Soul of Darkness Game by Gameloft Reviewed by Philip Wesley Size: 78 Blocks Save: 3 Save Slots/Battery Released: 2010 Works with: DSi/DSi XL/3DS ESRB Rated: T Rating Descriptions: Animated Blood, Animated Violence Quick Opinion: Own! **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Gameloft may be one of the weirdest developers in the world. They remind me of Maverick Films. Maverick Films is a company that thrives on making imitations of popular movies to compete with those movies on DVD. When Terminator Salvation came out, they put out "Rise of the Terminators." When Cloverfield was popular, they put out a similar movie called "Monster" in which bad camera footage captured the destruction of Tokyo by a giant, badly made, CGI tentacle. They are behind such great classics as "Transmorphers: Revenge of the Fallen," and "Mega Shark VS Giant Octopus." Maverick Films is so infamous for this because some of their stuff is so bad that it is actually good. I am talking midnight movie, B-Rated Garbage that you can not help but enjoy. Gameloft is a little like that film company. They put out "copies" of other games on smart phones, DSi Ware, and PSP Mini. Games like "Hero of Sparta" which copies "God of War," or "Crystal Monsters" which takes a page from a certain series where people capture and train monsters that may or may not fit in their pocket. They put out a first person shooter called N.O.V.A. that -at first glance- looks a lot like HALO. And this game, available on DSi Ware for 500 points ($5.00) looks a lot like Castlevania. **************************************************************************** Gameplay Description: This looks a lot like Castlevania, and if you changed a few of the names, it could BE a Castlevania game. I think we could very well accuse Gameloft of making a direct tribute to the Castlevania series at large. The game is split up into levels, there are about 11 levels and they all take place in forests, castles, caves, and other Castlevania locals. The game is story driven and revolves around Lydia and Kale. Kale is a Vampire Killer who met Lydia a few years ago, mysteriously. She has mysteriously lost her memory and then is suddenly haunted by horrible nightmares. Then Ritter -a VAMPIRE- shows up and steals Lydia away, while making a reference to her MYSTERIOUS past. Kale will have none of this development and vows to destroy Ritter and rescue the MYSTERIOUS Lydia, who seems to suffer amnesia, mysteriously. So, the story is pretty weak; but so are the Castlevania series stories. Most of them revolve around HERO A, who must rescue HEROINE IN DISTRESS who was taken by VAMPIRE. The plot is almost tongue in cheek commentary on how very generic the recent Castlevania games have been. Anyhow, the story aside, this is a hack and slash platform game with a combo system and upgradable weapons. You have two weapons that you acquire in the game. One is a Fire Sword and one is an Ice Lance. They both have different properties. One can burn brush, melt ice, and light torches. One can freeze water spouts, certain enemies, and cause other effects. When you kill an enemy, you gather Purple, Green, or Blue dots. The Purple ones, you can collect to upgrade your weapons (like in the God of War games), the Green ones are health, and the Blue ones are Magic. There are also times where the main character can transform into some of the enemies in the game to get past certain obstacles. One of the forms is a weak bug that can climb on ceilings or use string to grapple across distances. The levels are fairly straight forward and there are hidden chests and health/magic upgrades hidden inside them. Some of the levels take place on moving objects. One level that I really enjoyed took place inside of a cavern where you are riding this giant worm thing from Super Metroid that keeps dipping into the lava, or coming out of the lava at you when you are on "stable" ground. The whole level scrolls automatically and was one of the most fun gameplay experiences I have seen in a Castlevania... esque game in a while. The fight with the giant worm thing at the end of the level was some nice icing on the cake. You can revisit levels and I suggest you do this to max out your weapons as quickly as possible. The second level is the best place to do this as the area with the unlit torches has some high payout enemies that respawn when you leave and return to the room. An experienced player will breeze through this game in a few hours, which unlocks a harder difficulty version of the game. The game also has a combo system that really helps on the higher difficulty version. As far as gameplay goes, this game is short but sweet. You can also use the DSi Camera at certain times. The camera helps in bonus "areas" where you can take a picture and the dominating color of the picture determines the reward you acquire. Liked: Transformations, large bosses, interesting level up system, and interesting level designs. Hated: Way too straight forward and a bit unoriginal. It uses the DSi Camera feature in a poor way during Game Play. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: This was originally a Smart Phone game and it adheres to those roots quite well. The main character looks like a Belmont and even has that "shadow" effect while moving that modern Castlevania characters seem to have. The graphics look like they would be right at home on the Super Nintendo and the animation is perfectly fine. The story portraits are nicely done and -using the DSi Camera- you can "edit" the pictures for maximum ridiculousness. The enemies are reused a lot, but they look good. This is no slouch on the graphics department and the story sequences look good. The small touches, like doves flying in the background of the forest, are very appreciated and help keep this game visually interesting. Liked: The graphics are very nicely done. Attack combos are great looking! Hated: Animation could be smoother, bosses could be bigger, backgrounds could have more layers. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: The main character makes a generic Castlevania "grunt" sound when he jumps, the sword and lance make satisfying sounds when used. The "magic" sounds correct too. The music is pretty great, but loops way too often. The music should be longer before it loops. That said, the music is all homages to Castlevania tunes and makes for a quite epic sounding game. Liked: Sound effects and music are pretty well done. Hated: The music loops way too often, because the compositions are very short. This makes some of the music a bit of an annoyance when it really does not need to be. The same music is also used way too often. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: The game design is borrowed directly from the Castlevania formula with a few "God of War" style additions. The orbs you collect to upgrade weapons are one example of that. The other example would be the second boss, which has God of War style Quick Time Events at certain parts of the fight. Play control is fine and makes sense. The challenge in the game mostly comes from the bosses and the game never throws out anything too difficult in terms of puzzles. It tries to kill you the fair way, by having you fall into lava, or be beaten to death by enemies. It may not be very original, but it does have enough interesting play mechanics and additions to make it stand out - even among Castlevania games. It looks, sounds, and plays a little like Castlevania; but that is NOT a bad thing in this case. Liked: It plays well and it is fun. Hated: It is awfully derivative. **************************************************************************** Improve: More weapons! Longer music! RIYL: Castlevania, of course! **************************************************************************** Final Words: Not the most original game ever, but it is completely worth your time and your $5.00. Someone at Gameloft must have thought it was a good idea to make an "homage" to the Castlevania games. No, this was not a good idea. It was a great idea and I feel that my money was well spent. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: *** Graphics: **** Sound/Music: ** Play Control/Game Design: *** Value: ***** Star Total: 51 Personal Opinion Merit: 22 Final Score: 73% Letter Grade: B ****************************************************************************