A Review: Castlevania 64, N64 1999

Castlevania 64, or simply Castlevania, is an action-adventure game developed for the Nintendo 64 by Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe and published by Konami. Castlevania is the first 3D game in the series and one of the first to feature multiple character campaigns. Play consists of taking control of either Carrie or Reinhardt and battling your way through hordes of the evil undead in service of Count Dracula. All in an attempt to stop the evil vampire from returning to power after one hundred years in dormancy.

Personally, I loved this game and found it to be one of the best titles that I have played on the N64 to date. I loved the smooth gameplay and control responses and found that I had hardly any issues while I played through this game. The atmosphere and ambience were amazing and really set you up as one of the last remaining things to stand against the forces of darkness. The levels were deep and varied, and they featured some amazing mechanics for a game from the late 90's. The boss battles were challenging but so rewarding, and I loved the scale of them. They weren't silly little things that barely felt lifted above any other fight, but were massive, all-encompassing affairs that really got my heart pumping. Battling creatures that stood several times taller and wider than your character was amazing, in my opinion. The difficulty scaling felt perfectly balanced, and I hardly found any issues on that front. I will admit that the camera was a pain at times and seemed to need constant input to remain in place. It also seemed to not like moving around the player's character too well, which annoyed me at times during the more platformer-like sections of play. The size of the world was also very impressive, and the scale of Dracula's mansion and castle were incredible. I was slightly weirded out by the biker skeletons and wondered why they were even a thing, but it didn't spoil the game for me in any serious way. The parkour sections were nicely implemented and were enough of a challenge to complete, but they weren't overly harsh or punishing if the player made mistakes. I wasn't blown away by the music and audio, but I thought that they worked well enough for the game overall. I liked that your choices with some of the NPC's affected how the game played towards the end. It added a nice level of interactability and consequence to the players actions that I found to be something worthy of note. I loved the pacing of the plot and found that it made perfect sense throughout. I never felt that something I was fighting for was pointless or unnecessary in any way. The twists and turns were also well written and really helped to make the game world feel alive and interactive. The weapons and abilities of the player characters were smooth and nicely implemented, and not having to scour an area for ammo just to survive was very welcome.

Visually, this game was very good too. The world and environments were very nicely drawn and had brilliant shadow and lighting effects in place. The dark colours and tones used set the atmosphere of the game world really well, and I loved how the fires and braziers looked. The enemies and creatures were very nicely detailed, and being able to see between the bones of things like the skeleton warriors was something that I really appreciated. Not many games of the time were able to render such details, and it showed how much effort must have gone into this game. The HUD was very clean and smart, and it gave the player all the information that they needed. Animations for movements and attacks were smooth and tidy, and I liked the effects given to the spells and weapons that the two heroes could use. I will say that this is one of the few games that has made the correct use of fog. The way in which it shrouds everything makes the game feel so dark, moody, and atmospheric. The items, objects, and furniture looked very good, and some were very intricately detailed. Dracula looked amazing, and his various incarnations portrayed his rage and evilness very well. This was something that I found with all of the other bosses as well. For the time of release, this game really looked amazing, in my opinion.

Overall, this is a game that I very much loved playing through and is one of the prime examples of what the N64 could do.

 

8/10 – A Good Game!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