A Review: Castlevania: Legacy Of Darkness, N64 1999
Castlevania: The Legacy of Darkness is an action-adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe and published by Konami. Although it was released after Castlevania 64, this game is set as a prequel to that game. Putting the player in the role of Cornell as he attempts to find and rescue his kidnapped adoptive sister Ada, this game also comes with a playable remake of the first game with improved graphics, added villains, and alternate versions of some levels.
I liked this game but felt that it wasn't up to the standard of the first. While the new mechanics and features were a nice addition, I felt that this game was just an improved or refined version of the first. Yes, there were new characters and a whole new plot, but it sort of made the existence of the first game almost pointless. I found myself agreeing with some of the old reviews, in that Konami should have held back the first game and then released this one instead. Also, something that I did note is that this game suffers from performance and stability issues much more than the first game did. I had the RAM pak installed in my N64 while playing this game and found that there was a common stuttering issue on the more populated stages. There were also problems with lag and game object latency, especially with the axe traps, and more than once I heard a noticeable pause between the audio and subsequent on-screen response. Sometimes I would hear the noise of a trap being tripped, and the game would pause for a fraction of a second. This caused me some frustration when I was low on health and had to search around for a drop to heal myself. I did like the story, but I'm not so sure that it really made 100% sense, and I didn't like the twist at the end. I've never been a fan of endings like that, but I get that it needed to finish in a way that left the door open for Castlevania 64. I did find that the combat was somewhat smoother, and I did like Cornell's werewolf ability. I thought it was an interesting concept and enjoyed the way that it was implemented into the game; perhaps it was a little overused, but that was about it. I didn't feel that Cornell was as rounded and robust a character as either Carrie or Reinhardt were, though. Something about him felt a little hollow, and I struggled to connect with him and his personality. His interactions with other NPC's were something that bothered me too; he just seemed to be in exactly the same situations as the first game characters, but with new dialogue. Later in the game, some of the things that he is written as saying and choosing to do were also a little cliché for me as well.
Visually, this game is arguably superior to Castlevania 64 and has marked improvements made to almost all textures and resolutions. The world, objects, and environments are all improved and have much more detailing and variations to their textures. There are fewer repeated tiles, and the water and background objects are smoother and look much more intricate and attractive. The creatures have more details too, with blood and shading added to their bodies and models. Cornell is a very attractively rendered character, and his model is vastly improved over the characters of the first game. You can clearly see he has individual fingers on his hands, defined muscles and bone structure, and his clothes are improved too, along with a high polygon count face. The in-game effects are better than the first, and the render distance is much higher too, with a more transparent fog rendered in. Animations for movements, weapons, Cornell's werewolf form, and almost all of the enemy's were markedly better than the first game, and all of the shadows and lighting effects have been improved.
Overall, this is an attractive game, but I don't feel that it quite meets the standards set by the first game.
7/10 – Nearly There!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
I liked this game but felt that it wasn't up to the standard of the first. While the new mechanics and features were a nice addition, I felt that this game was just an improved or refined version of the first. Yes, there were new characters and a whole new plot, but it sort of made the existence of the first game almost pointless. I found myself agreeing with some of the old reviews, in that Konami should have held back the first game and then released this one instead. Also, something that I did note is that this game suffers from performance and stability issues much more than the first game did. I had the RAM pak installed in my N64 while playing this game and found that there was a common stuttering issue on the more populated stages. There were also problems with lag and game object latency, especially with the axe traps, and more than once I heard a noticeable pause between the audio and subsequent on-screen response. Sometimes I would hear the noise of a trap being tripped, and the game would pause for a fraction of a second. This caused me some frustration when I was low on health and had to search around for a drop to heal myself. I did like the story, but I'm not so sure that it really made 100% sense, and I didn't like the twist at the end. I've never been a fan of endings like that, but I get that it needed to finish in a way that left the door open for Castlevania 64. I did find that the combat was somewhat smoother, and I did like Cornell's werewolf ability. I thought it was an interesting concept and enjoyed the way that it was implemented into the game; perhaps it was a little overused, but that was about it. I didn't feel that Cornell was as rounded and robust a character as either Carrie or Reinhardt were, though. Something about him felt a little hollow, and I struggled to connect with him and his personality. His interactions with other NPC's were something that bothered me too; he just seemed to be in exactly the same situations as the first game characters, but with new dialogue. Later in the game, some of the things that he is written as saying and choosing to do were also a little cliché for me as well.
Visually, this game is arguably superior to Castlevania 64 and has marked improvements made to almost all textures and resolutions. The world, objects, and environments are all improved and have much more detailing and variations to their textures. There are fewer repeated tiles, and the water and background objects are smoother and look much more intricate and attractive. The creatures have more details too, with blood and shading added to their bodies and models. Cornell is a very attractively rendered character, and his model is vastly improved over the characters of the first game. You can clearly see he has individual fingers on his hands, defined muscles and bone structure, and his clothes are improved too, along with a high polygon count face. The in-game effects are better than the first, and the render distance is much higher too, with a more transparent fog rendered in. Animations for movements, weapons, Cornell's werewolf form, and almost all of the enemy's were markedly better than the first game, and all of the shadows and lighting effects have been improved.
Overall, this is an attractive game, but I don't feel that it quite meets the standards set by the first game.
7/10 – Nearly There!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
Comments
Post a Comment