Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (for GBA)

[FelixNgamer]

Name:  Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Publisher:  Konami
Developer:  Konami
Genre:  Action Adventure
Number of Players:  1-player   
Release Date(s):  NA May 6, 2003, EU May 9, 2003



Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow was a revolutionary game of the Castlevania series developed by Konami and the great imagination of Koji Igarashi.  I would like to know your impression of this game after you read this review.  Well, let's get started.



Story:  The year is 2035 and while Japanese residents Soma and Mina approach the Hakuba Shrine, they are sucked into a castle created by the solar eclipse that happened that day.  Soma Cruz soon learns that he and his childhood friend Mina were sucked into Dracula's castle.  There are many other characters in this game with unique personalities including Arikado, Soko, Hammer, Julius, and Graham.  With Soma's unusual dark power and his fighting skills, he explores the huge castle in search of a way for him and Mina to escape the castle although he would soon have to deal with betrayal as well as getting involved in his own fate.

 

The story starts out slow but gets better in the end with all the events happening.  However, you get sort of an empty feeling for the characters are there isn't that much story to read.  But some people would rather just play the game than read the story so the ability to skip events and the short reading would be good for them. 

For the story of Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow, I give this category an 8.0.

Gameplay:  The gameplay of Aria of Sorrow remains true to the 2D side-scrolling RPG that makes Castlevania what it is.  The controls are simply flawless and if you are not familiar with 2D side-scrolling, you will soon pick it up.  With all of the 3D nowadays, it's hard to find a decent 2D side-scroller.  Look no further, this old school game style is greatly represented in this game.



This game brought something new to the Castlevania series--soul collecting and the use of the souls.  There is a small chance that Soma will obtain an enemy's soul when he defeats it.  Some souls are more rare than others.  By beating an enemy over and over again, you are likely to obtain its soul eventually.  In AoS, there are three types of enemy souls--red, blue, and gold. 

The red souls are basically like your special attack that uses some of your MP to activate.  These can be used by holding up and pressing B.  These can range from throwing spears or axes to casting lightning and fire spells.  There are many many red souls to collect so this gives the player a great deal of these souls to choose from.



Blue souls are essentially your attacks or defensive techniques that you can control how much time you want these to last.  They usually hardly take much MP as they are meant to last for a while.  For example, by pressing R (the button that activates these souls), you can activate a soul that involves the spinning of fire around you providing protection as well as an attack.  This soul ends whenever you press R again or if your MP gauge is depleted.

Last but certainly not least, you have your gold souls which are basically your auto souls.  Once you set them on your start menu, you don't have to do anything as they will already be activated.  These gold souls can range from one that increases Soma's strength to one that allows him to walk on water.



Along with souls, there are also abilities that Soma can obtain.  The basic ones are the double jump and the slide kick while others are better such as the high jump. 

There are many weapons as well in this game as well as weapon types.  These can range from swords that thrust at enemies to katanas that slash at enemies.  This game gives you the choice of what weapon and what type of weapon you want to use which is a great thing.  Like other Castlevania games, there are also the two other things that you can equip--armor and an accessory.  Like weapons, there is a great deal of these as well as abilities that come with some of the equipments.



The amount of things to do in this game is endless.  You can simply battle the great amount of different types of enemies and bosses, complete your map, collect and buy items and equipment, collect souls, level up, and much much more.  And if you complete a play-through, you unlock the Sound Room as well as the Boss Rush mode that allows you to fight all of the bosses in the game to obtain an item at the end based on how little time you took.  And if you so want, you may start a game on hard mode while carrying over all of your items and souls to go through another play-through.  The advantage of hard mode is that there are items and weapons in the game that you could not obtain in normal mode.  Oh and how could I forget, you can also play through the game as Julius Belmont the vampire killer after you beat the game once.

The amount of things to do in this game and the challenging dungeons in the castle make this category get a perfect 10.

Sound and Music:  The music of this game is nicely composed as they suit this game very well.  The tunes are good to listen to and you can also listen to these tunes in the Sound Room which you unlock after completing a play-through on the game.  For me, any game with good music that includes a Sound Room is a good one.  The only thing I have to say is that there are not as many songs to listen to as other games but they are all good nonetheless.

The sounds of this game are pleasant to listen to.  Whether it's the sound of your weapon slashing the enemy, the death cries of the zombies, or the little Japanese phrases that occur sometimes in the game when you talk to someone, it's all good.  Though there might be a little too much random Japanese voices in the game that can get annoying sometimes.

The presentation of music and sounds in AoS was great and therefore I give it a 9.0.

Graphics:  The graphics on this game are very good for a GBA game.  It is both better than most Castlevania graphics and most GBA graphics.  Everything is pleasant to look at in this game--even some disgusting looking enemies.  Nothing really makes you say "oh they could've done better."  Something that I like to see in the game is the bloody explosions of some enemies as you kill them.  And they call that "animated blood". :D

As for the art of the characters, it is great.  Soma looks cool and other characters look alright--especially Julius Belmont who they messed up his look in the sequel on the DS.

There is simply nothing wrong with the graphics in this game.  I give this category a perfect 10.

Overall, this game is one to remember in the Castlevania series, the GBA games, and all games in history.  I believe that 2D is being greatly overrun with 3D nowadays and it's hard to play a great quality 2D side-scroller.  Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow will always be there for those who want to have this old school type of experience.  Overall, this game receives a 9.25 from me.  Thanks for reading my review.

9.25/10