Archive for Castlevania

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night – 200.6% Finally!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Castlevania, Games, High Scores/Accomplishments with tags on July 28, 2018 by slateman

20 Years Later – Finally 200.6%!

At 42 years old, my personal Castlevania history dates back three decades to the original on the NES. Like so many others, I’ve played just about everything. The classic trilogy, Bloodlines, IV, SOTN and its subsequent GBA/NDS titles, the PS2 3D ones, LoS, side stories, etc, etc, etc.

And at the top of that heap, to me, remains Symphony Of The Night. It’s just so [insert 20 superlatives we’ve all heard]. Anyhow, while I was a day-one adopter in early 1997, I never made it past 197% or so. This continued when I replayed it in the early ’00s, and again when I got the PS1 Classics version on the PS3. Oh, and when I replayed it **again** on the PSP with Dracula X Chronicles.

My itch for more Castlevania meant another replay of Rondo Of Blood, now on my Vita, and…why the hell not, let’s do it again! And now my goal was to *finally* get the elusive 200.6%. Methodically going through the game room-by-room, I made it to the end of the second castle, started doing my clean-up and realized…I missed Mudman. No! No!!! So bummed, I took a day or two off before heading back in and finishing it all off.

Little did I know that getting 200.6% was still achievable despite my oversight!!! And so finally, for a game I started playing just after my 21st birthday, is now (sorta) 100% complete at my tender age of 42!

Netflix’s Castlevania: Slow Start – Great End!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Castlevania, Games, TV with tags on July 31, 2017 by slateman

The animation in Castlevania is remarkable and the short, four-episode series simply looks great. Each of the roughly twenty-minute episodes is over as soon as it begins, but the series takes a little while to really get rolling. I know setting backstory is important, but I was, quite frankly, bored halfway through the second episode. Trevor, my favorite Belmont for obvious purposes, seemed more annoying than genuinely vested in the task and dialogues just went on forever. However, as the end of episode three leads into the finale, the story takes shape. The final battle sets the tone for what should be a very exciting second, eight-episode season two. However, I should be wary to note that the shortcomings of this season are likely going to return. The fitting end to this season was particularly special, especially for anyone whose favorite of the original Castlevania games was number three, which, truly, is a vast majority of classic fans. I don’t know if we’ll see Grant’s return, but as is, the three protagonists are diverse, strong and well-voiced. Richard Armitage does a spectacular job and I look forward to the second season’s arrival. It should be fun.

Castlevania: Mirror of Fate HD

Posted in Blog, Castlevania, Games, Reviews with tags on November 22, 2013 by slateman

Mirror of Fate HDThis $15 title was about perfect…for $15. Had I paid full price on the NDS, I may have been upset. However, the quick jaunt through the title was fun, and appropriately priced.

The Good
The music was pretty cool. It was moody, we didn’t get any Vampire Killer tunes and that’s OK. It was different. The story was a bit strange, and at first, I couldn’t figure out WTF happened at the end. However, SPOILERS! Trevor turning out to be Alucard was a pretty awesome take on this non-canon side-story.

The So-So
The game’s combat was pretty weak. I actually preferred exploring the castle over actually fighting. Some of the platforming was ok at best.

Overall, it wasn’t the best Castlevania, nowhere near it. In actuality, it may have been one of the worst but I’m still glad I played it. It’s made me interested in Lords of Shadow 2 and made me wish I never lost my first LoS save game. After getting 100% w/ Simon, Alucard & Trevor though; I’ll likely never touch this game again. :) That’s OK. It was fun while it lasted.

Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia Art

Posted in Artwork, Best / Worst, Blog, Castlevania, Game Art, Games with tags on April 21, 2013 by slateman

I can’t say I even remember playing this. After completing Portrait Of Ruin twice, I vaguely recall something afterwards. If anything, it didn’t leave a lasting memory other than ‘Oh, maybe I played that…wasn’t as good as Portrait.’ In any event, I’m trying to go through some hard drive stuff and these two artworks are pretty sweet…so while the game may not have been so spectacular, the art here is. Enjoy!

Order_Of_Ecclesia_1

Order_Of_Ecclesia_2

Mini-Review: Outland – I Love This Game…

Posted in Blog, Borderlands, Castlevania, Games, Resident Evil, Reviews with tags , on August 18, 2012 by slateman

I think it was last year when I picked up Outland on the Xbox360. It was probably when my PS3 was dead and I needed something new to play. Of course, I LOVE Ikaruga, in fact, I have a section of one of my sites devoted to it. This game is an action/adventure homage to the excellent title and I love it.

Now, my Xbox360 doesn’t receive as much love as it used to. I don’t know why we all have our favorites but I much prefer the PS3 and its interface than Microsoft’s offering. Most of my gaming hours are spent on Sony’s platform and now that Outland was free for PS+ subscribers, why not nab this game again?

So, with brilliant Ikaruga-style mechanics, awesome visuals and a cool soundtrack, this game is a lot of fun to play. It’s not overly difficult, but boss battles can be very tough. I would love to find a complete set of artwork for Outland as it’s just marvelous. The color schemes, the details in the background, animations, enemies and most of all, bosses, all look spectacular and are deserving of their own art book or online gallery.

The gameplay is equally fantastic. It brings the aforementioned polarity to match the progress-and-return 2D method of Castlevania/Metroid/Shadow Complex. I love these types of games. I’m always eager to go back and collect what I missed, aiming for 100% whenever I can (or 200% in the case of the brilliant Symphony Of The Night!)

So, I should really just play the 360 game rather than going back to repeat all this. But it’s just so fun, I don’t mind. Will I finish the whole thing? Perhaps…but it’s definitely entertaining while it lasts! (i.e. until Borderlands 2 and Resident Evil 6 come out to consume all my time!)

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