Castlevainia...more like Castle-insainia!!!

Sorry this review has been so long in coming. I've been able to spend some serious "review" time with Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles. I'm almost done with it, but really just want to hold off and savor it. I know I heard the crew of Retronauts talking this past week about the discussion they had with Koji Igarashi about Rondo Of Blood finally coming to North America. Iga talked about how he was pretty much
tired of hearing people begging for Rondo, so he gave it to them. Unfortunately for Iga He did too good of a job. I have a feeling they are going to want many more 3D remakes in the future.

Visually this game is beautiful. I think we all knew that when we saw footage a while back. But, Youtube clips can't do it justice. The opening scene alone was breathtaking. I couldn't believe they could do this with the PSP. Syphonfilter is known for it's cutscenes. Dracula X's opening scene makes the best of Syphonfilter look like Saturday morning cartoons.

On top of all the amazing visuals, The music is unbelievably engaging. Updated Scores that create a sonic masterpiece to go along with the visuals. I started off with just the PSP speakers, but once I plugged in my Bose headphones, there was no other way to play. I see now why people love, and claim this game as the best. I've played a few versions of Castlevania, but none is as polished as this one.

I quickly learned about the characters of this game. I started off as a loyal "Richter Only" Castlevania player. Once I got Maria, I was astounded. She makes Richter feel slow and weak. Everything about her character is tuned to shred up stages.

Now, not everything about this game is great. I worked hard to unlock Symphony of The Night. I quickly went back to the title screen so I could fire up SOTN. I was thinking that it would fill the screen when I fired it up. Sadly it did not. I hunted through some game forums to see if there was a fix. Apparently they said the unlockable games were Full screen. Meaning not Wide screen. you can adjust it to full screen though, and it is very much playable. I haven't gotten into SOTN or the Original Rondo yet. I will say though, The new Rondo is very true to level layout. And SOTN is a perfect PS1 port.


This game can not be passed up if you have a PSP. They took one of the most revered games in Castlevania lore, and gave it legendary treatment. The only thing that could have made this better, make it fit your pocket, was thrown on for good measure. Last, they said "let's make this stupid ridiculous!" and made both the original and SOTN, arguably the most beloved game in North America, portable. Koji Igarash, I don't know about anyone else, but you have left me speechless.


Moral Of The Story: Kids don't fear about putting your money down on this title. Best $30 you'll spend in October.



....And with that I'm pulling the plunger on this review.

I think things are about to change!!!

                                      +



=


So today I went to pick up my copy of Castlevania!! I can't wait to get into it, and do a review for you guys. But, back to the topic I am meaning to write about. When I went to pick up my game the salesman said that they had 10 copies preordered. And then said that they had sold 8 PSP's along with those preorders. Is this the game this system has been waiting for since launch? This game might do for North America what FFVII has done for Japan. If Sony keeps stringing games like this together the DS just might have a legit competitor for the handheld market. Sometimes I'm still puzzled how people can say there are no good games on PSP.

MGS PO
KILLZONE:LIBERATION-Up for golden joystick game of the year!!
LOCOROCO
TEKKEN
CASTLEVANIA-Possibly one of the biggest game collections to hit any console in America in ages!!
FINAL FANATASY 7 CRISIS CORE
SYPHONFILTER DARK MIRROR
SYPHONFILTER LOGANS SHADOW
DAXTER
RATCHET AND CLANK:SIZE MATTERS
LUMINES
GUNPEY

Not to mention all the different company compilations. So in parting, you might laugh at the commercials now, but I believe that the phrase "Get Your Own!" will become a stinging reminder to many in the near future.

$=Online Multiplayer

Okay, so here is my rant for the morning. I was reading on another blog toady about the new Bomberman Land game that is coming out for the Wii and the PSP. Reading through the info about some of what each platform will offer, I see that Konami has, to their detriment, left online multiplayer out of the PSP offering.

This is from a tried and true gamer to the company that makes the games I love:

"YOU WILL MAKE OODLES OF MONEY IF YOU MAKE BOMBERMAN LAND ONLINE MULTIPLAYER ON PSP!!!"


When I heard that XLBA had bomberman online multiplayer the first thing I thought was "that would be sick on a portable!!" I have been looking at the gaming industry over the past few years and one thing that I see personally as a fairly untapped area of gaming is the arcade feel. Now XLBA hit it out of the park on their offering. THEY GET IT!!! People want that random competition between each other. It's that sense of community that is built in an arcade that people love. I think that SF2T and Bomberman on XLBA proved this beyond a shadow of a doubt. And LAN parties are a common occurrence these days. What better way to LAN than on a portable. You don't have to lug your huge box around.

SONY YOU NEED AN ONLINE ARCADE NOW!!!! You have a huge market that you could be making a killing off of with the PSP and online play.

I hate to say this, but Microsoft executed this to a T. They understood that the online arcade had never been done before. That it was all experimental at best. So they figured "something is better than nothing", and that they could always improve on it as time went on. But they just needed to get it up and running. That people are more forgiving of cutting edge tech, because they are able to do something that wasn't possible before. Once you have the customer that is used to a certain arcade interface, they are going to think long and hard before they switch to another system. So getting there first is key.

Sony you have an amazing portable. You need to leverage that. You can do things online that the DS only dreams of. I think that MGS PO+ will prove that in time.

So, the moral of the story is: ONLINE MULTIPLAYER... GOTTA HAVE IT NOW!!

In the begining.....

Hello everyone. I hope by now that you have figured out by the header on this blog that it is about short game reviews. When I go to the... well you figured it out from the statement above...I will review another game. Many of the games that will currently be reviewed will be retro games. This is because I am going back through the catalog of games I saw and played as a kid. I will mix it up though, because sometimes 8 or 16 bits just doesn't cut it. Mainly I just want to share my passion of games with you. To meet people that just enjoy all the little things that make gaming so great. So please come back often.