Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA, 2001)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-8 Challenge-7/6* Story-5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7 Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
* No sequence breaking, using cards etc.
+
SOTN/Metroid style gameplay (explore a castle, gain new abilities, you don't have to do all bosses in one set order, pretty frequent save points (these also restore hp/mp), character building through hp/mp/hearts upgrades)
Extra character mode unlockables (magician, shooter etc.) provide some replay value after beating the game
New card system (elementals and status effects, adds a bit of depth as you can combine two cards in two different categories for various effects)
New enemies appear in previously cleared areas (makes backtracking more interesting)
Good bosses overall (some are huge)
Easy to backtrack without fighting overall due to the run and double jump moves
Rewarding detours for hp/mp/ammo upgrades overall (harder platforming paths or enemies that guard them)
Minor puzzles (sewer, boxes as platforms)
Teleporters
Have to consider pros and cons for new equipment
Sometimes more challenging platforming than in the Igavanias
+/-
Slide move (Can't cancel it but it also does pretty good damage to enemies and you seem to take less damage from sliding into enemies than being attacked by them)
Mostly small sprites (does let you react more easily to danger)
Limited whip control (only forward until you get the poison whip card combo which for some reason hits diagonally upwards only)
Double tap to run (r for specials could've been done differently - double tap + attack or r to tackle, jump + face a wall to wall jump, up + jump to super jump)
Long knockback after taking a hit
Very fast falling speed
Heavy boxes aren't marked on the map
-
Trial & error (card combos, where cards drop, boss patterns, enemies shooting from off screen, can't look down (many blind jumps))
Pretty unbalanced card system (some useless stuff, some overpowered, you'll miss a lot of stuff when it's relevant on your first time through, the card system isn't explained properly in-game (just briefly mentioned), )
Some slowdown
Cards are generally so rare that you'll forget about them (and many features are pretty useless, drops seem affected by luck - you can find luck increasing gear but it doesn't seem to help that much)
No shop
Mostly useless sub weapons (except for the cross and in some situations the axe)
Very vertical jumps when you're not running (see Contra)
No difficulty options
A lot of dead space
Still a lot of backtracking (there could've been a teleporter near the beginning and in the top left) and there are som unnecessary points of no return here and there
Mostly generic looking sprites compared to some earlier game
Some tedious vertical platforming (it generally helps to have the axe)
No sub weapon inventory (it works like in Rondo of Blood instead - it was 2001 people!)
Somewhat uneven difficulty (3 pretty easy bosses (the golem in particular), bosses4-5 are super tough without the right card combos or getting most hp/mp upgrades before them, 6-8 medium)
Boring dialogue and predictable story
Somewhat slow walking speed (nullified by a dash move ~5 min into the game - kinda redundant to not have it from the get go)
Anticlimactic dracula fight in some ways (you can walk out on him when he powers up, a bit drawn out?)
No save point next to the battle arena
Minotaur room in battle arena
Few music tracks
The heavy boxes are a pretty uninspired way of gating (directing the player's progress) - in general there could've been several more ways to sequence break earlier on
Block pushing and moving the sewer block staircases is slower than it needs to be
Healing with the jupiter/mandragora combo is too slow
Having to go into the menu to switch card combos gets a bit tedious
Can't press pause to get out of the pause menu when you're in a sub menu
Can't unequp magic items (to not cleanse the sewer waters for example)
Notes:
-Easy to use a glitch that lets you use any combo without having the cards for it
Level Design-7 Frustration-7 Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
* No sequence breaking, using cards etc.
+
SOTN/Metroid style gameplay (explore a castle, gain new abilities, you don't have to do all bosses in one set order, pretty frequent save points (these also restore hp/mp), character building through hp/mp/hearts upgrades)
Extra character mode unlockables (magician, shooter etc.) provide some replay value after beating the game
New card system (elementals and status effects, adds a bit of depth as you can combine two cards in two different categories for various effects)
New enemies appear in previously cleared areas (makes backtracking more interesting)
Good bosses overall (some are huge)
Easy to backtrack without fighting overall due to the run and double jump moves
Rewarding detours for hp/mp/ammo upgrades overall (harder platforming paths or enemies that guard them)
Minor puzzles (sewer, boxes as platforms)
Teleporters
Have to consider pros and cons for new equipment
Sometimes more challenging platforming than in the Igavanias
+/-
Slide move (Can't cancel it but it also does pretty good damage to enemies and you seem to take less damage from sliding into enemies than being attacked by them)
Mostly small sprites (does let you react more easily to danger)
Limited whip control (only forward until you get the poison whip card combo which for some reason hits diagonally upwards only)
Double tap to run (r for specials could've been done differently - double tap + attack or r to tackle, jump + face a wall to wall jump, up + jump to super jump)
Long knockback after taking a hit
Very fast falling speed
Heavy boxes aren't marked on the map
-
Trial & error (card combos, where cards drop, boss patterns, enemies shooting from off screen, can't look down (many blind jumps))
Pretty unbalanced card system (some useless stuff, some overpowered, you'll miss a lot of stuff when it's relevant on your first time through, the card system isn't explained properly in-game (just briefly mentioned), )
Some slowdown
Cards are generally so rare that you'll forget about them (and many features are pretty useless, drops seem affected by luck - you can find luck increasing gear but it doesn't seem to help that much)
No shop
Mostly useless sub weapons (except for the cross and in some situations the axe)
Very vertical jumps when you're not running (see Contra)
No difficulty options
A lot of dead space
Still a lot of backtracking (there could've been a teleporter near the beginning and in the top left) and there are som unnecessary points of no return here and there
Mostly generic looking sprites compared to some earlier game
Some tedious vertical platforming (it generally helps to have the axe)
No sub weapon inventory (it works like in Rondo of Blood instead - it was 2001 people!)
Somewhat uneven difficulty (3 pretty easy bosses (the golem in particular), bosses4-5 are super tough without the right card combos or getting most hp/mp upgrades before them, 6-8 medium)
Boring dialogue and predictable story
Somewhat slow walking speed (nullified by a dash move ~5 min into the game - kinda redundant to not have it from the get go)
Anticlimactic dracula fight in some ways (you can walk out on him when he powers up, a bit drawn out?)
No save point next to the battle arena
Minotaur room in battle arena
Few music tracks
The heavy boxes are a pretty uninspired way of gating (directing the player's progress) - in general there could've been several more ways to sequence break earlier on
Block pushing and moving the sewer block staircases is slower than it needs to be
Healing with the jupiter/mandragora combo is too slow
Having to go into the menu to switch card combos gets a bit tedious
Can't press pause to get out of the pause menu when you're in a sub menu
Can't unequp magic items (to not cleanse the sewer waters for example)
Notes:
-Easy to use a glitch that lets you use any combo without having the cards for it