This is my first review, so keep in mind that if it seems like I’m not very good at writing these things, you’re right!
I’m going to warn you right now: possible SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. This review may or may not contain SPOILERS, so if you read something that ends up ruining the game’s plot (what little plot there is), it’s your fault. You saw my six capitalized spoiler tags. You were warned.
Anyway, on with the review. I’ll start by saying that Castlevania: OoE has one of the most interesting battling systems I’ve ever seen. This works for and against you. While you can combo some glyphs endlessly, everything uses mana. This means that if you’re slapped with the curse status, you can’t do anything! There are items that can remove that status, though. Thankfully, you have powerful glyph fusions at your disposal. Unfortunately, these chew through your hearts rather quickly. Another thing that bothered me is that a lot of them were recycled. It would have been interesting to see how different weapons reacted with different magic, elemental or otherwise. There are quite a few glyphs to find and choose from, and certain combinations work better than others on different enemies. You can switch quickly between three sets, keeping the menu browsing in this game to a minimum.
The rest of the gameplay revolves around the same format that Konami has been using since Symphony of the Night: explore new area, find boss, fight boss, kill boss, gain new power, backtrack, repeat. The glyph system is the only new thing about the gameplay. Well, there is the difficulty hike, but then again, the game probably wouldn’t have been so difficult if I wasn’t so reckless. I’m talking “I wonder what happens if I just bump into him?” reckless. On a more serious note, if you’ve played any of the previous “Metroidvania” games (Portrait, Aria, Dawn, Circle of the Moon, SotN), you’ll find that this one is a bit more difficult. It’s not impossible, though. With the right strategy and quick reflexes (and by quick, I mean that you already know what the boss is going to do, which will require you to DIE a few times), you’ll be able to push through this game.
I’m going to lump graphics and sound into one paragraph. The music for this installation was pretty decent. It didn’t make my ears bleed, but it didn’t bring tears to my eyes either. The sound effects were good, and the voice clips weren’t half bad either. The graphics were nothing special. If you’ve played Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, think that. They had those cool little portraits for some of the cutscenes, and some of the bosses (that big dude in the mansion, Rak…rak…whatever the sea wench’s name was, and Blackmore) were pretty cool looking. There were palette swaps, of course, but this is to be expected. Moving on…
OoE doesn’t have much of a plot. The Belmonts have disappeared, the Order of Ecclesia is formed to defend against Dracula in their stead. The support character gets jealous, goes evil, turns good at the last second, then you have to fight Dracula and his minions. Something similar has been done before (in Circle of the Moon, another Castlevania title ffs), so the plot is nothing special. The ending is cheesy. I struggled against Dracula, died upwards of 15 times, just to get some sappy dialogue and see the main character flash some big, toothy, cheesy grin?!
OoE is pretty short, but there are a few extra modes you unlock when you’ve completed the game. There’s Albus Mode, which lets you play through the game as…well, Albus, the gun-toting prodigal son. While this does nothing to flesh out his character or the plot, it’s still awesome. There is also a Clear Game, which lets you start from the beginning of the game as Shanoa with the same items, levels, and most of the glyphs you collected. Hard mode and Boss Rush mode are also available. I think you can get some special prize added to your save file for completing Boss Rush, but I haven’t done it yet. Still, these features don’t add much to the game outside of allowing you to wipe the floor with Dracula if you choose to go through it a second or third time around.
All in all, I’d say that Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is a pretty good game. Not as groundbreaking as Symphony of the Night, but it’s definitely better than Portrait of Ruin. Solid gameplay, decent graphics and sound, and the ability to DOMINATE Dracula and his minions on a second, third, and possibly fourth playthrough of this game all make it well worth its weight in gold (or ten dollar bills, whatever).
Also, do not pay to see Quarantine. Don’t even watch it for free. That movie is fucking terrible.
