2001 Konami
The prince of darkness is up to his old tricks again, and its your job to stop him. Playing the role of Nathan Graves in this portable Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, you will have to journey through the endless corridors in Draculas lair. The story is that you, your father, and your fathers apprentice Hugh go to Draculas castle to finally end his destructive reign. Once there, Dracula springs a trap on you and your comrade Hugh so that you are separated from your father. Hugh runs ahead to try and stop Dracula from doing anything to his master, and as Nathan you are one step behind Hugh at all times.
Features
- Battery back-up save
- Digitally sampled voices and sound effects.
- 80 DSS spells and 10 summons
- 12 save slots.
- Only for Game Boy Advance
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is a mix of past Castlevanias with some very interesting new additions. The mix of traditional Castlevania action, with the non-linear level progression and RPG elements found in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. There are no pits to fall in and instantly die, and there are no levels to try and beat. Instead, you have to try and become strong enough to defeat the onslaught of enemies in your way. Depending on how hard a certain enemy is, it will give you a certain amount of experience points. Once you get enough experience points you go up a level and your statistics rise in unison. Youll have to fight off enemies by the hoards to be able to keep up in Draculas castle.
The basic weapon in the game is the standard whip. You cannot use this whip up or down, or even in diagonals. However, you can swing your whip around you as a makeshift shield by holding your hand on B. So in essence you dont have a lot of freedom in controlling your whip but when combined with your jump, you can hit virtually any enemy with ease. On top of just the whip controls, you must also get used to your secondary weapons. Each weapon is extremely useful in their own regard and in some instances are almost essential to survival. To use a secondary weapon you just hold up and tap B. You have a limited amount of secondary weapons but they can be replenished as you travel through the game. Some of the secondary weapons include:
- Dagger: This small blade is thrown very quickly across the screen but does very little damage. You can throw many in a short time and are good against small annoying enemies.
- Axe: Thrown in an arc like motion, this axe is much stronger than the dagger but uses up a little bit more secondary weapon points. Great for enemies below you.
- Blue Flame: This is thrown in a molotov cocktail fashion and the flames will repeatedly burn anything that stands above it. Surprisingly effective against slow enemies, but horrible against most of the other minions. Uses a fair amount of secondary weapon points to use.
- Stop Watch: The timing on enemies will be effected and depending on how powerful they are they will be slowed down more or less. Great against small annoying enemies and rooms full of baddies that need careful attention to. Uses a lot of hearts (secondary weapon points)
- Boomerang: The classic cross boomerang is back and as great as ever. This weapon will be thrown horizontally and then slowly start coming back to you. If used at the right distance it can cause repeated damage before it begins the return back to you. Also uses a fair amount of secondary weapon points.
Also provided is a Dual Select System or DSS for short. This innovative new system lets you find cards throughout your journey that will give you special powers. Depending on the combination of the two cards chosen, you will get a different ability. This can either make or break you in the game since finding the right two cards can mean earning a helpful power or not. For instance if you are having trouble on one boss enemy but then find a card that will allow you to have a Rose Sword then you might have a much better chance at defeating him. The abilities provided are very creative and range from a whip of poison to turning into a skeleton and throwing bones around. Also adds a bit of replay value to try and find the different cards laying around. The abilities of the cards coupled with increased statistics can make you become stronger.
The three stats that are used to decide how strong your character is are attack, defense, luck, and intelligence. Attack and defense are pretty self explanatory but luck and intelligence are a bit more intriguing. Luck is the amount of chance you have in finding an item after you defeat an enemy. The higher Nathans luck rating is, the higher the probability of finding a valuable item. Intelligence is how fast your magic will deplete when using your DSS abilities. By equipping special armor and arm bands you can raise or lower these numbers. Also, sometimes equipping two special items will make for a bonus increase in the stats. The amount of configuration is not as complicated as say, a Final Fantasy game, but make for a more enjoyable side-scroller. Finding the newest items and trying to get the next experience level is something that is welcomed to the genre.
Draculas castle is immensely huge and filled with several different surroundings. The mansion which is divided into several labeled sections, and unofficial subsections; include the cavern, catacombs, prison, old tower, library, machine room, clock tower, science tower, main hall, west hall, east hall, sewer, courtyard, and Draculas chamber. The above includes inspirations from chapters like Symphony of the Night, Rondo of Blood, Draculas Curse and Simons quest.
