Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was/is an incredibly popular installment in the ultra-successful Castlevania series. It was released on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and the PSP/PS3. (Downloadable from the PSN store or through an unlockable in The Dracula X Chronicles) You play as Alucard, the son of Dracula. You awake from your eternal slumber to vanquish Dracula...Again...
Since you are not a Belmont, you are not confined to just a whip and a secondary weapon. In SotN, you have a large variety of weapons to choose from, from the fast Basiliard to the Gladiator sword and even the Cursed Dark Sword.
The secondary weapons are also in no shortage. You have axes, throwing knives, bouncy lasers, a bible, and some 1-time only users, such as the Magic Missile. You can also have an offhand weapon, mostly used as a shield slot. You won't need the shield that much, as you'll be kicking too much butt to notice. Aside from weapons, the customization is wonderful. I don't mean you can choose his hair color or anything-but with the vast array of armors and weapons. If that isn't enough, you can wander around and find various perks, such as the double jump, or Faerie Scroll. If this wasn't enough, you have familiars-Things that will follow you around and assist you, like the Sword Familiar or the Fairy Familiar. Familiars are great, but you can also shapeshift-just as Dracula does. He can turn into a bat, a wolf, and even mist! He can also cast spells, but they require button combinations. There are so many different things to find in this game, you'll spend half your time looking for stuff.
As far as Gameplay goes, it doesn't get better than this. The 16-bit Vania is just astounding; It packs a huge punch, and won't disappoint. Alucard can move in every which way, as well as jump like a superhuman and take as much as he can deal. In pain. The bosses are pretty difficult; They might take a few tries, but shouldn't be of main concern. I got pretty careless and wound up dead some times, but I do that in a lot of games today. (I have a nasty haibit of not thinking things through and not really put much effort into what I'm doing, I don't know why, it frustrates me to no end) The enemies in the game are occasionally harder than the bosses, especially in hordes. There are also literally dozens upon dozens of secrets to be found, so you won't get bored. Trust me. You will also spend a whole lot of time wandering around, so don't think you can breeze through this game.
All in all, I give this game a 9. It gets pretty frustrating, and has resulted in me ragequitting a lot. Is this game worth the buy if you own a PS3, PSP, PS2, PS or Saturn? Definitely. I highly recommend this game. Other than difficulty traversing the castles, I don't have a whole lot of bad to say about this game.
It won't get boring, and will definitely result in another playthrough.
I hope you have taken my words into consideration, as this is a great game.
I also hope you buy this game, as it is definitely worth it.
Thank you for reading.
(tl;dr version: Good game, buy it)
(Yes, I actually wrote this)
