Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (NDS, 2008)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-8/7* Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
*w/ grinding for the best equipment and higher levels, and/or stocking up on the best healing items
+
Some interesting new movement abilities (magnet glyph - pull and shoot your body like a slingshot near at magnetic points (sadly it's a bit underused, after beating the optional training hall you can combine it with the boomerang weapon there to use it basically anywhere), paries - travel through certain walls (kinda like digging as the mole in Yoshi's Island, underused outside of the last area), running dash which affects jump length - get it quite late though, flight although you get it in the last sub area and there's no air dash unlike in SotN - otoh you're still in human form and can perform normal attacks (just not special attacks))
Start with a three hit combo (can spam it as long as you have the MP)
Glyph system replaces the previous soul system (can map a different glyph to two of the face buttons, glyphs also represent basic weapons here). Can swap between glyph setups with Y+L/R after picking up that ability a few areas into the game (Aria of Sorrow?)
Voice acted 2nd intro (not bad VA), English or JP voice options
Slide from the get go however there's a pretty long delay before you can slide again (longer than in CotM, about the same as in PoR)
Teleporters within larger areas (usually 2 per area)+consumable town portals/magical ticket items (one way though unlike in Diablo)
Good-very good bosses overall (decently varied patterns, most lack escalation however)
Petty good animated intro and pre-castle cutscene
Control options, Separate music and sfx volume sliders
More hazard variety similar to PoR or classic CV
Great weapon variety overall
Some decent puzzles (underwater exploding barrel physics puzzle - similar to Ecco, windy room, one puzzle style boss though it's a bit too easy)
Some interesting enemies (giant starfish)
One unlockable alternate playable char (Albus - can same screen teleport and high jump)
Unlockable hard mode (sometimes new enemies and more dangerous hazards)
Skippable dialogue scenes (there should've been a prompt though since you can accidentally do it when attempting to go into the menu)
Some smart bomb-style special attacks (they don't remove enemy attacks though)
Audio cue when near treasure if wearing the dowsing hat (mid-late game item; there's also a hat that reveals breakable walls gained in the late game)
Pretty good economy overall in that money stays relevant until the end-game unless you start selling off unused equipment (there's a support glyph (inire pecunia) that makes enemies and item containers drop 100G but only the ones that would've dropped gold anyway). Some items are a bit overly expensive however
Multiple endings (good and bad)
Boss rush mode
Some monster transformations (succubus/werebat (HP stealing secondary attack (only 1 HP at a time though), can't crouch), robot (lose MP instead of HP, very limited movement), black panther/werecat (rapid HP stealing main attack+can talk to cats); not enough of these though and the drop rates are annoyingly low on the robot and panther, ultimately they feel superfluous)
Two optional areas (training hall (platforming challenge) and large cavern)
Some sequence breaking possibilities in the late game via the boomerang weapon+magnet glyph combo (don't need flight)
+/-
Uses a hub map system (multiple entry points to various areas and certain exits open up new areas on the map that you can later travel to from any other location (also have to pass through in-between areas to get to an unvisited one further away until you've cleared the ones in-between) - similar to Baldur's Gate II, )
Linear overarching structure (the optional areas can be done in either order, part of Dracula's castle is non-linear, various minor side quests)
Fewer reasons to revisit previous areas though it is still required to get the good/real ending. There's still some backtracking within areas after gaining new abilities to progress
Frequent save points which also heal you, Some ammo/heart stations (your default ammo capacity is pretty low however and there could've been somewhat more frequent heart drops and/or some big heart drops (the lovers' ring does increase hearts per drop but its stats are so-so))
Rescue mission aspect (various rescued villagers end up as vendors or quest givers in town; have to find and save all of them to get to Dracula's castle and get the good ending)
OST is a bit more lighthearted overall (some tracks sound more like late '90s hard rock/breakbeat crossover music though)
Female protagonist
