Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Reviewed by Crazy Dan Martin
In this game you play as a half-wolf, half-human man named Cornell.
After traveling (you never find out why he is traveling, might I add) he
returns to his village to find it engulfed in flames, and skeletons are
running around destroying things a making general mischief. Cornell
races to his home only to find it on fire. He looks inside trying to find
his sister, Ada, but can't see her. He finds her necklace lying on the
ground and assumes she has been kidnapped, and wouldn't ya know it
she has. Following her scent with his wolf senses he embarks on a journey
to find her and fight... (da-da-daaa!!) DRACULA!!!!!!!!
Graphics: 8 out of 10
Legacy of Darkness (we will shorten that up to LoD, okay?) has very good
graphics, even without the supported expansion pack. The characters are
very nicely detailed, and so are the backgrounds (just look around the boat
you start on; it's breathtaking). My only complaint is as follows; with the
expansion pack on, the picture quality is much more clear, but the play gets
sort of choppy. This can get annoying to someone used to playing games like
DK64 which run super-smooth, but you'll get used to it. I have heard a lot of
people complain about the amount of fog, too. In my opinion, the fog is never
a major problem. It actually is used so the game looks creepier! I can't remember
a time that it got so bad that I couldn't see down the road for creatures. But if
you don't like fog, it could annoy you. Like the first N64 game, the creatures
are very animated and sometimes funny to watch. If your character runs past
a skeleton, the skeleton will turn its head, open its jaws, and either whip one
of its own bones at you or chase you, depending on the type. I remember in the
beginning movie, when Cornell returns to the village, it shows the skeletons
running around lighting stuff on fire. At one point, a skeleton slips off the roof
and crashes on the ground. The best part about it is that when this happens, you
hear his bones rattle when he hits the ground and two skeletons that are close
to the one that fell look down it! That just goes to show you the time and
effort Konami put into the detail and graphics.
Music and Sound: 10 out of 10
Excellent. There is not a single Nintendo 64 game that can top this. Music-wise,
it contains some of the my most remembered video game music, and the opening
violin part is up in the top 5 "Video Game Songs that will be Stuck in Your Head
Forever" along with the Super Mario Bros. Theme and the Final Fantasy 1 Theme,
and that is saying a lot. Sound effects-wise, it is all pretty simple. Doors
creak, your footsteps patter and clop, and you make that "Umph" song
whenever you take a hit or do a painful activity. But the things that shine
are the boards on the boat and the bosses' and sub-bosses' growls and cries.
The boards on the boat creak with the movement of the ship, which is
extremely creepy and cool sounding. The bosses' and sub-bosses' growls
are excellent, too. If they are in pain, they cry, if they are mad, they scream,
and when they die, they grown and then fade out.
Game Challenge: 8 out of 10
There isn't anyone about the age of 12 that couldn't beat this if they played
it often. It has some hard parts, and some basic (yet somehow hard) puzzles
to solve, and with as many lava pits, timed jumping, and bottomless holes to
manage, you will be playing this one for a while. There is also a lot of things
like "Find the two halves of the crescent to advance", or "You must wait until
nightfall to enter". As I just mentioned in the last sentence, there is a
nighttime/daytime-type thing that reminds me of the daytime-nighttime
thing on Castlevania II for the NES. Sometimes you must wait until nighttime
or daytime to do some activities. But don't worry, it turns day to night and
then back again like every 5 minutes or so.
Game Play-Fun: 8 out of 10
You will enjoy this game, but if you have to repeat something over and over
you might start to get bored. I can think of a few times that I just threw
down my controller in frustration (wait until you get to the new maze...),
but that is few and far between. I never got bored when I reached a new area,
because it always means something different, or some new story twist or
obstacle was waiting. Plus, once you beat the game with one character, you
open up other characters, and there are four in all. I won't give away who
the are or what their quests are, though. So in a sense, this is sort of 4
games in one (might remind you of the whole Alucard-Richter thing in
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the Playstation).
Frustration
As I mentioned earlier, I got frustrated at a select few points in the
game which I had to repeat over and over, but it isn't too bad. The main
frustration factor is the new maze. Why, God, why!!!
Replayability: 8 out of 10
I must admit, I hardly ever play games over again once I have beaten
them, but I played this 8 times through!! The multiple endings factor
had a lot to do with why I kept playing (they are all VERY, VERY good),
but the main reason was because I wanted to play with all of the characters.
And let me tell you what, every time I played it it was like a fresh game.
Game Value: 8 out of 10
I think it was worth the price I paid ($50.00 the day it was released),
and I have saw it as low as $25.00 new, and $15.00 used. I personally
wouldn't spend any more than the $50.00 that I paid for it, because it
is a over year and a half old (I wrote this on 6-14-01), didn't sell very
well, and because you can get it for so cheap somewhere else. I have heard
reports, though, that Konami and Nintendo quit making this game recently,
so it's price may actually go up. It all depends.
Storyline: 9 out of 10
While I don't want to give anything away other than whatever I mentioned
about it before, It has all the classic stuff; lies, betrayal, twists, surprises,
love, kindness, evil, and the kitchen sink.
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
All in all, an excellent game. It isn't for anyone (although I was a 2D
Castlevania purist, I love this), but I think anyone with a heart for
adventuring, a knack for well-timed jumps, and is tired of Banjo-Tooie/insert
cutesy Nintendo character here/DK94 games this may be what you want.