Arcade Berg aka. "Learning Game Design with Arcade Berg"

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Last week Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia from Konami showed up for the DS. I'm about 5 hours into the game and I think it's great!

It's well adapted for the Nintendo DS plattform by allowing for very short play sessions without leaving the playe unsatisified and annoyed which I feel is the case in many DS-games. I mostly play it on the bus to and from work and sometimes during the lunch and that's about it.

Making me feel that it's okay to spent that little time per play session is a fantastic acclompishment and something that shows that when done right; handheld gaming can be great fun! I often feel that handheld games still require me to invest a lot of time per session if I am to get something from it.

The controls in this Castlevania is just like all the other in the 2D-series after Symphony of the Night (which by the way still is THE best Castlevania game and should be purchased by all via XBLA or PSN) and it's just as responsive as ever. If I die, it's because I screw up; just like in the Megaman franchise. Personally I'm very happy that they don't require the player to use the stylus or touch screen at all.

Don't get me wrong, I like the touch screen. I absolutely love Nintendo's Kirby: Power Paintbrush (aka. Kirby: Canvas Curse, aka. Touch! Kirby). In fact, it's one of my favorite games for the DS. However I don't like it when I'm required to change my grip on the console, going from a "classic" D-pad + face button grip to a stylus grip like they do in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

The bosses seem as far into the game as I gotten have been tremendously hard untill I figure out a good tactic after which I can overcome the obstacle with great success. The challenge overall can seem a bit too much for casual players but then again, Castlevania has never aimed to please them anyway. For Castlevania-fans, such as myself the difficulty is just about right and quite similar to the previous games.

And the art, oh, the art! The game is beautiful! As always with the series, the sprites are wonderfully animated and there is never a "cheap trick" to it. If you're wearing a rapier in your left hand and a mace in the right, you can be damn sure that's how it's gonna look in the game when Shanoa (the game's avatar) starts bashing away.

If I could play this game on my TV instead, I would.

The downside of the game for me is for one the monotomous sound effects that after a while can get a bit annoying but at the same time, it's pretty much the same effects they've been using for several games now so it's pretty charming.  That is however no excuse.

If you're a Castlevania-fan, odds are that you're already well aware of this game and need to hear nothing more. However, if you're just a gamer looking for a good DS-game I'd highly recommend this. It's not for everyone but I think you at least should check it out, it's worth that much.

What I want now is a new great 2D Castlevania-game for the PS3 and/or Xbox 360!

Box art

An early boss fight

Shanoa; the protagonist