CASTLEVANIA: ORDER OF ECCLESIA REVIEW

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By Mark Bozon
Editor's Note: The following reviews touches on aspects from a fully completed trò chơi of Order of Ecclesia. Those not wanting details on additional modes or aspects of the trò chơi should continue on with caution, as certain aspects are talked about, or insinuated. The section on bonus modes/content will have a bolded warning within the article itself.

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The Castlevania series has a lot lớn live up to on DS, và with Order of Ecclesia being the product of over three years of pocket dual screen, there's even more on the line than ever. With Dawn of Sorrow, players were witness khổng lồ the first DS Castlevania offering, borrowing from the best in Aria of Sorrow và bringing the innovative soul system lớn Nintendo's new handheld with added cảm ứng elements, wireless connectivity ,and elements within the overall package that had players doubting whether Symphony of the Night was truly the grand-daddy of the franchise at all. With Portrait of Ruin, the franchise admittedly lost a bit of its footing, bringing in a two-character system with swap elements between Jonathan and Charlotte, but losing a bit of its direction while creeping outside the comfort zone of Dracula's castle, and instead diving into a more open deskftvietnam.com. Two years have passed since we've had a new offering from Iga and his team, but with the first showing of Order of Ecclesia we knew the man behind one of Konami's longest-lasting franchises was onto something. Castlevania was back, and with all the hype behind it being the third game in the series, the "Aria of Sorrow of DS", or the pocket trò chơi that would finally put the nail in the coffin on Symphony of the Night, Ecclesia has big shoes to fill.

and it fills them wonderfully.

Love+it+or+hate+it,+the+bosses+will+break+you.

Whether Order of Ecclesia is better than Dawn of Sorrow remains lớn be seen for this reviewer, as with any good Castlevania game it isn't about how the game plays during its first time through, but time after time, dozens upon dozens of hours in, after long holiday breaks full of cấp độ grinding & endless searches for the final thắng lợi in the game. After going the distance with the hàng hóa though, putting the final hit on the lord of darkness, và watching the final credits roll (yes, the real final credits), I can say with confidence that Order of Ecclesia is a must-buy package, the hardest post-Symphony trò chơi in the series, và a title that -- while not always perfect -- is most certainly going khổng lồ live up to lớn its hype.

In many ways, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is a return to roots for the series, & in many other ways, a huge step in a very different direction. For starters, the game is very difficult. Not Contra 4 tough, but up there for sure. In fact, as a huge Castlevania fan (enough of one khổng lồ write a gigantic retrospective on the series, in fact) I pride myself on having died only a few times in any of the DS or GBA games, & that includes the very difficult Circle of the Moon on GBA. In Order of Ecclesia, I've seen the death stage over 30 times in 12 hours; rookies to the series may see it three or four times that when all is said & done. Order of Ecclesia is tough, but for those that have taken the series through its paces, and are looking for a serious challenge, this Castlevania game finally delivers a true veteran's game. You will die in Order of Ecclesia. Really though, it's a mountain of changes that make up Ecclesia's deskftvietnam.com, & rather than coming together as a definitive "masterpiece of the platform" title lượt thích Aria of Sorrow did, Ecclesia is more of a trailblazing game; the beginning of an era, rather than the kết thúc of one. There's no Belmont clan this time around, và by extension, no Vampire Killer whip (at least not within the main story line). You won't find Richter, Julius, or Simon, Alucard has no integral part within the tale, & there's no Morris clan lớn pick up the slack. There's just Shanoa, and the new Glyph system. As a main point of question with Ecclesia, no, the Glyph system isn't quite lượt thích the souls from Dawn of Sorrow, or the magic and skills from Portrait of Ruin. Up lớn this point (one playthrough finished) I haven't found a single Glyph that can be built up from capturing more of the same over and over again, there aren't any physical weapons to rely on if you aren't a fan of the system, và oddly enough, there isn't as much variety in the types of weapons and spells as I initially thought. By the time you finish your first playthrough, yes, you'll find some pretty crazy spells, summons, transformations -- yes, transformations -- & weapons in the Glyph system, but the first half of the trò chơi or so will be spent tracking down a few initial Glyphs in the game -- a sword, axe, lance, bow, and knife -- and then finding the next level of that same Glyph again, và in most cases, a third time. If you're expecting a barrage of strange magic và never-before-seen abilities right off the bat, you may be in for a slight disappointment. But that goes hand in hand with the new deskftvietnam.com. Without diving into hyperbole (or trying not to) I personally would consider the first five or so hours of the trò chơi to be an elaborate character-building introduction khổng lồ Order of Ecclesia. It isn't until after the game's main turning point that I really felt like I started my quest to take down the pure evil that resides within the game, và while it was a huge payoff, it brings up an interesting point with Order of Ecclesia. The level-based deskftvietnam.com isn't the best idea. Luckily, it doesn't last for the duration of the game. In concept the idea works, but in execution, it just doesn't translate in a form that's better than the standard "run around the castle, và come back khổng lồ areas you couldn't traverse before". The idea in Order of Ecclesia is for players lớn step out of the castle itself, và in doing so can check out other areas entirely. & while that aspect works -- you can traverse a sunken ship, head through mountain regions, kiểm tra out a haunted prison, & take refuge in a small town that you'll ultimately rebuild person by person -- you're also limited in a big way by the thiết kế as well.

