The Video Game Revue

Castlevania: Double Pack

I'm in a bit of a lull, gaming-wise. Lately I've been into other hobbies--some of them (eg. Magic the Gathering) are fairly game-oriented, but I've also been pouring a lot of energy into work (programming), listening to new music, reading (yes, books), and even some sports-like activities (the horror!) The shift from spring to summer weather is definitely a large factor at work here, but when things start to get too hot outside, I'll likely revert back to my frenzied video-gaming ways.

That having been said, I've been up to a lot of things gaming-wise, and the one thing I'd like to draw attention to before I get side-tracked is that I finished Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and absolutely loved it. The whole Castlevania Double Pack for GBA experience was fantastic in general, and I've lent the game to Fritzkrieg so that he too can experience Castlevania joy on the GBA (he was also a huge fan of the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night masterpiece, back in the day.)

On the Castlevania Double Pack, I found Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance to be the longer and easier game of the pair--it strikes me as a very exploration-driven Castlevania title. If I was ever stuck in Harmony of Dissonance, it was only in trying to figure out exactly where I was supposed to go next. By contrast, Aria of Sorrow was a smaller, more combat-driven Castlevania, with tough enemies and challenging boss battles. There were at least three boss battles that I had to try more than two or three times to beat, and I would say that the most challenging boss battles were not easily beaten simply through levelling up but actually required the mastery of some sort of skill (usually a way of moving and dodging) in order to beat. This kind of thing harkens back to the good ol' days of Mega Man and old-school Castlevania games, and although one could find it frustrating, I found it thoroughly entertaining. Aria of Sorrow seemed relatively small in scope; my final playtime weighed in at under 5 hours, but that didn't include all of the time that I spent replaying boss battles, which would have added at least another hour. An unexpected bonus was the fact that Aria of Sorrow had a surprisingly compelling storyline for a Castlevania game, and I enjoyed the multiple endings for it more than I did for Harmony of Dissonance.

Not only is the Castlevania Double Pack a great two-for-one deal, but I was really pleased with the fact that Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow are two distinctly different styles of Castlevania game, although they are obviously alike in most respects. This isn't just a good "bang for your buck" situation--it's a genuinely sound investment for any true gamer, whether you are new school or old school. Two thumbs way, way up. As soon as I finished Aria of Sorrow, I started on Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, but I haven't gotten very far yet. The graphics are good, but somehow the gameplay seems a little more awkward on the DS, and I keep getting sidetracked with other Nintendo DS games anyway.

I'm still quite addicted to Resident Evil DS. Even though I don't consider it to be as good of a DS game as Metroid Pinball, Tetris DS, or Mario Kart DS (all really good games), I keep coming back to Resident Evil DS because, well, it's Resident Evil. It's been really fun to relive the whole RE experience, and the game still freaks me out in exactly the sort of way that it's supposed to. It helps that Sunny and I have been watching old (season 2) episodes of The X-Files on DVD lately, and those classic X-Files eps have a lot of the same mood that the original Resident Evil have, in certain ways. Resident Evil is much more manga-like, of course, and also more plainly horror-driven, but the "freak out" factor is similar in both cases, and to me both of those things feel very much like the 1990s.

On the RPG front, I've stalled on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, having made it maybe one-third of the way through the main storyline and completed the odd side quest. I still get the occasional yearning (I'm having it right now, in fact), to get lost in the world of Elder Scrolls, which is a good sign, although lately I've been more painfully aware of Oblivion's "task-oriented" style gameplay, which was always something that turned me off about other popular RPGs like Neverwinter Nights and even World of WarCraft. I intend to rant about this sentiment in depth later.

I've also put more attention recently into Disgaea which is getting really, truly close to the end now, and it's been weeks since I've played any Digital Devil Saga, although I haven't forgotten about it. I haven't been making any real time for Xenogears, and Dragon Quest VII has been basically abandoned, for now. On the GBA I've been playing a little bit of Tales of Phantasia, and I still intend to get through Final Fantasy IV Advance before the next portable Final Fantasy title gets released. Once again, I'm blatantly over-extending myself with RPGs, and I find myself wishing more and more that RPG makers wrote games that were shorter and sweeter. I could easily write a rant about how a lot of RPGs have the same amount of story content as a three hour movie (or mini-series?) stretched out over a 40 hour presentation window, and if either the combat system or the exploration element fails to pick up the slack, that's a major problem. More on that subject later, maybe.

Galactic Civilizations II has been a major time-killer for me recently, and has been getting the lion's share of the attention that I'm putting into PC games right now. On the PS2 I continue to play Tourist Trophy and Tekken 5, although Tekken 5 has sat for the last couple of weeks. I'd like to get back into Ace Combat 5 and Devil May Cry 3 before long. Hilariously enough, even given all of the game titles that I've just dropped, this has been a really quiet month for me in terms of picking up new games or getting much gaming done in general (as I mentioned up top.)

On the "look out, incoming!" list, I intend to pick up Mario Bros DS, probably tomorrow, and while I'm out I want to get the Dawn of War Gold Ed. which is cheap and good. I don't know why I'm hungering for a new RTS at the moment. Maybe it's because I played the demo for Rise of Legends and it didn't really appeal to me, and I also tried out Star Wars: Empire at War at a friend's place and was unhappy with that as well. I do have Rome: Total War, and I could easily see myself going back to play through another WarCraft III campaign, though. And, of course, there's Age of Empires III, which is probably the main reason that all of those other RTS games seem unappealing--AoE III was quite satisfying overall, and neither he Rise of Legends demo nor Empire at War measured up. Still, I think I could really get into Dawn of War, partly for the Warhammer 40k setting, and mostly because it's such a solid game. I'm also curious about Might & Magic V, but probably not curious enough to buy it, in spite of the game's prestigeous history.

Lately I've been seized with something of an urge to go back and play old games, which can be far more worthwhile than eagerly chasing the latest new thing. For no particular reason I dug out my old copy of X-Wing Alliance and started playing that on my laptop. That sure does take me back; I used to be a respectable starfighter pilot. Similarly, I've been having all kinds of cravings for things like old Dreamcast titles, Zelda: Wind Waker, turn-based strategy war games like Battles in Normandy, and even Guild Wars. I haven't had time to act on very many of these urges, but it just goes to show the kinds of crazy gaming-withdrawal that I go through when I start to have an actual life.

One of these day, I tell ya, I'm just going to take a whole month off and go nuts on gaming. I have the means--this is no idle threat. :)

posted by Parappa @ 8:46 PM