The game is the typical side scrolling fighting game where the goal is to defeat a boss and gain their special ability to help you in the following stages. As you fight the evil devils, you gain experience points which you will use to upgrade. The interesting twist is this time you are now a Forgemaster in which you are able to conjure up what they consider Innocent Devils to fight for you. Each Innocent Devil type has different characteristics which you you will find usefull in one way or another (healing vs fighting vs flying, etc). As with previous Castlevania titles, the graphics are ok. The fight engine is arcadic with limited controls needed to accomplish anything. The Good: 1) Beat them up... a lot 2) Puzzles 3) New twist on conjuring 4) Wow... cool bosses 5) Much better graphics than before 6) Definitely replayable game to see all the different Innocent Angle forms 7) Ability to switch weapon each with their own attributes 8) Combos and more combos The Bad: 1) Graphics are still not that good in certain areas 2) Fight engine is still just a basic hack and slash 3) Feels very repetitive. Overall, it's a keeper with lots of replayability.Read full review
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is a great game for the PS2. Starting out as Hector, the devil forger, you slice and dice your way through beautiful scenery and wicked awesome monsters, all while listening to the stellar soundtrack so reminiscent of the trademark series. But the best part of the game in my opinion is the Innocent Devil system, a system that depending on the weapons you use as you fight will guide the IA to evolve into a vast array of species. And although I do enjoy this game. I get the feeling that I'm just playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night all over again. With the non-Belmont main hero and getting to play the Belmont after conquering it. And there are times when the loading time is simply riduculous. So here's how I score it. Storyline:4/5 feels something like deja vu, eh? Graphics:4.5/5 I can't complain about the graphics, but loading Music:5/5 Rock on Castlevania! Voice Actors:3/5 why oh why? Couldn't they have choose people who at least cared about what these characters sounded like. They could've done so much better Replay Value:4/5 You know you want to play as a certain Belmont? Right? Overall 4/5 Love it or Leave it? The choice is yours but this game "is" Castlevania worthy and you wouldn't be doing it justice just to let it pass by.Read full review
Bought this item because we are die hard fans of the Castlevania series of arcade games from way back (Ninetendo, Arcades, Playstation & PS2)! Long overdue release of an updated version for modern platforms! Wonderful 3-D gaming environments! New great improvements to the game playability! Easier to select option items during game play! Numerous possible scenarios! Role playing games provide hours of endless play options! The controller improvements are much better with layout and functionality! Although there is always room for new improvements and/or up-grades...hopefully there will be more! Overall this game is a good value buy! Unfortunately it has not been on the list of top sellers!?! Only a million plus have sold?!? Get a copy today...you'll not be disappointed! There are 3-4 people who stop by our house that have saved game profiles from this gaming series. It is captivating...hard to stop playing once you start!Read full review
Overall this is a good game. Adequately dark intro, brooding, etc. The fact is that it is also a complete engine rip from Lament of Innocence, which I liked a lot. Mechanics are very similar, and the devil forgery skill is another attribute to keep track of rather than be enthusiastic about. The only weapons worth forging are (at least to my game style) knuckle, sword and axe. Since the sword is most balanced between damage and effect, it is easiest to use that exclusively. Evasion becomes easier earlier in the game, and the introduction of a support innocent devil first makes it easier to understand the role of them in the game, but nothing assists more than combining melee attacks on very strong adversaries. Knuckle weapon attacks are just is neat, and axe seems to be damage heavy and effect light. Spear is a COMPLETE poseur weapon. I actually wanted to see them balance at work in the weapons but it does not exist. The innocent devils are pretty interesting as a game development, though, but they do not make up for the rather lackluster combat sequences. Overall good, but the mechanics needs improvement. Good storyline, though.Read full review
Like 2003's Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness attempts to preserve the look and feel of the classic 2D side-scrolling Castlevania installments, and succeeds to a certain extent; the game's got a solid combat system and some interesting new spins on the formula that give some depth to the action. Combat looks good and controls well--lots of different weapons to choose from The new crafting and stealing mechanics are fun and well designed. Excellent music and some great voice acting. However, I am a die hard Symphony of the Night fan. It doesn't quite compare.