Can't jump cancel out of an attack (only dash, game lets you move backwards while facing forward if attacking in mid-air however)
All attacks drain some MP but it regenerates quickly (special attacks (up+attack) use hearts as ammo). Against tougher enemies it works like a stamina bar as you can't attack at all without MP - seems a bit pointless and sometimes slows fights down (there are MP restoratives but ones that kept the MP high over a short period of time would've been more useful)
No shop until the channel area (pretty early)
Healing items are more expensive and don't heal that much until the late game (carry limit of 9 and need to finish a couple of fetch quests (involves a bit of grinding unless you're lucky) to buy high and super potions, can still stock up on the best food for the late game bosses if you sell some gear and grind a bit with the gold glyph)
No oxygen limit underwater
Can remove knockback entirely with the tower ring
It would sometimes have been useful to be able to attack at a downward angle as well as forward and above your head (very few weapons attack diagonally downwards)
Various fetch quests and an optional collectathon/killathon element to some quests (also have to buy the item at the shop afterwards which is kinda lame when it's expensive)
Re-uses some earlier CV enemy sprites and magical weapons seemingly without changes
While there is an HP regen support glyph that you can find in the late game the effect is very slow
Falling block room puzzle could've been interesting but it's really just about finding the right glyph (ignis)+the cubus glyph you get isn't very useful (could've been used to create bridges or stairs similar to Wonder Boy 3 or Below the Root)
Somewhat slow movement (can be increased in the late game with a pair of boots you find but you'll have to sacrifice the stat boosts of other boots, even later you gain a run move glyph)
Some silly voice clips
Dracula doesn't change into his demon form here
The gear progression to gold feels like it was supposed to be divided into two steps (gain access to both gold and platinum gear at once and you should have enough money for the latter at this point)
Overly binary effect of the death ring (risk/reward item that gives large stats boosts at the cost of often dying in one hit)
-
Some control/interface issues (have to time your dashes and attacks or the next one doesn't even register (back dashing has somewhat more delay/cooldown than in PoR) - can't mash the button to dash (some weapons like the knife make you stand still for a bit between attacks too unless using a combo with a faster weapon mapped to the other button or jumping in-between attacks), dashing is so ineffective against some enemies that you're better off jump attacking while moving away from the enemy, kinda floaty jump - slow falling speed, save prompt defaults to No, if you attack right before landing it's canceled - can be used for a quick extra hit as in previous games though, a stun animation plays after falling about a screen's length, map doesn't mark points of interest nor let you place markers, doesn't show your location on the map screen if you bring it up via the menu, pretty severe knockback+hit stun if you take a hit in mid-air - no knockback and short stun if standing on the ground (besides when hit by certain flying enemies like bats in which case you get the same huge knockback+hit stun), can't equip what you just bought while in the shop menu, pointless "absorb glyph" mechanic where you stand still and press up to slowly pick one up (made more annoying by it being beneficial to repeatedly absorb the same glyphs for attribute point increases, glyphs such as Fidelis which summon a familiar also gain exp faster if repeatedly absorbed although these have a minor role in the game), glyph/equipment/shop menus don't wrap around, some more glyphs could've been mappable to R instead since you don't use magnes and most other support glyphs that often, short invincibiity time+if you get hit while trying to back dash it doesn't register, sometimes annoying how the same weapon has different reach when placed in both hands and used in a combo)
Some plot oddities and conveniences (you're chosen for the ultimate glyph to defeat dracula during the intro gameplay but after it's stolen you go through a rookie training segment and get only a basic starter glyph while having your skill with them - similar to WB3/SotN/Prime but here you don't get to try out your powers before losing them, weird how Shanoa acts like she met Albus long ago when you first meet him after the intro gameplay)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (spikes: giant skeleton boss (prison island), tin man enemy, misty forest road (no save point), skeleton cave unless you grind a bit, shadow, giant centaur, large cavern (surprise mini-boss gauntlet); dips: skeleton frisky enemy, skeleton cave boss, swamp area)
