21-Oct-2005 Konami whips another Dracula-fuelled adventure into shape Given that it's been around almost as long as Space Invaders and Pac-Man, there's a pretty good chance you'll have heard of the Castlevania series, a Japanese actionadventure franchise charting the generationspanning struggle of the whip-cracking Belmont family and ol' pointy teeth-himself, Count Dracula.
But it's all change for Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (the 23rd Castlevania game by our reckoning) and not just because it marks its debut on Xbox. See, instead of fighting against Dracula, you're fighting FOR him.
Well, sort of. You play as Hector, a former lieutenant of Dracula who must return to the Count's castle to break an ancient curse (most likely set by Dracula himself). Luckily, you're blessed with the ability to summon and command useful little demons, so even though it's bound to be dangerous, getting there should be half the fun.
While Castlevania rightfully deserves its reputation as a great 2D platformer, it's struggled to make the jump to the third dimension in the past. That said, Curse of Darkness does have all the right ingredients in place: a huge range of creatures to fight; mind-bendingly big boss monsters; plenty of puzzles and a solid set of RPG-style stat-building elements.
All we need now is for everything to come together into a slick, playable whole. It's getting there, slowly, but it still feels too much like a PS2 game at the moment. The Castlevania series has a fantastic heritage and it would be a real boost for Microsoft's image in Japan if it could carry that forwards on Xbox. Fingers crossed it doesn't end up a pain in the neck, eh?
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