The sound is comprised of many digital samples mixed with great midi music. Nathans sound grunts and such in particular are a great change over classic Game Boy Color bleeps and bloops. The background music is incredible for a handheld, it can easily hold its own against past Castlevania soundtracks, and thats no easy feat. Overall the sound is spot on and in most cases, it really warrants the use of some good headphones or speakers.
Konami seems to have delivered the goods in great condition this time. Some would even dare to say its the best two-dimensional rendition of Castlevania yet. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is definitely one of the best reasons to own a Game Boy Advance.
Jason: I must say this game was like a sucker punch when I played it, in a good way of course. I really wasnt expecting much from it since I usually cant shake the feeling that Konami will butcher a title if they arent careful. This wasnt the case with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon though. The game shines in all areas and succeeds in making me play to the very end, which doesnt often happen for me with portable games. I plugged in countless hours trying to reach Dracula and save my father.
The actual graphics in this game are nothing to turn your nose up at. Though many may complain that they are dark graphics, they are extremely detailed and large. The graphics are usually not tiled like what older games would be like. Now they are comprised of larger images that really make the game feel like a dark cartoon while playing. The animation for Nathan could have been better though.
I dont think there are many down sides to this game, other than a bit of slow down here and there. However, a word to the wise: this game is not for the weak. You have to be prepared to get slain tons of times even if you are at a high experience level. Though thats what makes the whole formula work so well; You cant just rely on your experience level in the game to get you further. You have to also physically be good at the game to traverse the difficult areas. I feel a good balance was reached and the score shall be weighed accordingly. Fun game and I definitely recommend it to fans and newcomers.
Brenden: I'm not the biggest fan of the Castlevania series, but I do generally enjoy the games and was expecting a similar experience with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. I'll admit it though, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon frustrated me at first. I spent most of my first few minutes dying and threatening my GBA. Once I got the hang of it though, I was hooked. As I played through it, the challenge level always kept the gameplay from becoming tedious, and it held true for the entire game. On top of that, the replay value in this game is great. Sure, you can just play it, enjoy it and finish it, but there are a good number of secrets to be found throughout the game that should keep you coming back for more.
As for the graphics, I really must say I was impressed. The boss battles are beautifully detailed with large enemies. Like Jason, I feel that Nathan's animation could've been improved. Sometimes, he does look a little out of place in the midst of the huge detailed areas. The sound in the game was pretty much what I expected, with the exception of Nathan's miscellaneous noises (grunts, etc). The noises that come from Nathan are by far some of the cleanest sounding voices I've heard on a handheld. The music is reminiscent of previous installments of the series and it fits the bill nicely. One complaint I could make about it is the lack of variety. I couldn't help but notice that many of the tunes were repeated over and over (or remixed over and over, I can't be certain).
In conclusion, if you love Castlevania, this game is for you. Anyone who's enjoyed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the PSX should definitely check this title out, it has a similar feel to it. If you've never enjoyed the Castlevania series or have never even glanced at it, I still suggest a rental. The story's fairly predictable, but overall, it's a good game.
Stephen: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon demonstrates the beauty of a perfect difficulty level. Always challenging but never infuriatingly so, this game has that "just one more try" factor that most other platformers would kill for. Sure, frustration will set in as you're trying to fend off those awful Flaming Swords, while dodging the curse-dealing Marionettes. But as you play and replay the same levels over again, a strategy will begin to emerge. And therein lies the genius of the game: every monster, ghoul, and undead apparition can be defeated easily, once you figure out the strategy to do so. Sometimes all that separates a seemingly undefeatable boss and another prize in Nathan's trophy case is a simple switching around of the spell cards.
Rarely do the elements of action, exploration, and strategy combine to provide such a rock-solid gaming experience. Sure, the main character animation is a little stiff, and there is a general lack of variety in the soundtrack, but then the Castlevania series has never been about flashiness. Quite simply, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is as deep as this type of game gets, and would be a must-own on any platform.
Breakdown
| Presentation | 8 |
| Ingenuity | 7 |
| Graphics | 7 |
| Audio | 8 |
| Lastability | 6 |
 |
26/30 |
Disclaimer: Reviews are conducted by a random set of three members of the N-Sider staff. The N-Council Final Score is the compiled sum of each editors individual score.
Score breakdowns: A 30-27 garnishes a gold award, a 26-24 scores silver award, and a 23-22 scores a bronze award. Any scores falling below those parameters can be compared by score alone.