Curse of Darkness differs from its predecessor in a number of ways. It includes a more complex, action/adventure style of gameplay, much like Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. Hector is not a member of the Belmont clan, so he does not use the "Vampire Killer" whip; instead he has the ability (much like Alucard and Soma Cruz) to equip a variety of different weapons ranging from swords (both one handed and two handed), spears, axes (also both one handed and two handed), brass knuckles and an extra type called special weapons (which varies from tonfas to gatling guns). However, there is an extra gameplay mode after finishing the game that allows players to play as Trevor Belmont, equipped with the "Vampire Killer" and the subweapons which are the knife, axe, holy water, cross, and stopwatch. The battle system is somewhat similar to that of Dynasty Warriors, whereas one button is used for standard combo attacks, and a secondary button is used for stronger "finishing attacks" after a singular standard attack or a combo of standard attacks. As the player acquires progressively stronger weapons throughout the game, the number of standard and finishing attacks the player can perform increases accordingly. Each different weapon type has a different set of combos that can be performed.Read full review
this is a review of the game itself and no reflection on the seller. i know what i'm getting into when i risk buying pre-owned games. it was in fine condition. The game itself is a lackluster clone of Lament of Innocence, which is far superior even though it isn't as full of options and variables like C.O.Darkness. It's built on the same engine. only they didn't do anything new with it. So 'built on' is untruthful...more like, 'used the same engine and did the bare minimum with it'. I swear I think the background graphics actually worsened- definately more simple and far more repetitive. Most notably i think the world in this game is about 80% empty hallways that do nothing but connect rooms and hold 4 torches to break, which most of the time offer up nothing but $1. We are talking long, LONG corridors with nothing to do but watch Hector run down them. they are not save rooms or places to gather and organize your items- you can do that at any time. It feels like at some point they planned on programming monsters in them but then just wrapped up the dealine or something. The bosses and battles are wide ranging, from impressive to lackluster. One boss will be difficult and the next too easy. Eventually they suddenly progress to impossible in the final stages. 3 level fights where you are drained of all your items by the second round are not cool. The good: i ended up liking the innocent devil feature more than i thought- once i realized it was essential to playing and not just an option. Evolving the helper devils and their skills became the only thing driving me to keep playing the dull game. However I have only evolved my devils in one direction (each helper evolves differently depending on what weapon/battle setup you use throughout the game) since most of the time i used a sword, all of my helpers evolved to that battle program. Had i used a staff or axe, they would have evolved differently. Kind of wacky, and i want to- actually NEED to go back and grow some different devils to access certain areas or use their skills, I have no intentions to run through the sprawling empty boring worlds in order to do so. so i'm kind of stuck. I can't imagine that any casual gamer could have more experience points, items, or helpers saved than i do now, having played straight through the game once. The levels are so long and boring that not only do you feel like they are designed to stay behind you, never to be entered again- but you simply DON'T want to go back for anything... oh wait, i'm supposed to be talking about the 'good' things, well, if i must... the wide variety of weapons, and the ability to combine them into new ones is entertaining, for a time. You feel the need to collect and see and try them all...again this is probably only to to some obsessive collection disorder that I have, and younger players raised on pokemon, etc also have (which is also why the innocent devil feature is entertaining). However soon you realize that the differences between the damage they inflict is not that impressive.There will literally be a sword that inflicts one more point of damage than another....but there is an educational check and balance- the really powerful weapons are slow, the faster weapons are weaker, but in the end you can get in more damage because of it. I found myself using the 'bastard sword' most of the time because of the balance of speed and power, leaving all my other weapons on the shelf. overall, a sad castlevaniaRead full review
I don't know why people are giving this a bad review. I almost gave it 5 stars simply because it IS so good. They've brought back the feel of Symphony of the Night and put it into a 3D game. The visual details, sounds, and music are very well done and you can change your weapons. There are also "familiars" or what are now called "innocent devils" who are summoned monsters that help you out and level up; they also change their shape and develop stronger attacks based on what type of weapon you are using. To me, this increases the replay value quite a bit, because you can go back and see all the different types of creatures your innocent devils can evolve into. The levels are fairly long and the play area is much larger than last time. I felt the first 3D castlevania for the PS2 wasn't anything special, but this one has much better controls, better camera control, and it has extremely fast gameplay. The soundtrack is also very good. The American voice acting in this game isn't that bad, however, the Japanese voice acting is done very well. The only complaint I had was the music at the end of the game--it doesn't really fit in with the theme of Castlevania and I found it sort of boring. Aside from some obvious weirdness with the story and the somewhat bizarre music in the credits, this game is very good and very well worth purchasing. There is also a character in the game who many long-time fans of the series will be familiar with. So, there is nostalgic value here as well.Read full review
I had heard over & over about how great this game was. I can't even remember how many bidding wars I had to go through, before I finally got one. I can NOT see what the big deal is. The graphics aren't real great. It's slow, the characters move like they just woke up. Don't get me wrong it's a good game (as in JUST good barely), but it's not that great. It might be a good game for those just beginning, or looking to build your gaming skills; or for those who are looking to play the whole series. At least you can see the character throughout the entire game. I hate games where you can not see the character. You know the sort of games I mean... They pick up a spear, a gun, a map, an object, but you never see their arm or hand. You never see them reflected in anything either.ARRGH, I hate that. This is also a game you can figure out without the booklet. I never read the books, I like to figure things out for myself, It gives me more of a rush! I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.Read full review
i love the characters, the combos, and the adventure, some times a little long but that is a what i like about castlevania, the guide is very helpful but not so that is takes the excitement out of finding things out for myself, i don't like the way the camera veiw works or doesn't work sometimes, i have found the easiest way to steal items from boss is to use the battle type ID. and put him in guard mode otherwise he will kill everything before they get the chance to let you steal from them. i don't like not knowing where to go to fight trevor, st. germain, issac, the best part is trying to collect everything possible before i beat the game. thanks to the creators and i will be waiting for the next adventure to begin.
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