A miserable pile of secrets.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/38880/castlevania-for-nintendo-64-review
The early 3D era of gaming was essentially the gaming industry’s middle school years. Big time franchises were facing the growing pains and the awkward voice cracks associated with growing up. While some franchises made the transition with swagger, Castlevania wasn’t so lucky.
Castlevania for Nintendo 64 was the first entry into the third dimension for a series that was legendary in the 2D world. It marked the beginning of an eternal struggle for the series to bring to 3D what made the 2D games so great.
One aspect left unchanged in the transition to 3D is the story. Dracula’s has reappeared once again and it’s up to Reinhardt Schneider, the heir to the Belmont family, and the magically gifted orphan, Carrie Fernandez, to stop Dracula. At the start fo the game, players can chose between either of these leading characters.
Castlevania 64 is a primitive 3D action platformer that suffers from many of the symptoms that plague games of the same ilk. The camera has a mind of its own and switches angles to try to suit the situation the player finds him/herself in, and not being able to control the camera can be deadly in difficult platforming situations. I often found myself falling to my death because I wasn’t confident in my depth perception thanks to some awkward camera angles.
Additionally, combat in Castlevania 64 is atrocious. The whip seems to have a mind of its own. No matter what way you are facing, if the whip decides to auto-lock on an enemy, you may find yourself getting rotated in a completely different direction. All too often I was left feeling frustrated after wasting secondary weapons by accidentally throwing them at nothing.
Likewise, the game’s controls are equally frustrating. Loot acquired from killing enemies lies on the ground for a temporary period. Unlike most games, walking over the item does not pick it up automatically. While this did prevent me from picking up an unwanted secondary weapon, I found myself trying to balance attacking and collecting loot while simultaneously fighting off mobs. It essentially becomes a game of grab what you can without dying. Worse yet, the movement controls are extremely loose and sometimes take far too long to respond to player input.
One of the things I love the most about the Castlevania series is its incredible library of soundtracks. Some of the best tracks in video games come from this series. However, Castlevania for the Nintendo 64 has long stretches without music. When there is music, the compositions are sadly just cliche horror tunes that prove to be downright boring.
The same goes for the game’s visuals, unfortunately, as jerky and uninspired graphics add to the game’s lack of character. Rather than creating an experience that immerses the gamer in a dark, horror-filled atmosphere, Castlevania 64’s graphics are just plain ugly. On top of that, choppy animations make the cut scenes, which are intended to be frightening, almost comical.
In the end, I cannot recommend Castlevania 64 to anyone but the most hardcore fans of the franchise. Fortunately, the Castlevania series has so many great titles, so there really isn’t any reason pull out the N64 to get your vampire hunting fix.
Topic: Castlevania for Nintendo 64 Review (Read 5723 times)
