Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

System: Game Boy Advance
Release Date: 2003
Published By: Konami
Reviewed by: Darien
Rating:

A bit of a departure from the traditional Castlevania format, yes? No whip, no subweapons, it's set in Japan in the year 2035 instead of gothic Europe...

But it's recognisibily Castlevania at heart. Most of the monsters you know and love are here, and one famliar character that you have to be a bit slick to spot. Soma (for that is the hero's name) plays a lot like Alucard, what with all the swords and such, though the weapon selection is on the slim side compared to Symphony's copious piles of stuff. The catch to this is that he can gain the powers of the castle's monsters by catching their souls. So it's Pokemon time!

While you're catching 'em all, you'll come across three ancient books that have cryptic information in them. Well, anyhow, somebody may find it cryptic; I thought it was easily the most obvious "secret plot twist" the series has had yet. The gist of it is, as tends to be the case in KCET's Castlevania games, the real ending is hiding someplace and you need to ferret it out. Suffice to say, those of you who got stuck in Harmony of Dissonance are off the hook here.

Almost all of the game's puzzles are solved by having the proper monster souls. This can be a fun mechanic, but it does tend to reduce the game a bit to a scavenger hunt. The only other complaint I have with the soul collection business is that by far most of the monster souls are pretty thoroughly crap and will never be used. Even some that are quite rare.

In all, a solid game and worth your time.

Buy this game from Amazon.com!