[Castlevania] Order of Ecclesia

I don’t normally do these big “history of the franchise” deals in my reviews because pretty much every video game site does them already and they always wind up sounding like some kind of major sales pitch, like the review was written not by a person but by a company marketing team. But upon seeing me play the Nintendo DS game I’m about to review, my coworker went on to ask me “what is Castlevania?” which caught me off guard, since this is one of the more older and popular licenses of the video game industry, or at least in my biased mind. So here it is, my brief “history of Castlevania” feature. Feel free to skip on to the actual review if you’ve heard this bit a thousand times before.



The original Castlevania was released in America in 1987 (according to Wikipedia) on the NES. It was a basic platformer starring a dude with a mystical whip going through Dracula’s castle, battling skeletons, zombies, flying heads, the grim reaper and every horror movie archetype ever conceived before battling the Count himself. The art direction was distinctly gothic for the time, the mechanics were sound and the game was challenging (often unfairly so, in regards to the threat of frequently respawning medusa heads) and the game became a staple of 2D platforming. Assorted sequels would follow, the protagonist’s integrity would be compromised in a bad 80s cartoon, but the one constant in the franchise was that there was always a member of that guy with a whip’s bloodline beating up monsters, and there was always a Dracula whose arse needed to be handed to him.



The series hit a monumental turning point in 1997 with Castlevania : Symphony of the Night. The linear series of stages was replaced in favour of a giant overworld, Dracula’s castle, where the player’s progression meant obtaining access to more and more sections of the otherwise free-to-explore area. (Perhaps an easier way to say that would be “ripping off Metroid”.) Also, whip boy was replaced by Dracula’s son, who probably had a bone to pick with his dad for his disapproval of his son’s bisexual attitude. As well, the game obtained RPG elements in that the character could be outfitted with different equipment, learn new abilities and level up from grind… beating up enemies as he went. The game still holds up fantastically well by modern standards and is available for purchase online for PS3 and Xbox 360 owners at a reasonably great price.

Told you these things always end up sounding like sales pitches.

Since then, there have been two kinds of Castlevania games being released. The console Castlevania games that attempt to bring the series to 3D and always seem to wind up being terrible, and the Game Boy Advance/Nintendo DS Castlevania games that try really, really, really hard to capture the same lightning in a bottle that Symphony of the Night had, with varying (but usually respectable) results. Which brings us too…




[Castlevania : Order of Ecclesia] : The latest attempt at a modern day Symphony.

Story : [Castlevania : Order of Ecclesia] is based around a young woman named [Shanoa] who was chosen to bear some kind of almighty power capable of bringing down [Dracula], only for fellow cult-mate [Albus] to steal the power for himself, forcing [Shanoa] to go after him. There’s a good twist or two here and there but the overall story in [Castlevania : Order of Ecclesia] is by and large predictable. You know you’re just going to wind up fighting [Dracula] in the end anyways. It’s like the series is sometimes held down from evolving due to its own tradition, yet even I’ll admit that I’d be disappointed if a [Castlevania] game didn’t end in a bout with [Dracula].

[Castlevania : Order of Ecclesia] isn’t so much distinct for its most heavily advertised features so much as it is for more of its’ subtle changes. The only reason I appreciate [Shanoa] as the game’s protagonist is because she distinctly looks female, which is a change of pace from the usual androgynous main character that stars in these [Castlevania : Symphony of the Night] knockoffs, otherwise she’s not a particularly likable individual. The addition of a [village] with [civilians] that need rescuing isn’t too big of a deal, as they merely provide [fetch quests] for the player to…

Oh, and if you’d like to know why I’m talking with [brackets] around words, it’s because the game likes using them too, with the upmost demand it seems. I’ve seen numerous games do a similar thing, using underlines or colours to highlight names or quest related items. Order of Ecclesia is fond of the bracket, to highlight seemingly every noun in for the player. A villager may ask you to collect 3 [iron ore] (no plural form here) or another character will have a major speech proclaiming that [Dracula] is the embodiment of all evil. I can’t help but find that this sucks out a good deal of impact or immersion out of the storyline. I don’t quite understand why; trust me when I say that the target audience of this game is not stupid enough to need important parts of the sentence to be highlights so abruptly.

I say that because this game is not meant to be played by anyone but the most determined of platform gamers. Bosses are all tough, with large chunks of health to chip off and difficult, random attack patterns to figure out. You’re going to die repeatedly in the process of trying to beat one. Even many casual enemies will tear you apart if given the chance. Save points are infrequent, so you’ll find yourself using the magical escape item to retreat to the village often…or die a lot. The game only keeps track of the hours you’ve spent playing and not dying so while my game save says I’ve put in a mere 5 hours into the game, the real number is embarrassingly much, much higher.

In part, that’s due to how infrequent stat-boosting armour appears in the game, as in order to improve your meager defense rating, you’ll find yourself having to do a fetch quest or two from certain villagers in order to make available armour you can’t afford at the store. There’s another issue of difficulty; money is scarce, and you’ll rarely find yourself equipped with necessary potions, meaning that you’re going to really EARN the right to progress.

Another aspect that only the diehards are going to mind is the game’s slap in the face false-ending. Once you do beat Albus, the game sets you up and basically says “you can’t go to the real last level and fight Dracula unless you rescue EVERY villager.” Well this certainly ticked me off, especially considering the number of lives I needed to beat Albus in the first place. It’s even more frustrating how you’re going to need some kind of internet strategy guide to find some of the villagers, since some of them are hidden behind walls that are supposed to be broken down but otherwise untraceable without either some kind of internet assistance or trying to hit every wall in the game until something breaks, like you’re some kind of game tester. This may be fine for the Gamefaqs.com crowd of gamers, but not the average Joe.

In perhaps a sign that the series is going full-circle, there’s no giant overworld in this game, but rather a series of smaller stages, connected by a basic world map. This cuts on the backtracking, and at the same time, each area is interesting enough to make you want to explore, though there’s perhaps one “straight line filled with enemies” type of level too many in the game.

Another small change that I wound up appreciating is the glyph system, where Shanoa takes advantage of her scantily-clad powers and absorbs certain magical artifacts into her bare back. Absorbed glyphs can then be assigned to certain buttons, and end up manifesting themselves into weapons attacks or certain abilities. For the most part, this comes off as a repackaged version of the weapons and spells equipment system, but there are some unique twists. A select few enemy attacks can be sucked out from right under their noses to unlock new abilities. Magic attacks can lead into changing your character’s super attack, and there’s a great variety of spells once you approach the tail end of the game. It’s a small gameplay tweak that you wind up appreciating after you make yourself stick with it long enough.

And that really is the key to enjoying Order of Ecclesia; gutting it out. Truth be told, this is the most fun I’ve had out of a Castlevania game since Symphony of the Night, and likewise, it’s also the most frustration I’ve gotten since the very early NES games. It’s a great purchase for long-time fans and in particular, the ones that like to search far and wide to collect every power-up and compete for the best time in the obligatory “Boss Rush” mode. But if you’ve never played any of these games before, be warned. Go start with Symphony or even one of the other DS Castlevania games. Build up your tolerance for beating giant monsters with sexually-questionable characters.

Pros : Great-as-always art style, without leaving the impression that the game is trying to be more stylish than it really is (i.e. the other Symphony clones). Will greatly amplify your tolerance for Castlevania : Judgement on the Wii (review coming soon) Plenty of post-game extras.

Cons : A few too many enemies were ripped out of Symphony of the Night.

4 stars

Breaking from the tradition of making bad 3D games and uninspired 2D games, the most recent game in the series, Castlevania : Judgement on the Wii, is a fighting game!