Vimm's Lair: Genesis Reviews - Castlevania: Bloodlines

Genesis
Castlevania: Bloodlines

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
9.41
9.38
9.41
9.40
Votes: 73
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: Dr. Edgar Date: Jul 16, 2017
So, this game came recommended to me by Rich at ReviewTechUSA as well as the Angry Video Game Nerd and several people that I know personally. Truth be told...I hated it. Here's why.

Graphics: 10
Great way to start a review for a game that I supposedly hate, right? But, no, I give credit where credit is due here. This game boasts some of the best graphics I've ever seen on the Genesis. From water effects, to things moving all over the place, to the colors, to the artwork in general, everything looks superb. They seriously did a wonderful job with regards to making the game look beautiful.

Sound: 3
...And here's where it all goes downhill. Wow. I was floored by how bad the sound was in this game. I'm not really complaining about the music, which was fine, but rather the muddled, awful sound that's so boring it nearly puts you to sleep. Nothing pops! Explosions don't sound, I don't know, explosive-y. Your whip makes an incredibly annoying, high pitched sound that sounds nothing like a whip. Getting hit doesn't even sound good, to add insult to injury. Even dying plays this wimpy, muted little song that grates on your nerves pretty fast. In terms of sound, this game really fails to fully utilize the Genesis sound system, which I know is capable of so much more than what's on offer here.

Gameplay: 6
The gameplay is meh. I wasn't really a fan. The controls are stiff. John Morris takes FOREVER to use his whip. There's seriously like a one second delay between a button press and him using his whip, which might not seem like much, but on old games like these, it's a lot. Most enemies are incredibly annoying and play keep away until you're on a platform, just so that they can knock you off. I also feel like the game is a huge step backwards from Castlevania III, which had secondary characters and branching paths - this game lacks these things (although you do get two characters to select from in the beginning, which is nice). Forced secondary weapon pickups are also the bane of my existence, as oftentimes you'll find that they fly at you. Oh, you didn't want Holy Water? That sucks!

I think that the most inexcusable part of this game is that you don't get infinite continues. The prior three Castlevania games for the NES gave you infinite continues, but not Bloodlines, oh no. What you get, instead, is a drawn out, pictographic password that you have to enter over and over and over. It's ridiculous. How is THAT an advancement?

But, given all of that crap, it does make some improvements over the originals. Firstly, you can attack in more than one direction (finally). Secondly, they introduce a lot of unique obstacles like the Leaning Tower of Pisa - it actually LEANS! This looks super cool. Sometimes, though, I feel that these features get a tad out of hand, like in Level 6, where the room is split horizontally in half and you can't really tell if something is going to hit you or not, nor can you really see the platforms that you're trying to jump on very well (sometimes, you can't see them at all).

The bosses were great, save for one - this stupid guy made out of gears that just seems completely out of place and goofy for a Castlevania game. A few of them were pretty dang challenging, but in a fair way.

Overall: 6
Pros:
-Insanely good graphics
-Unique obstacles
-For the most part, good boss fights
-Multi-directional attacks
-You get a choice of two characters

Cons:
-Really poor sound quality
-Stiff, slow to respond controls
-Infinite continues replaced with a terrible password system
-Lack of interesting gameplay mechanics compared to Castlevania III (like split paths, having a secondary character, etc)
-Forced and often unwanted secondary weapon switches
-John Morris' ultimate secondary weapon upgrade kinda sorta breaks the game
-At times, the game honestly seemed too difficult for it to be fun
-The endings are complete crap. All four of them.

I've played four Castlevania games thus far (the three originals and Bloodlines) and, to be honest, I liked this one the least. Don't get me wrong - it's not ALL bad and it's still worth a try, but don't get your hopes too high.