Full Review

Hey, you know what? I’ll do us all a favor and just abridge the obligatory part where you’re supposed to spend four paragraphs talking about the previous GBA Castlevania games like everyone else does.

Ahem.

First there was Circle of the Moon, and the people thought it was great. Excellent music, excellent gameplay, excellent graphics (that you could only see half the time.) Then there was Harmony of Dissonance, and the people thought it was good. Crap music, good gameplay, and excellent graphics (that you could only see 100% of the time.) And now we are at the brand new 3rd game in the Castlevania GBA series, where the creators took all the problems from the first and second game and through them into the incinerator. Our young hero, Soma Cruz, uses every weapon from daggers to lances to handguns to Excalibur itself to beat the hell outta Dracula’s minions and take down the master of the castle. But is it really Dracula he’s after? Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is one of the most solid GBA games to date.

The visuals in Aria of Sorrow are quite spectacular. The map of Dracula’s castle is chock full of areas that are as well detailed graphically as the GBA is possibly capable of. I particularly like the paintings and statues that seem randomly placed throughout the game, resembling some of the art you’d see in the most prestigious of museums. The character and monster sprites had a lot of detail put into them, which certainly shows. Some monsters from the previous GBA game that make a repeat performance in Aria of Sorrow seem to be better detailed, giving a more smooth, rather than deformed and crumply (uh, bear with me here, opinions on graphics aren’t exactly my forte). The bosses are greatly designed as well, including a boss near the end of the game that gives sort of a 3D-like awareness to the player, which is an awesome effect. I can honestly say I do not have a complaint about the graphics in this game at all. I always say, “Graphics don’t make a game, gameplay does,” but in this case it sure does help this game’s value a lot.

People, you aren’t playing Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow unless you’re wearing headphones. The music in this game is nothing short of amazing for a portable console. It’s certainly on par, if not even better than the tracks in Circle of the Moon. As soon as Soma Cruz entered the first area and the music started up, within a half of a second I had to say to myself, “Good God, they actually put effort into it this time!!” For those that do not know, Konami had some kind of budget excuse for putting little effort into the music of Harmony of Dissonance. Music has been one of the key points of the Castlevania series since as far back as Dracula X for the Turbo CD, or even Castlevania III for the NES. Every track in Aria of Sorrow exhibits mastery, especially the catchy theme for the Clock Tower. Of course, I can’t ramble about the music forever, for there are also numerous sound effects that deserve a “thumbs up.” There are a lot of Japanese phrases that are uttered or yelled throughout the game, which I thought was a nice effect, although many people who play this game will scratch their head and wonder if Soma is speaking in Voodoo or something. Even some of the enemies have a few Japanese words in their vocabulary, which I found to be a nice touch.

The true beef of the game, obviously the gameplay, is just as great as Circle of the Moon and almost as great as Symphony of the Night. The mechanics and system of the game is basically centered around the old Symphony of the Night style. Soma Cruz somehow ends up at Dracula’s castle, he chops up a monster on the castle grounds, then goes into the castle in hopes of finding a way out of the damned place. You equip a short sword, you hack up a monster, and they give you a potato pancake, which restores 45 or so hit points. You kill a bunch of monsters, you gain a level up, your stats increase. Aria of Sorrow also borrows the DSS system from Circle of the Moon, but enhances it quite a bit. In Circle of the Moon, there were certain monsters that when killed there was a chance they would drop a “card.” There were two types of cards, and when one of each type were paired your main character would gain a certain power. In this game, it’s slightly different. When Soma kills a monster, there is a chance he will absorb its soul and be able to use its power. There’s three types of souls that can be equipped at the same time, and instead of just a few select monsters having abilities for our hero to plunder, everyone’s free game to have its soul manipulated to Soma’s advantage.
Throughout the game, Soma gains new abilities that can get him to places he wasn’t able to reach before, such as a double jump, or the ability to… um, slide. With the combination of, like, fifty to one hundred different souls available and personal abilities to be discovered, Aria of Sorrow has solid gameplay that won’t lose the player’s interest too soon.

That statement above means a lot, because this game is mega-short. I uncovered 100% of the map in fewer than four and a half hours, which is quite disturbing. I usually get cranky if a game of such caliber is fewer than nine hours. But, Konami does add in a few nice features to help the player to not feel disappointed, such as multiple endings, plus a bonus Boss Rush and Sound Test mode. The few of those out there that were heavily disappointed beyond belief that this game did not have a whip-slinging hero can rejoice, for after the game has been beaten you can play as a Belmont if you know the right code. The game has a nice replay value for all the features throughout the game. I figure it should be played through the entire way two or three times in succession before it seems to get a little old, which isn’t too bad.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was certainly a pleasure to play. It featured almost all the necessary components for a superior game, such as the tri-fecta of great graphics, music, and gameplay all rolled into one. The only thing people may have a problem with this game is that it may seem far too short for the thirty dollar price-tag. I, as well, think the price is a bit much, but no one should avoid getting this game when it drops anywhere between 23 and 20 dollars. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, is an instant classic that should be remembered for years to come.