Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)

Konami's Castlevania series makes its PSP debut -- and was worth the wait.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

Symphony of the Night, where you begin as Dracula's son, Alucard, improves on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 versions by adding Maria as a playable character (along with Richter), redoing the script and voice acting, and fixing some technical bugs found in the original game.

While these three adventures rock -- in gameplay, graphics and sound -- some of the controls are finicky, especially as Richter. A double-jump, for example, even when pushing the protagonist forward in a certain direction, has him move backwards after his flip. This will confuse many players who are used to a character jumping in the direction you're pushing him or her in. Climbing or descending stairs is also annoying, as you need to push up on the directional gamepad at a very precise spot at the tip of the staircase. The game doesn't use the PSP's analog stick at all.

What's cool about Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is that it doesn't matter if you're a serious fan of the series or new to these games -- the side-scrolling action is fun, intense and always seems to be fresh with unique monsters and level designs, bonus stages and hidden items, and the ability to unlock new games and modes. Newbie or younger players, however, might get frustrated as they're forced to repeat some stages over and over again until they can defeat the end boss, but once you get the hang of the sometimes finicky controls -- and once you learn your character's strengths and weaknesses -- you'll no doubt agree this ambitious Castlevania port is a worthy purchase.

This review was based on a retail copy provided by the publisher.