Graphic By: Jamie Reedy

Trevor Belmont returns... sort of

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (COD)is one of the finest Castlevania games. It is also the first foray into the 3-D world that has been truly successful. It feels, looks and plays like a real Castlevania game, much like Symphony of the Night. For those who have played Castlevania Lament of Innocence, CoD may feel very similar. However, only at first. While the game play may start out feeling similar, and even look a bit similar, the differences become quite apparent soon after you start playing. For those who have played Symphony of the Night, it will become familiar to you, and I guarantee you'll love this game! It was developed by the same team that worked on Symphony of the Night and their ingenuity shows clearly.

The Story

One of the main differences is that you don't play a Belmont, but you play as the Devil Forgemaster Hector. Yes, you don't play as Trevor, but he is a main part of the story and you'll have a few chances to fight him. And yes, this is somewhat of a sequel to Castlevania III. The basic story is that you and your brother Isaac were the Devil Forgemasters of Lord Dracula. As the story goes, Hector turned his back on Dracula, upon his defeat, Isaac chased him down and had Hectors wife burned at the stake in an attempt to have Hector return to his Forgemaster roots and help resurrect Dracula. We start the game with Hector chasing Isaac to an old abandoned castle in the cursed lands of Valachia. Here is where the real story begins... And trust me, the story line doesn't unfold as you would think. There are a few nice turns and unique bits to the story this time.

So whats new?

As in Symphony of the Night, you get to equip different armor and weapons, gain experience and level up. The biggest unique feature is that you get to summon entities called Innocent Devils. IDs are... well, devils that follow you around and help you out much, like in Symphony of the Night. This time around, they really do help a lot. They also gain levels but the really cool thing about them is that they grow.

They're Innocent Devils, I say!

Each Innocent Devil (ID) type has their own evolution branch. In order for the IDs to evolve, you must gain a certain number evolution crystals of a certain type. Which type of weapon you use (special, ax, sword, first or spear) will dictate which crystal you get. Collecting a given number of crystals will allow the ID to evolve which will make them stronger, change which stats get boosted when they level, allow them to learn new techniques. Gaining each type of Final ID (the last point in evolution) actually becomes quite fun, even though it is time consuming. The IDs will also “give birth” to Devil Shards that you can have the shopkeeper, Julia, turn into a new ID of the same type.

Combining... AKA Weapon and Armor Smithing

The next big change to the Castlevania game is that you can make your own armor and weapons. Unlike Symphony of the Night where you found weapons or armor, had them drop or bought them from the shopkeeper, this time around you get to forge the weapons. Forging the weapons is pretty straightforward, you need certain materials in order to make weapons or armor. Often, you will find that you need a specific sword to make a spear or a special piece of armor to make a helmet. You gain these different materials stealing them from enemies, looting them from enemies’ corpses or finding them in certain areas in the game. Some of these materials can only be stolen from Bosses, others will be rare drops and some will be extremely difficult to steal. Overall, it's a really cool aspect that I can see some people loving or hating. I love it! I would recommend reading through some of the FAQs on www.gamefaqs.com about combining and stealing. It will be very handy and ensure that you don't miss certain materials that you will need some bosses.

You're a bad boy, Hector... Stealing

This also brings us to a third difference: stealing. This is the first time that stealing has ever really been introduced into a Castlevania game, and, as I said, I can see this becoming frustrating for many players. The basic way this works is that once you get the ability to steal, while you have an enemy targeted, there are certain times where they drop their guard so you can steal from them. In order to have them drop their guard, you must discover what makes them do so. Sometimes, it's as simple as waiting for them to perform their special attack. Other times, it can be much harder, such as having to have your Battle-type ID uppercut them, then double jumping to steal, which is extremely tricky and difficult; you will understand this when you try to gain a lot of Phlogiston from the Flame Demons. As I said, make sure you check the FAQs to find out who drops what and ensure that you know how to steal from the bosses, which is very important as bosses drop unique materials you will never see again.

Size does matter...

Innocent Devils, stealing and weapon/armor combining are the three unique factors in this game that make it so successful. And hey, the story line is actually pretty decent, as is the voice acting. No more atrocious Symphony of the Night voice-overs that make your ears bleed. You will thankfully have plenty of save rooms, just as you did in Symphony of the Night, as well as teleport rooms. I really have to thank the developers here for letting us having teleport rooms. This game is MASSIVE. I mean, really big... I think it's longer than Symphony of the Night. Granted, there is no upside-down castle that you go to, but it will take you a good long while to finish the game. My initial run-through took me roughly 25 hours. I did, however build up a lot of my IDs to their final form, but I was still missing a few of them. I also was never able to achieve the Pumpkin ID. Make sure you steal from Death and read the FAQ on www.gamefaqs.com on how to get it so you don't miss him!

So... how about the technical stuff?

As far as the rest of the game. The controls are very tight. The only problem I have with them is the camera control. It's not the worst I've ever used in a game, but it's no where near as good as the camera controls in Resident Evil 4 or The Legend of Zelda : Windwaker. And it feels inferior to Devil May Cry, which is quite honestly the game that plays to CoD, though CoD isn't quite as action orientated. Overall, I was very happy with the controls, and the problems with the camera soon get pushed out of your head.

The graphics themselves are really quite pleasant. While they aren't as good as they could have been, they crisp and don’t hurt the eyes. In fact, I can't really complain at all about the graphics. Everything pretty detailed and the frame rate very smooth, at least, on the Xbox; I didn't play it on the PS2, though I'm not sure why anyone would choose to play this on the PS2 if they have the option to play it on the Xbox. I'm sure that the PS2 version is just fine though.

The audio is also quite pleasant. As I said before, the voice-overs were well done, but the music is great. While I don't like the specific tracks as much as Symphony of the Night, they are well orchestrated and really bring out the final bit of ambiance to CoD.

Get to the point already! how is it?

To be honest, I cannot find a major point about this game that I don't find pleasing. It is one of the highest-quality Castlevania games I've ever played and would find its home amongst my top three favorite Castlevania games. I'm not sure if the replay ability is there as much as it was with Symphony of the Night of Castlevania 1 and 2, but it has a few things in surprise for you after you beat the game that will keep you entertained for many more hours... Much like in Symphony of the Night, after you beat the game, you can play through as Trevor Belmont and another in Crazy difficulty. When they say crazy difficulty, they really do mean that. It is insanely hard. I>Ninja Gaiden hard... As I just started my second play through, I'm sure that this game will have it's turn in my Xbox as much as Symphony of the Night did in my PS1. In fact, I believe that this game is so good, I think there is only one game over the past year that I could recommend over it, and that would be Resident Evil 4. Still though, that is saying quite a lot, as there have been some good games out this year. Me to write a basic FAQ and hint guide for you Whimmers out there!

Finally!