Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

While Castlevania seems to have all but abandoned the home console market (at least for the time being), on the Nintendo DS it has continued to provide classic old school gameplay with the same sadistic difficulty that has made the series so widely known. Now running onto their third iteration on the DS, Konami, lead by legendary series director Koji Igarashi, have decided to take this game in a slightly different direction from previous entries and as such, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia hopes to breathe some new life into a slightly stilted franchise. But do the new mechanics detract too much from the prior games or will it still be the same unrelentingly difficult fun we've come to love?

Gameplay

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia sets itself up slightly differently from the standard titles in the series. Gone are the likes of the Belmont clan and the classic vampire slaying whip and in there stead comes the Order of Ecclesia. The story revolves around this new Order who have sworn to defeat Dracula and his evil minions through the use of glyphs which grant the bearers extraordinary powers. After years of fighting with Dracula's minions, the Order develops an extremely powerful glyph, known as the Dominus, which they believe is capable of destroying Dracula once and for all. Choosing Shanoa as the bearer for the glyph, the Order prepares to gift her the power of the Dominus but another of the Order, known as Albus, is jealous at not being chosen to bear the glyph and so attacks the leader and takes the glyph before the union can be completed. Shanoa is sent out in chase of Albus to acquire the Dominus and discover the real motivations behind Albus' actions.

Shanoa's chase will lead her across a large variety of environments, all of which are centred around the village of Wygol. This particular village acts as the game's main hub area, providing you with all the amenities. Yet you will have to work towards gaining access to these amenities as when you first arrive in the village, it is virtually empty apart from a lone figure who tells you what has happened. As such, you'll have to search out the other townsfolk based around clues given to you and act on them in tandem with game's main plot.

Prior Castlevania titles have provided large and sprawling environments to explore and get lost in but this time around, the locations are more withdrawn providing a much more linear experience. Players will access different locations from an overworld map, simply selecting where they want to go, with locations only unlocking as you progress the story or clear other areas on route to different areas. As it is more of a linear experience, it does detract slightly from the Castlevania formula but effort has been made to provide you with plenty of secret areas to discover, just as previous titles did, and so there are always opportunities to stumble off of the beaten path for special rewards.

Gameplay this time around retains the action element but is carried out in a different way. The story is based around the use of glyphs and this carries over to the gameplay where you'll need to absorb glyphs to be able to attack enemies and defeat them. It's an interesting and unique mechanic that really sets the game apart from prior experiences and, with over 100 glyphs on offer for you to acquire, with glyphs dropping from certain enemies, bosses or even being found in chests, there is plenty of opportunity to test out complementary pairing to see which works best for you, and this is an aspect which you will need to make use of so that you tailor your attacks and glyphs to different enemy and boss types. Many of the RPG-lite elements remain from previous games and again, achieving new levels and items to boost your stats is a must if you want to progress with as little trouble as possible.

Like previous games, Order of Ecclesia is no push over. Enemies will come at you thick and fast in the field while boss characters will punish you for not using the correct strategy. At times, the game can be extremely difficult, with the gameplay boiling down to trial and error until you nail the exact strategy but this is Castlevania through and through and although it presents a barrier that makes it extremely hard for newcomers to cross, more experience gamers looking for a stiff challenge aren't likely to find anything more difficult than this. Even with the steep difficulty, the game easily manages to remain engrossing and enjoyable and you'll find yourself constantly retrying parts over and over again just to get that sense of jubilation of managing to pass it.

Controls

Controlling Shanoa falls to the DS' face buttons and d-pad and it works brilliantly. Movement of your character, while seeming a little on the sluggish side, is very responsive and it needed to be given the tight spots some of the boss battles will put you in. You have two face buttons reserved for attacking, with you assigning glyphs to these to make up your attacks. Whereas you perhaps had a single button for attack before, making use of these two buttons complementary is necessary to defeat enemies with ease and with speed, alternating between them to create a combo. It's extremely effective, especially in some areas where speed is of the essence.

