  NAME: Castlevania Aria Of Sorrow VERSION: 1.0.0 COMPANY: Konami PLATFORM: JAVA GENRE: RPG SIZE: 563 KB TEST PHONE: K800i RATING: 7/10 DEMO: |
Welcome to Castlevania Aria Of Sorrow game review. We haven’t played the original Gameboy series of the same name so didn’t have any idea what the game was going to be about. Essentially we saw it as a platformer game with RPG elements such as character customization and special powers.
After a bit of research on the original game we found that the JAVA version for mobile phones uses the same story line! In fact the game mechanics are identical apart from the graphics. As a result the game is a rare almost full version of an original. That said we haven’t finished the game since it takes up more time than we have at the moment.
The story is all about defeating vampires, you play Soma Cruz character guiding him to defeating various enemies and realizing his true destiny. We won’t spoil the story for you but clearly the good usually triumphant over evil.
Game play is like the original so a hack and slash set using vampire and mystical attacks as well as metal based implements. Destroying your enemies sometimes results in them dropping items that you can use to increase your various stats. This includes money to buy items from a NPC in the game.
Graphics are mobile phone standard as is the sound. As a difference you can choose between standard background music or special effects sound only. (You can only have one or the other!) We’ve never seen this sound/music option before and think it’s an excellent idea. Anyway your character simply glides around the screen flicking out your sword or what ever weapon you’ve chosen when here’s an enemy nearb. Just remember to equip your character with upgraded items – it’s not automatic.
Game controls are very simple to learn with additional menus easy to activate, navigate and select. The options presented are clear. The only thing we are unsure about was the Tactical Soul System…
So if you want a classic RPG platformer style game on you phone Castlevania – Aria of Sorrow is a good start. It is easy to understand the game play since it is based on traditional rules, far easier than say Puzzle Quest to learn. Note that the two games are completely different in concept.
Further comparisons it’s much like the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull platformer but with character customization. The only flaw we detected in Castlevania was the need to find a ‘save game’ room before being able to save.
Overall a good game and worth getting if you have the time.