“Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” is one of the best classic video games to play, especially if you are into vampires, angels, demons, and anything supernatural. It is another game title by Konami, which focuses more on the son of great vampire Dracula: Alucard. Here is a review that revisits one of the best games I have played in the past.
A great story revealing the side of the cursed son
This 2D side scrolling classic video game tells the story of Alucard, the only son of Dracula and his mission to stop his father from destroying mankind once again.
The story is very compelling to follow and it has several interesting characters to follow like Death, Richter Belmont the current vampire slayer, the mysterious Ferryman, Maria Renard, and many more.
The story is also mysterious, making it very interesting to follow until the end. There are also other factors to unlock before getting the best ending for the game, which makes it more intriguing and makes players try to work harder to find a way to unlock that ending.
The dialogue is quite great as well with its formal tone and old English style. Players and fans would usually quote some of the dialogues due to its cool formal tone and how they deliver it.
A mix of 2D and early 3D graphics with surprising results
“Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” is one of the earliest games to have 3D models in certain features of it. While the cinematic scenes are quite horrible but short, the other sections of the game with the 3D models are quite great. It mixes well with the beautiful 2D artwork, which is most of the game.
The 2D designs were beautifully and expertly designed with superb details from the smallest enemies to the great views of the castle. Particular portions of the game like the Chapel and the Throne Room are my particular favorites due to the intimate details of an ancient chapel and the throne room with the beautiful full moon gracing just behind it.
Beautiful orchestra music perfectly matched with areas and scenes
One of the best reasons to play this classic video game is its classical orchestra music that serves as background music for each area and certain scenes. Each score is perfectly matched with every area of the game, which sets up the mood when Alucard enters it. Some evoke a sense of thrill and horror, some a sense of urgency, another is the feeling of excitement before a boss battle, and my favorite, a sense of peace for the Chapel area.
The English voice acting is perfectly done as well, and it makes you feel like you are really in the medieval ages. Each character and even the monsters have their own voices and sounds to make, which matches properly.
Some sound silly, but it looked like it was purposely done by the game creators.
One of the best 2D side scroll gameplay in its time
“Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” was crowned as one of the best 2D side scroll games when it came out a few years ago due to its almost flawless gameplay. In these times, 3D gameplay was still in its infancy and a lot of gamers were smitten with its new style, but this game still held strong against those new ones. It has different kinds of features that make it so interesting to play like great swordplay, spells that needed to be unlocked by button sequences, a combination of attacks to defeat enemies, use of items, unlocking the secrets skills of weapons, armor and items, and many more.
Players needed to be imaginative in defeating different kinds of bosses with the limitations of current weapons, armor, and items. There were no difficulty options to choose from, which is why the whole castle was a challenge to go through and they needed to grind for experience. Companions will help Alucard in his journey throughout the castle and can even unlock secret areas that they could only do.
The only negative thing I can think of for this game is its long loading times, which was understandable in the PlayStation One era. It has gotten better in its ports in different platforms like the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita.
Great replayability value due to tons of in-game secrets and secret codes
Before the time of the DLCs, video games had secret unlockables hidden throughout the game and some even had secret codes to break that could unlock powerful weapons and items, and “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” is no different. Throughout the castle, players can find tons of secrets like hidden walls, secret staircases and elevators, secret sequences, and many more. The game also has secret codes that players have to enter in order to unlock secret armors like the Axe Armor and many more.
This game title is one of my favorite games to play, even now, and reviewing this made me want to play it again. My final score for “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” is a solid 9 out of 10 points due to an almost flawless design of a 2D side scroll game.
Check out the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Teaser Trailer (PSX) here:
