are forced to switch weapons immediately after dispatching one enemy for another. There were occasions when I had to stop playing for extended periods of time because this switching causes a lot of cramping in the hands. Another offensive option in the game is the strong weapon combo attack. Depending on the weapons selected, you can perform different attacks, but it’s pretty “gimmicky” as most of the weapon combos don’t really add much to the game and you will stick to weapons that work the most for you. The Glyph system is also crippled with a decreasing MP bar even when you are using a melee weapon. There is nothing more frustrating then being defenseless while you are attacking an Axe Guard, simply because you “stabbed” him too many times than the MP bar will allow, and must wait for the MP bar to recharge. The developers should have kept the MP bar strictly for projectile weapons, white/black magic spells or transformations. Boss fights also suffer from what I like to call the “Golden Weapon Curse.” The boss fights don’t require much skill or practice, instead you just need to figure out which weapon combinations are the most useful, and the player can use these “Golden Weapons” to defeat the bosses without any real difficulty. There are tons of Glyphs to find throughout the game, and there exists a lot of variety from laser beams, bows/arrows to spears, but no whips. How can you play Castlevania without a whip?

The side quests have returned from Portrait of Ruin, except that you can complete various errands from villagers that you save throughout the world map. Rather than strictly focusing on treasure hunting, some of your goals resemble “achievements,” such as hunting down 10 Werewolves, recording screams from a Banshee, or taking pictures of a Yeti in exchange for items or equipment. Be warned: some villagers will ask for rare items that drop once in a blue moon. Be prepared to kill the same enemies for hours until they drop what you are looking for. I will be the first to admit that, like all types of rewarding systems, these quests can be quite addicting, especially if you strive to obtain 100% completion.

It must simply be stated that the art direction is fantastic! They decided to eliminate the “anime feel” and go back to the original Vampire “Gothic” art that was apparent from previous games. In case you are all wondering, Dracula has been redesigned to look like a man again! The environments are similar to Castlevania II/III/IV, which consist of gloomy terrain in different places on the map. One minute you are fighting skeletons in a prison yard, and the next you are climbing atop an ice water fall looking for a Glyph to continue with the mission. There are also a few stages that have a “retro” feel, in the sense that once you start the stage, you can only go one direction while being bombarded by enemies without any help from save stations or other items. You will die a lot in these these areas if you have forgotten to use that “old school” strategy rather than plow enemies foolishly.

While the music is great, it’s not a real departure from the previous adventures. What really stands out are the sound effects. A lot of the characters in this game have actual voice over, and I’ve been startled a few times after I’ve killed enemies only to hear them scream or yell. Some enemies even laugh at you, or say, “You look delicious.” The only annoyance is that some characters will have the exact “grunts” as other characters that are nothing alike. A grunt that comes from an Invisible Man is sometimes the same grunt that comes from a plant monster. You would think that the grass that is lodged inside the throat of a “Swamp Thing” would prevent the “Smoker’s Lung Cough” that obviously the Invisible Man had coming to him due to his two-pack a day addiction.

While this game has some weakness and annoyances, this is a good chapter in the Castlevania series. It extends what was given to us in previous Nintendo DS installments and adds some classic elements as well. While it doesn’t really push the envelop as far as one would hope, I would recommended this game for any Castlevania fan as an expansion to the previous titles rather than an entire new quest. Like all Castlevania titles on the DS, this title is as good as any to begin if you’ve ever wanted to become a vampire hunter.

The Tanooki Rating - 9.0

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