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Last week our 3in5 topic was Original Xbox Live Arcade titles, so this week we found it fitting to focus on the retro titles that have been remade for the Xbox 360 service.
This week's second title is the XBLA remake of the classic PlayStation 1 title, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
How does the downloadable version of one of the best 2D action-platformers hold up 10 years after its original release? Crack the whip and come in swinging to find out.
Metroid-vania. There, I said it and now we have to live with it. Now that that's out of our system...
In 1997 the vapor-ware 32X title, Castlevania: The Bloodletting, was re-envisioned as Symphony of the Night for the PlayStation. Immediately the game struck a cord with gamers as a two-dimensional game done right, stuck in an industry headed well into the third-dimension.
The latest version of the game is a direct port from the original PlayStation version and is the first XBLA title to weigh in above the 50MB size limit, which has now been increased to 150MB.
In Symphony of the Night players take on the role of Dracula's son Alucard who awakens to end his father's tyranny (Alucard acts as the complete opposite of Dracula... for example, Alucard is Dracula backwards).
Alucard gets to Castlevania well equipped for battle but is subsequently stripped of all abilities and possessions by Death himself. Much like Metroid in the same vein, Alucard is forced to scour the castle locating the lost loot to aide in his quest.
XBLA has always been bite-size gaming and Castlevania hardly follows this concept due to the size and scope of the game. Depending on the ending you receive you even have the opportunity to play through an inverted version of the castle, which then leads to the final fight versus the Master of Vampires, Dracula.
The 1998 Sega Saturn release of Castlevania: SotN included an extra playable character (Maria) as well as new areas for players to explore. Sadly as the Saturn version has never seen a North American release, the XBLA version was lifted from the PlayStation title and is a near perfect port. Not everything has made its way into this particular release of the game though as all FMV (full-motion video) sequences have been cut, presumably to keep the file size low.
Symphony of the Night was famously known for its beautiful, yet haunting, soundtrack and shockingly enough the entire tracklist squeezes its way onto the 97MB file. From somber piano pieces to rock solid metal segments, the soundtrack of the game is both well done and placed well against the pace of the title.
was famously known for its beautiful, yet haunting, soundtrack and shockingly enough the entire tracklist squeezes its way onto the 97MB file. From somber piano pieces to rock solid metal segments, the soundtrack of the game is both well done and placed well against the pace of the title.The game features two graphical resolutions, original and enhanced. While both resolutions look similar, the enhanced slightly more polished by smoothing out the classic jaggies by adding subtle blurring effects to the game.
This enhanced mode doesn't reinvent the game, the way Prince of Persia Classic did, but it certainly doesn't adversely affect the memories you had of the original games (sup, Double Dragon?). Although the graphics are dated by today's standards, the beautiful art design shines through and its atmosphere adds another element to the overall character of the world. Surprisingly the game does not scale to the size of your television but places the game inside of a frame (as shown in the screenshots), this is adjustable, but does leave the world looking blurry based on your screen modification settings.
Gameplay is probably the easiest thing to critique. It is flawless. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night may be one of the best 2D action-platformers ever released.
The open-ended world coupled with its perfect blend of combat and puzzle solving really put this title in its own spotlight.
The game can run you a few hours, depending on your aptitude and the ending you ultimately achieve. When you complete the game you can play as Richter Belmont, who carries a whip more in line with the classic Castlevania lore. Added exclusively for this version are leader boards that track Overall Time for completing objectives and the game in its entirety as well as a players final score.
For fellow achievement whores we are treated to up-to 200 points from completing various objectives to exploring the entire game (200.6% to be exact).
Castlevania: SotN is a perfect example of the variety XBLA requires. The service has grown so much since its initial launch on the original Xbox to a respectable platform a classic like this deservedly can call home.
Castlevania: SotN might not be a casual experience, but there isn't another title on the service that gives more for your 800 points. In short, Castlevania is one of the best gaming experiences available on XBLA and anyone interested in the genre must purchase this classic.
 
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