The+new+locales+are+impressive+this+time+around.

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Areas are almost entirely linear -- I had 100% in the majority of the stages after my first walk through them - and with more areas comes smaller amounts of rooms per area. Without naming specifics, one such stage has as little as five rooms, with others clocking in at a slightly larger 10, 13, 20, 26, và 28 rooms respectively. There are a few other large ones -- & players that know the Castlevania series can guess at what comes with the back half of the game -- but with that small of an area to lớn traverse, you're getting more tilesets, but less game made up of it. In addition, many of the larger areas are made up of clone rooms (areas made 100% like other spots in the same map, which can then be called by the trò chơi from the same tile layout, thus effectively getting that room for free as far as cart space goes), and even those often don't địa chỉ cửa hàng much a far as in-level traps or props. Games lượt thích Symphony of the Night often are small in room count, but feel extremely full, adding in lots of switches, in-level props và objects (swinging pendulums, rotating gears, mine carts, water-filling puzzles). With Ecclesia, the first half of the trò chơi is extremely straightforward, almost like a classic Castlevania game that loses the ability to kill players from falling in pits, instead expecting you lớn just run through each room one after another with very little reason khổng lồ ever come back. There's a bright side to lớn it all though, which comes with the villager system and second half of the game. With the initial 50% or so, you'll be on a quest lớn recover every villager in the small town of Wygol. After retrieving each villager, you'll not only mở cửa the ability to add a general store lớn the town, but also start khổng lồ slowly fill it with products from the town's jewelry maker, butcher, blacksmith, tailor, & more, and get additional quests from those characters as well. This could include anything from photographing specific enemies with the game's camera, recording specific audio with a phonograph, killing a mix amount of enemy types, or combining herbs or meat lớn make additional food items or potions. Once done you'll not only often be rewarded with cash or additional prizes, but also mở cửa up those items in the general store. In this way, the first half of the game is more about building your character's home base, and less about the actual mission at hand. My only real complaint here; I wanted more quests and items. và without going too in depth on what follows after the franchise's now famous "turning point" in the game -- you know, where titles lượt thích Symphony of the Night literally flipped things upside down on players in the past -- this second half is where players will really feel like the game finally gets down khổng lồ business. That isn't to say the first half of the story wasn't fun, or that knowing what I know now I'd be put off by the deskftvietnam.com choice, but it's a much easier deskftvietnam.com to take on knowing that there's familiarity on the way, and that even if the level-based area -- in all its linear glory -- isn't for you, that there's at least some sort of traditional back half waiting. In fact, it's here where you'll find all the amazing Glyphs you wanted in the first half, where you start debating your second playthrough of the game on hard with your newfound magical toys, và where you really embrace Shanoa as one of the first characters in Castlevania with true motivation to bởi vì what so many before her have done.

You'll see about 1/2 returning enemies, and about 1/2 entirely new ones.

The final serious aspect of the game's core deskftvietnam.com -- & this is the area you'll want khổng lồ look out for spoilers in -- is the inevitable bonus content you get long after completing the main game. As with tradition, many players have expected an additional play mode along with the already confirmed "Hard Mode" và online options, and it's in here. Albus mode is in fact unlocked after beating the game the first time, though I'm still not sure if I'm as big of a tín đồ of it as I was Julius or Richter Mode in previous games. It's based mainly on his gun attacks, which are all long range & often have a bit of a reset time before you're allowed lớn move again after attacks, making it a slower khung of combat than the original first playthrough. I'll leave the rest to lớn you, but for players looking for the chip core Castlevania experience, know that you'll find it here, but that it might be less of a triumphant Alucard Mode or the like, & more along the line of "Sisters Mode" or a lesser bonus playthrough. Also, from what I can tell, there's no online trùm cuối Rush mode, though the single-player option is of course included. Read on from here, spoil-o-phobics. On the audio/visual side, Order of Ecclesia is hands-down the best offering in the series since Symphony of the Night, with amazing music, some great added unlockables that địa chỉ cửa hàng even more to lớn the audio deskftvietnam.com, some simply awesome quái vật deskftvietnam.coms, và beautiful overall art style. The franchise has been taken in a bit of a different direction this time around, & it pays off wonderfully, as the music is inspired, nearly half of the game's enemies have been redeskftvietnam.comed (or are completely new), và the portrait art is well done and beautiful. In fact, with the newly-created art, & the fact that the DSi is looking khổng lồ breathe new life into the DS library, I'm hoping Iga & his team can muster up an encore effort on DS, và go for a fourth Castlevania title for fans of the series, as the amount of artistic effort that went into this one should certainly allow for a second game within the same stylistic world. If all these new enemies, animations, attacks, & locales were created just for one game, and then re-worked for whenever Nintendo's next system happens to lớn come around, it'd feel lượt thích a waste after so many previous games having shared the same assets.