Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)

A great goth game glorifying glyphs 'n ghouls.
11/4/2008 5:28 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

Speaking of environments, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is still a side-scroller, but you can expect many more locations than just the castle. For the first time in the series, you'll have a world map screen that allows you to select the area you want to play (in order to find more secret areas containing treasure chests). If you stumble over a warp point, you can press up on the d-pad and select a place you've already been to. New locations include towns, underground caves, a prison, forests, a sunken ship and snowcapped mountains -- many have a foreboding atmosphere that is aided by the occasional fog and haunting music. The graphics are top-notch, with colorful and detailed levels and characters, though some of the art (and enemy types) have been recycled from past games.

While these levels are fairly linear, you'll find that less backtracking is necessary compared to past games. The only exception is when you take on optional side-quests from Wygol villagers you've rescued -- finding an item, photographing something, or killing some crazy creature -- as you're expected to run through areas you've already visited. You'll get these missions from townsfolk you meet in the village store (which you can visit anytime from the world map), along with the ability to buy and sell items such as jewelry, food, clothing and weapons. Without giving much away, the first half of the game prepares you for the second half, when you'll need to put your newfound skills and items to the test.

Enemies are plentiful, and at times merciless. Oh sure, the regular assortment of flying bats, swooping purple ghosts, knife-throwing skeletons and wobbly zombies is quite easy to take down, but the huge and powerful boss characters are a different story altogether. Expect to see the death screen often as you face monstrous sea creatures, demonic horses and 30-foot-tall muscular abominations that can snap you like a toothpick. I don't recall being as frustrated in past Castlevania titles by the lack of save points; perhaps Order of Ecclesia is just that much harder. It would've been great if Konami had implemented an auto-save feature or included more save points. At least the Suspend feature, available from the menu screen, lets you create one Suspend spot per DS card and resume at a later time.