NerdNightmare

Castlevania – Symphony of the Night, on the original Playstation, might just be my favorite video game of all time. The first time I played it was on Halloween night way back in 1997. I don’t remember my costume or what I did that night besides play Castlevania.

Here’s a story about Castlevania – SOTN. A friend of mine asked to borrow my Playstation and Castlevania for a few weeks back in high school because he was going to be grounded all summer for bad grades. I was leery at first. Playstation’s didn’t grow on trees, and my Baskin Robbins income was minuscule. Eventually I caved and let him borrow the system, after he signed a contract offering his first born child, his soul for eternity, and a kick in the nuts if he broke it, and a guarantee that he’d replace it. To this day he still claims that being stuck inside all summer with just Castlevania for entertainment was one of the best summers of his life.

And now here I am, it’s thirteen years later, and I have a new puzzle game on my iPhone. A puzzle game based on Castlevania – Symphony of the night.   My thoughts on the game after the jump…

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Two Castlevania posts in one day? It’s E3 week, so anything goes. Castlevania – Harmony of Despair is part of Microsoft’s annual Summer of Arcade promotion. C-HOD is set to be released for Xbox Live this summer. It is in the Metroidvania style, and is multi player.

This game has me torn. While I am all for a new 2d game where I can play as Alucard. And I have played, beaten,  and enjoyed every Castlevania title done in this format since Symphony of the Night. This game just doesn’t feel legit. The story, if their is one, can’t be canon. It just won’t make sense. And if I am forced to play the game with other players I will be very unhappy. I might try playing with a group a few times. But I definitely do not want to be forced to.

However, I would be very content to purchase this game, grab some snacks and a few beers, invite over a friend, and play the game with two players on the same screen. That sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.

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And the E3 hits keep coming!

Castlevania – Lords of Shadow…. I really really really really hope this game is as good as it looks. I have yet to play a 3d Castlevania that I truly enjoyed. Typically I like my Belmont’s in 2d… Metroidvania style if possible! Lords of Shadow looks great in this trailer, I’d be OK with just watching it as a full length film.

The comparison to God of War is obvious, but the GoW games are good, so that shouldn’t be too big of an issue.