Various corridor rooms with constantly respawning enemies in the first hostile area and some later ones
Some trial & error (Dracula's bat and soul steal attacks, finding the hidden exit out of the castle leading to the optional areas unless you equipped the right helmet when near it, giant centaur boss (weird hit boxes and some hard to read attacks), crab boss finisher - have to use the elevator or it's invincible and there's no health bar+it's not well communicated that you can and should get up into the elevator, enemies can sometimes be readying a devastating ranged attack while off screen as you move towards them so you barely have a chance to react, some glyph descriptions like succubus and miser ring are misleading (the latter only adds +1 int and mind every 300k gold which sucks), later boss patterns, some missable glyphs like acerbatus, you can't really tell which walls will or won't be breakable without attacking them until you get a late game item that simply reveals them, enemy weapons tend to damage you even if they weren't swinging them at the time)
Some tedious parts (curses (drains MP) become really annoying when attacks are MP-based+there's no invincibility period after using one so you can easily get cursed over and over in one fight, overly slow horizontal movement while underwater, certain flying enemies, sometimes overly binary enemy weapon type/elemental affinities (a scythe might do 5 damage while a hammer does 30) - the combo for switching is pretty quick to use but it can still be annoying when pressured or having to switch a lot in one area (in the training hall you have to switch mid-air a few times), some glyph and gear drop rates are too low (ignis, some transformations, etc), drawn out desert fish boss battle, backtracking after the wolf head glyph detour, some of the uses of paries/moving through walls are boring, )
Weird drop system on the item containers in dracula's castle (they either drop only gold or only hearts, has a chance of changing when moving between sub areas)
Some safe spots and axes are OP at times (so are Lapiste/rock fists and nitesco though you get them in the late game)
Some areas are very short and straightforward (the first forest for example is literally just a long corridor that you don't have to revisit later, these traversal areas could've had more interesting platforming and/or winding paths)
1G coins
Weird how some areas basically start with a boss fight so you have to go back to the hub map and a previous area to save and heal
The thick black outline around the player avatar and some other sprites looks kinda bad, Kind of tacky spotlight effect at the prison island
Some items are placed out in the open without a combat/movement/puzzle challenge leading up to them
Invisible roof in the sky in most outdoors areas
Sometimes stupid enemy AI
Some areas basically use the same tilesets but palette swapped or with minor variations
No difficulty options from the get go
Some copy paste rooms at Tristis pass and Dracula's Castle
Weird that a ball of light spell doesn't light up a dark room (you're actually supposed to get through that room without lighting up the room which is doable with some patience but can get tedious)
Lame bad ending and it happens a bit too early
Some weak glyph weapons (fulgur/electricity, morbus, overly slow bow weapon)
Some dead space
Stupid "smile" scene during the ending
Notes:
-Beat it at level 37
-Non-linearity hack
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
*w/ grinding for the best equipment and higher levels, and/or stocking up on the best healing items
+
Some interesting new movement abilities (magnet glyph - pull and shoot your body like a slingshot near at magnetic points (sadly it's a bit underused, after beating the optional training hall you can combine it with the boomerang weapon there to use it basically anywhere), paries - travel through certain walls (kinda like digging as the mole in Yoshi's Island, underused outside of the last area), running dash which affects jump length - get it quite late though, flight although you get it in the last sub area and there's no air dash unlike in SotN - otoh you're still in human form and can perform normal attacks (just not special attacks))
Start with a three hit combo (can spam it as long as you have the MP)
Glyph system replaces the previous soul system (can map a different glyph to two of the face buttons, glyphs also represent basic weapons here). Can swap between glyph setups with Y+L/R after picking up that ability a few areas into the game (Aria of Sorrow?)
