Nintendo
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
| Graphics: Sound: Gameplay: Overall: |
8.90 8.94 8.49 8.61 |
| Votes: | 51 |
| Reviews: | 2 |
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| Reviewer: Seth Koopa | Date: Jun 10, 2005 |
| This is a game that I always had very little patience with, as I simply didn't know what to do. But that's because I have little patience with role-playing games, I presume. And this, one of the first role-playing games ever made, has a lot more juice to it than it shows at first.
Graphics: 9 The use of graphics is much better than in either Castlevania I or III. All of the towns, forests and mansions that Simon visits are rendered excellently. There are no graphical glitches to speak of here at all. The monsters' sprites are very rich. Sound: 9 The music suits the game perfectly. When you're in town, it's peaceful and idyllic. When you're battling through the lands outside of towns, the music is suitably dark yet with plenty of energy. I'm not fond of the nighttime music. The theme when you explore Castlevania (I hope I'm not giving too much away here) is my favourite, though. It's so suggestive of something past. Gameplay: 10 Just when you think you have the game figured out, it surprises you. This is an RPG-game to the core, I think it's safe to assume. You start out with a very basic whip, but if you collect enough hearts from defeating enemies (and stay alive in the meantime) you can go to town and buy a better whip from a salesman. Asides from salesmen, when in town, you can interact with the townsfolk to give you clues. Well, some do, anyway. Some give you clues that are downright lies. And as you progress through the game, the towns will change as your progress. In one town, you find mostly girls who, when you talk to them, just say how handsome you are or invite you to meet them on the riverbank at midnight. In one town, the people downright hate you. Some of the lines the townsfolk say become downright jokes. One line in particular, which I don't want to spoil for you, is hilarious. The imagination and humour in this is wonderful. The game is indeed a game you must think your way through. Your mission is to collect Dracula's body parts, so you can burn them and thus rid yourself of a curse he placed on you. Each body part is located in a mansion. To reach each mansion, you need a sort of crystal. And sometimes you need to figure out what to do with the crystal. While in the mansions, which are easily the places most infested with enemies, collect enough hearts from slaying them and you can advance up a level. This makes you stronger and increases your life meter. It's as non-linear a game as they can be. Sometimes you'll need to backtrack long distances in order to get to the next. Overall: 9 An excellent role-playing game for the NES. I'm still not fond of it, but I can definitely see why others are. My only disappointment; why has Castlevania never had a werewolf as a boss character? |
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| Reviewer: Daniel Villageliu | Date: Sep 27, 2001 |
| This game is one of the first role playing games ever made. You are the character Simon, a vampire slayer out to kill Dracula and end a curse that has plagued the land. In order to find and defeat Dracula you must go through five different mansions/castles in which you acquire the body parts of Dracula to piece him together. Along the way, you journey though a wide variety of dangerous terrians and cursed towns with people who will trade and talk with you durring the day but then transform into murderous monsters at night. (That is correct, this game has a sense of time lapse.) Even more intriguing is the fact that this game forces you to use to be clever as you solve unusual and sometimes seemingly impossible puzzles. For example, early on you probably will attempt to access a river mansion that is underwater. (I won't ruin that puzzle for you, but I will tell you that you need a blue crystal.) I love this game because you collect items and go back and forth from towns like in Legend of Zelda. Very rarely has any NES game, and for that matter any RPG sold today, had the ambition and skillful crafting to turn a 1s and 0s into something that you will play for hours on end. | |