E3: Castlevania: Curse of Darkness

It's nice to see Microsoft's thirdparty team courting the likes of Konami to ensure titles like this come to both Xbox and PS2.

We came away with some mixed feelings about their latest 3D Castlevania installment. Developed by the makers of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, the latest chapter in Konami's famed vampire-hunting series supposedly takes place three years after Dracula's demise. Players assume the role of Hector, a Devil Forgemaster and incidentally a former student of Dracula who left his mentor's side to pursue a normal life. In doing so, Dracula was left to fend for himself against the legendary Belmonts and was eventually defeated during that epic battle.

In retaliation to what he believes was Hector's betrayal, Isaac, who's also happens to be a fellow Devil Forgemaster and former friend to Hector, had his girlfriend killed in a witch trial. Having set off on a mission to confront Isaac and avenge the tragic death of his girlfriend, Hector is lured back into Dracula's castle where along the way he'll battle against some truly demonic foes while uncovering the insidious plot behind him being lured there.

With Castlevania: Curse of Darkness Konami is aiming to take the flagging series in a new direction by introducing new heroes to control and villains to contend with. Despite the many 3D incarnations of the series that have appeared over the years with none of them living up to legacy left by their 2D counterparts, Castlevania - Curse of Darkness is yet another of Konami's bold attempts to get the 3D Castlevania formula down pat.

On the plus side, with each in-house developed 3D Castlevania title, they seem to move a step closer to achieving what fans of the series want in a 3D Castlevania game. But the question still remains, is Curse of Darkness is a successful 3D outing for the series and does it capture the essence of the 2D classics? The simplest answer would probably be "um, not quite, but it sure as hell looks good in the process of trying!" Or something.

The E3 demo we got our hands on thrust us into battle against a variety of demonic fiends as we worked our way through Dracula's castle. The action was predominantly of a hack n' slash nature and Hector controlled well although he ran at a somewhat plodding pace.

Aside from a basic jump move, and the ability to perform attack combos and access different weapons, one of the coolest things about Hector being a Devil ForgeMaster is that he's equipped with a powerful skill known as devil forgery - a unique ability that allows him to call upon the assistance of over 30 demonic helpers known as "Innocent Devils", each of which contains special attributes that will come in quite handy in helping players get past many of the enemies, traps, and puzzles Hector will encounter throughout the castle.

The E3 build had us teamed up with a flying bird-like helper creature that accompanied Hector and aided him greatly throughout his journey. The lower left corner of the screen displayed the commands we could issue our companion which included a gliding move as well as two types of bone attacks the bird creature could perform.

The gliding move was quite helpful during one of the platforming sections in the game that was well out of Hector's jumping range. Upon reaching the large gap between the two areas, we issued the gliding command and our flying ally carried Hector across to the other side where the door leading to the next area of the castle was.

However, the coolest part about our bird-like ally was its ability to perform some nifty attacks against the enemies we encountered throughout the demo as well as helping us out a lot during our battle against one of the bosses by repeatedly spraying it in a machine-gun like fashion with its bone attack. We were quite digging this aspect of the game and can't wait to get our hands on the full version of the game to check out all of the other allies Hector will be aided by.

And speaking of bosses, if the boss battle we experienced in the E3 demo is any indication, players can definitely look forward to experiencing some challenging and really cool boss encounters throughout Curse of Darkness. After working our way through a few areas in the castle, hacking n' slashing fiends along the way and leveling up our character we were then pitted against a demonic giant-goat looking creature of sorts who would break off pillars from the castle walls and wield them like a bat whenever Hector got within his attack range, and then would launch the objects at us whenever we were far enough from him, making it so that we always remained on our toes throughout the battle.

When released later this year players can expect a pretty sharp-looking 3D Castlevania game with an original musical score composed by Michiru Yamane, as well as a solid variety of gameplay elements that include plenty of action, platforming, and a significant dose of role-playing elements that include earning experience points and leveling up your character throughout the game. On top of that you've got cool demonic allies to help you out, challenging bosses and mini-bosses, a lot of equippable weapons at your disposal, as well as an increased number of unlockable features that are planned for this installment.

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is currently slated to hit the PS2 and Xbox in North America this Fall. We'll provide further updates very soon.

Joseph Jackson
Executive Editor, Kikizo Games