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It's Castlevania.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is another portable entry in Konami's staple series. This entry continues the familiar game design, subtly varying the Symphony of the Night formula.
In this game, you play as Shanoa, a unique and mysterious female member in the Order of Ecclesia with the power to absorb and use Glyphs. Because Castlevania games are supposed to have cliché plots, Shanoa has amnesia and does not know her background or purpose at the start of the game.
The main character's power over Glyphs is comparable to the Power of Dominance from Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow. However, the combat has an interesting twist in Order of Ecclesia: all of your primary attacks use glyphs, which in turn consume magic. You absorb a new glyph during your adventure by standing in front of the glowing icon and holding up on the D-pad. (Incidentally, this game has treasure chests to open and non-player characters to talk with by pushing up, as well). It does not look as though this game will use the touch screen at all.
Most glyphs are nothing more than weapons, and you can equip one in each hand. The game has a simple combo system: you can attack with quick, successive thrusts by alternating between weapons assigned to the X and Y buttons. As someone used to jumping in Castlevania games just so I can rapidly attack twice when landing, I appreciated this addition. (Presumably there will be two-handed weapons as well, just as in Symphony of the Night). The amount of magic consumed per thrust varies by glyph. Shanoa's magic replenishes itself very rapidly a second or so after you stop consuming magic, effectively transforming the magic meter into a cap on the number of successive attacks. The combination of equipped weapons also determines your special attack (triggered with Up+X or Up+Y), so experimenting with different combinations will yield different abilities. Special attacks consume hearts (smash chandeliers!) instead of magic.
Some glyphs behave as accessories, providing special abilities or modifiers when equipped. In the demo, I acquired the Magnes glyph, which allowed my character to be attracted to large magnets placed in the level. This move allows you to slingshot yourself upward or at an angle and played a key role in the boss battle, allowing you to “hover” above the rampaging monster. The application of the Magnes glyph was rather rudimentary during this boss battle, but there is certainly the potential for more elaborate Glyph-aided maneuvering later in the game.
Castlevania fans may be disappointed to hear that Order of Ecclesia does not look like it will provide a single, integrated castle. After the introductory area, I was brought to a map screen where I selected the next destination, which housed the bulk of the demo's gameplay. I found Portrait of Ruin's disjoint levels be lacking in depth; hopefully, this game's world structure will not suffer the same lack of cohesion and ingenuity. Graphics in the demo also seemed unimproved, although details may have been washed out by the original model Nintendo DS screen on which it was demoed.
The tweaked combat system looks promising but is unlikely to set this one apart from the last five GBA and DS games. But hey, it's Castlevania!
Akumajou Dracula Ubawareta Kokuin