Your other face button use fall to jumping and the left shoulder button is used for dodging, both integral parts to progressing through the game and these will more often than not be graces that often save your life or at least hold off death for a little longer. The right shoulder allows the assignment of special glyphs, usually for transforming or for pulling of special movements. It is the d-pad which is over relied upon to carry out things. Movement, talking and interacting with people and items as well as absorbing glyphs are all assigned to various movements of the d-pad and while you will certainly get used to it, it would perhaps have been more beneficial to have assigned these elsewhere as it doesn't feel right, especially talking and interacting with things. Yet even with this issue, the game still controls extremely well.

Graphics

Order of Ecclesia continues the Castlevania trend of offering tradition 2D action games on the DS and it looks great. The sprite work is impressively detailed given just how small some of the character and enemy models are and the number and sheer size of enemies which can fill the screen with no drop in frame rate whatsoever is equally impressive. While there is the very slight reuse of some of the graphics, all of the enemies you will face in this game are designed from scratch meaning those worried about seeing the same enemy designs have nothing to fear, other than working out the best way to dispose of these new foes. The bosses continue to be of their gargantuan proportions and really are the highlight of the enemies models, providing some truly memorable and difficult moments. Each of the enemies also have their own death animations, which will see things like blood squirting or enemies exploding and it adds a level of depth to the atmosphere; it provides a feeling in line with the kind of gothic and grotesque imagery you'd come to associate with the Castlevania titles.

The locales continue the high standards for the graphics, again being highly detailed, with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, and showing a large amount of variety in the places which you'll be asked to venture into. Some may see some slight similarities with some of the detailing with the other DS Castlevania titles but the vast majority of everywhere you go is brand new and exclusive to this game. The fidelity with which the graphics have been created shows how far along the developers have come with the DS' hardware and Order of Ecclesia really is a beautiful game to behold.

Sound

The Castlevania games are known for having eclectic soundtracks which stay in the mind and Order of Ecclesia is no different. Mixing in some rock and pop elements to the otherwise gothic foundations creates a fantastic aural display that is a joy to listen to, with grandiose tunes sweeping through the gameplay to set the tense and suspenseful atmosphere leading you to constantly wonder about what lies ahead. There's never a moment of downtime with the music as each track is as good as the last and while it does set itself apart slightly from the other Castlevania games music wise, it is definitely one of the more memorable soundtracks.

A peppering of voice work is provided for some of the more meaningful cutscenes and keeping in line with the standard of the music, it's done extremely well with the voice work suited well to each of the characters as well as lending themselves well to the themes and the imagery being displayed throughout the game. Sound effects fall slightly behind these, sounding a little hollow in their appearance but this is a very slight misdemeanour in a fantastic audio display.

Dual screen

The touch screen's functionality isn't used, so you'll never be interrupted with having to press something on it during gameplay. Some might see this as a downside but it's a plus for the game as the series is best played with traditional controls. The placing of a map on the screen is helpful, though it is rather small and difficult to interpret at times when in some of the more complex dungeons.

Final comments

The Castlevania games have continued to go from strength to strength on the DS and with Order of Ecclesia, Konami have once again set a high standard for preceding Castlevania titles to follow. The gameplay is superb, providing that unrelenting difficulty that the games are known for while bringing some new mechanics that breathe new life into a series that many thought couldn't go much further with Koji Igarashi proving otherwise here. Likewise, the presentation of the game is on par with the highs set in many of the other Castlevania titles and is perhaps by far the most impressive on the DS. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia shows that old school gameplay can be brought into relevance once again with a new lease of life, courtesy of the DS, making for an exceptional game and those hardened gamers looking for a challenge will easily find it here.

Pro: Superb visuals and audio, new gameplay mechanics are fantastic additions, pain stakingly hard difficult shows exactly what makes Castlevania so great
Con: Can at times be ridiculously difficult, game a little more linear than prior entries
Final score: 9

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