Voice acted 2nd intro (not bad VA), English or JP voice options
Slide from the get go however there's a pretty long delay before you can slide again (longer than in CotM, about the same as in PoR)
Teleporters within larger areas (usually 2 per area)+consumable town portals/magical ticket items (one way though unlike in Diablo)
Good-very good bosses overall (decently varied patterns, most lack escalation however)
Petty good animated intro and pre-castle cutscene
Control options, Separate music and sfx volume sliders
More hazard variety similar to PoR or classic CV
Great weapon variety overall
Some decent puzzles (underwater exploding barrel physics puzzle - similar to Ecco, windy room, one puzzle style boss though it's a bit too easy)
Some interesting enemies (giant starfish)
One unlockable alternate playable char (Albus - can same screen teleport and high jump)
Unlockable hard mode (sometimes new enemies and more dangerous hazards)
Skippable dialogue scenes (there should've been a prompt though since you can accidentally do it when attempting to go into the menu)
Some smart bomb-style special attacks (they don't remove enemy attacks though)
Audio cue when near treasure if wearing the dowsing hat (mid-late game item; there's also a hat that reveals breakable walls gained in the late game)
Pretty good economy overall in that money stays relevant until the end-game unless you start selling off unused equipment (there's a support glyph (inire pecunia) that makes enemies and item containers drop 100G but only the ones that would've dropped gold anyway). Some items are a bit overly expensive however
Multiple endings (good and bad)
Boss rush mode
Some monster transformations (succubus/werebat (HP stealing secondary attack (only 1 HP at a time though), can't crouch), robot (lose MP instead of HP, very limited movement), black panther/werecat (rapid HP stealing main attack+can talk to cats); not enough of these though and the drop rates are annoyingly low on the robot and panther, ultimately they feel superfluous)
Two optional areas (training hall (platforming challenge) and large cavern)
Some sequence breaking possibilities in the late game via the boomerang weapon+magnet glyph combo (don't need flight)
+/-
Uses a hub map system (multiple entry points to various areas and certain exits open up new areas on the map that you can later travel to from any other location (also have to pass through in-between areas to get to an unvisited one further away until you've cleared the ones in-between) - similar to Baldur's Gate II, )
Linear overarching structure (the optional areas can be done in either order, part of Dracula's castle is non-linear, various minor side quests)
Fewer reasons to revisit previous areas though it is still required to get the good/real ending. There's still some backtracking within areas after gaining new abilities to progress
Frequent save points which also heal you, Some ammo/heart stations (your default ammo capacity is pretty low however and there could've been somewhat more frequent heart drops and/or some big heart drops (the lovers' ring does increase hearts per drop but its stats are so-so))
Rescue mission aspect (various rescued villagers end up as vendors or quest givers in town; have to find and save all of them to get to Dracula's castle and get the good ending)
OST is a bit more lighthearted overall (some tracks sound more like late '90s hard rock/breakbeat crossover music though)
Female protagonist
Can't jump cancel out of an attack (only dash, game lets you move backwards while facing forward if attacking in mid-air however)
All attacks drain some MP but it regenerates quickly (special attacks (up+attack) use hearts as ammo). Against tougher enemies it works like a stamina bar as you can't attack at all without MP - seems a bit pointless and sometimes slows fights down (there are MP restoratives but ones that kept the MP high over a short period of time would've been more useful)
No shop until the channel area (pretty early)
Healing items are more expensive and don't heal that much until the late game (carry limit of 9 and need to finish a couple of fetch quests (involves a bit of grinding unless you're lucky) to buy high and super potions, can still stock up on the best food for the late game bosses if you sell some gear and grind a bit with the gold glyph)
No oxygen limit underwater
Can remove knockback entirely with the tower ring
It would sometimes have been useful to be able to attack at a downward angle as well as forward and above your head (very few weapons attack diagonally downwards)
Various fetch quests and an optional collectathon/killathon element to some quests (also have to buy the item at the shop afterwards which is kinda lame when it's expensive)
Re-uses some earlier CV enemy sprites and magical weapons seemingly without changes
While there is an HP regen support glyph that you can find in the late game the effect is very slow
Falling block room puzzle could've been interesting but it's really just about finding the right glyph (ignis)+the cubus glyph you get isn't very useful (could've been used to create bridges or stairs similar to Wonder Boy 3 or Below the Root)
Somewhat slow movement (can be increased in the late game with a pair of boots you find but you'll have to sacrifice the stat boosts of other boots, even later you gain a run move glyph)
Some silly voice clips
Dracula doesn't change into his demon form here
The gear progression to gold feels like it was supposed to be divided into two steps (gain access to both gold and platinum gear at once and you should have enough money for the latter at this point)
Overly binary effect of the death ring (risk/reward item that gives large stats boosts at the cost of often dying in one hit)
-
Some control/interface issues (have to time your dashes and attacks or the next one doesn't even register (back dashing has somewhat more delay/cooldown than in PoR) - can't mash the button to dash (some weapons like the knife make you stand still for a bit between attacks too unless using a combo with a faster weapon mapped to the other button or jumping in-between attacks), dashing is so ineffective against some enemies that you're better off jump attacking while moving away from the enemy, kinda floaty jump - slow falling speed, save prompt defaults to No, if you attack right before landing it's canceled - can be used for a quick extra hit as in previous games though, a stun animation plays after falling about a screen's length, map doesn't mark points of interest nor let you place markers, doesn't show your location on the map screen if you bring it up via the menu, pretty severe knockback+hit stun if you take a hit in mid-air - no knockback and short stun if standing on the ground (besides when hit by certain flying enemies like bats in which case you get the same huge knockback+hit stun), can't equip what you just bought while in the shop menu, pointless "absorb glyph" mechanic where you stand still and press up to slowly pick one up (made more annoying by it being beneficial to repeatedly absorb the same glyphs for attribute point increases, glyphs such as Fidelis which summon a familiar also gain exp faster if repeatedly absorbed although these have a minor role in the game), glyph/equipment/shop menus don't wrap around, some more glyphs could've been mappable to R instead since you don't use magnes and most other support glyphs that often, short invincibiity time+if you get hit while trying to back dash it doesn't register, sometimes annoying how the same weapon has different reach when placed in both hands and used in a combo)
Some plot oddities and conveniences (you're chosen for the ultimate glyph to defeat dracula during the intro gameplay but after it's stolen you go through a rookie training segment and get only a basic starter glyph while having your skill with them - similar to WB3/SotN/Prime but here you don't get to try out your powers before losing them, weird how Shanoa acts like she met Albus long ago when you first meet him after the intro gameplay)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (spikes: giant skeleton boss (prison island), tin man enemy, misty forest road (no save point), skeleton cave unless you grind a bit, shadow, giant centaur, large cavern (surprise mini-boss gauntlet); dips: skeleton frisky enemy, skeleton cave boss, swamp area)
Various corridor rooms with constantly respawning enemies in the first hostile area and some later ones
Some trial & error (Dracula's bat and soul steal attacks, finding the hidden exit out of the castle leading to the optional areas unless you equipped the right helmet when near it, giant centaur boss (weird hit boxes and some hard to read attacks), crab boss finisher - have to use the elevator or it's invincible and there's no health bar+it's not well communicated that you can and should get up into the elevator, enemies can sometimes be readying a devastating ranged attack while off screen as you move towards them so you barely have a chance to react, some glyph descriptions like succubus and miser ring are misleading (the latter only adds +1 int and mind every 300k gold which sucks), later boss patterns, some missable glyphs like acerbatus, you can't really tell which walls will or won't be breakable without attacking them until you get a late game item that simply reveals them, enemy weapons tend to damage you even if they weren't swinging them at the time)
Some tedious parts (curses (drains MP) become really annoying when attacks are MP-based+there's no invincibility period after using one so you can easily get cursed over and over in one fight, overly slow horizontal movement while underwater, certain flying enemies, sometimes overly binary enemy weapon type/elemental affinities (a scythe might do 5 damage while a hammer does 30) - the combo for switching is pretty quick to use but it can still be annoying when pressured or having to switch a lot in one area (in the training hall you have to switch mid-air a few times), some glyph and gear drop rates are too low (ignis, some transformations, etc), drawn out desert fish boss battle, backtracking after the wolf head glyph detour, some of the uses of paries/moving through walls are boring, )
Weird drop system on the item containers in dracula's castle (they either drop only gold or only hearts, has a chance of changing when moving between sub areas)
Some safe spots and axes are OP at times (so are Lapiste/rock fists and nitesco though you get them in the late game)
Some areas are very short and straightforward (the first forest for example is literally just a long corridor that you don't have to revisit later, these traversal areas could've had more interesting platforming and/or winding paths)
1G coins
Weird how some areas basically start with a boss fight so you have to go back to the hub map and a previous area to save and heal
The thick black outline around the player avatar and some other sprites looks kinda bad, Kind of tacky spotlight effect at the prison island
Some items are placed out in the open without a combat/movement/puzzle challenge leading up to them
Invisible roof in the sky in most outdoors areas
Sometimes stupid enemy AI
Some areas basically use the same tilesets but palette swapped or with minor variations
No difficulty options from the get go
Some copy paste rooms at Tristis pass and Dracula's Castle
Weird that a ball of light spell doesn't light up a dark room (you're actually supposed to get through that room without lighting up the room which is doable with some patience but can get tedious)
Lame bad ending and it happens a bit too early
Some weak glyph weapons (fulgur/electricity, morbus, overly slow bow weapon)
Some dead space
Stupid "smile" scene during the ending
Notes:
-Beat it at level 37
-Non-linearity hack