Aria of Sorrow was the final entry of the Game Boy Advance trilogy, and it's arguably the best. Visually it has a lot in common with Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Game Boy Advance, 2002), but its story is pretty "out there". Apparently it takes place in 2035 (!), and Dracula's Castle somehow exists inside of a lunar eclipse. Try not to think about it too much or your head might explode.

Instead of recycling the same monsters, this game provides fresh, "remixed" versions. The staggering zombies are now flailing their arms and dripping with blood. Some defeated enemies go up in flames, while others go down in a fountain of blood. There's a lot of scenic outdoor areas, and I love the sight of distant bats fluttering in front of that pink moon.

Your weapon of choice is a sword, which means you'll need to be extra precise. My favorite throwing weapon is the spear. Not only does it deal substantial damage, but as long as it remains stuck in the floor enemies will incur additional damage by touching it. It's the gift that keeps on giving! You can also absorb abilities from monsters you slay. For example, you'll gain the ability to float on ghostly wings using the right trigger.

Besides the usual suspects, you encounter killer dolls, transforming witches, and waltzing ghosts that call to mind Disney's Haunted Mansion. The death animations are amazing. Just before slaying the spider-woman, her hair goes absolutely nuts. When you take down a Minosaur, his fallen ax gets lodged in the floor. Bosses include the grotesque "Creaking skull" (a giant skeleton torso) and the "Headhunter" who swaps heads to assume different identities.

Aria's levels are constructed like a real castle, from the vertigo-inducing bell towers to the depths of the lower dungeons. Its bizarre storyline may be a weak link, and the contemporary dialog tends to understate the urgency of the apocalyptic circumstances.

Aria of Sorrow has a different feel from the previous Castlevanias but I like it a lot. The game provides less resistance and more raw carnage, making it easy to get into the flow. In terms of pure playability, I'd rank it above most other 2D Castlevanias, including Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation, 1996). © Copyright 2024 The Video Game Critic.

As the first Castlevania game for the Game Boy Advance, Circle of the Moon landed with a thud! The visuals may suggest classic Castlevania but the stages are terrible. There are too many huge open areas with diagonal stairways running up each wall. These central corridors branch out to repetitive zones with lots of dead ends. These sprawling levels may have you longing for the linear gameplay of the NES games.

Marginal controls make it hard to attack at the top of your jump. That's a problem because everything seems just a tad bit out of reach. The first stage is infested with "ceiling-crawler worms" which are impossible to avoid and poisonous to boot!

Many platforms are extremely narrow, which wouldn't be so objectionable if they weren't required for running jumps. And oh how I despise how pesky enemies like bats will regenerate before you even leave the room. They don't do much damage but the way they knock you back can be infuriating.

Circle of the Moon's save points are poorly-placed. After defeating the surprisingly difficult first boss, I frantically searched for a save point, but with none in the vicinity I succumbed to an exceptionally painful death.

The scenery is dominated by bland gray stone walls but occasionally you'll bask in the glow of a big, full moon. When peering through the windows you might even catch a glimpse of an upcoming boss, like a wolf that shoots freakin' lasers from its mouth.

On a positive note, the organ music has a haunting quality, and the fact that you can collect cards that trigger effects adds depth. But Circle of the Moon feels very uneven, with too many "what now?" moments. If it's any consolation, its shortcomings were fully addressed in the two subsequent Game Boy Advance Castlevania titles. © Copyright 2024 The Video Game Critic.

After the disappointing slog of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Konami, 2001), Harmony of Dissonance feels like a breath of fresh air. The tone is lighter, the graphics more colorful, and the music upbeat. Much like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation, 1997), you're a vampire hunter exploring a mansion that sprawls in every direction.

You're armed with a trusty whip of considerable range, and you can even twiddle around with it like Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 1991). Memorable animations include lizardmen lunging with their swords, barely missing you with the tip of their blades. I like how skeletons raise their dukes to taunt you. And it's oh-so satisfying when you strike down hulking guards, watching them go up in flames while collapsing.

Each stage is a work of art, adorned with ornate architecture and massive sculptures. Subtle background details include corpses hanging in the distance or the shadow of a floating eyeball lingering behind a curtain. Rotation effects are used to good measure, such as when a pile of junk reconfigures itself into a towering knight as if it were a Transformer. There's one area where you defeat a huge knight, sending him tumbling down several flights of stairs to break open a blocked passage.

The music however is surprisingly weak. Not only do these tunes lack the gothic splendor of previous work, but a few are downright abrasive! The soundtrack would have benefitted from more harmony and less dissonance.

At first you may get lost in the endless corridors and stairways, but once you obtain the map it's smooth sailing. The deep gameplay incorporates all sorts of weapons, spellbooks, and artifacts. As you amass powers the possibilities increase exponentially. Fast, forgiving, and fun, Harmony of Dissonance has an exuberant quality that gave the series a much-needed shot in the arm. © Copyright 2024 The Video Game Critic.

As the second Bandicoot game for the Gameboy Advance, Entranced succeeds on some fronts but fails on others. On the positive side, Entranced is a lot quicker to get up and running compared to the first game where you needed to wade through endless intro screens. The action itself is the same fun side-scrolling mayhem you'd expect, but this edition features fresh new stages including a remodeled jungle that's less lush and more open. There are also Prince of Persia-inspired stages and Super Monkey Ball-inspired "Atlasphere" sequences.

While the new scenery is nice, the game has some problems. The position of your large Bandicoot sometimes makes it hard to avoid jumping right into lava or other dangers. The skinny natives you encounter tend to be hard to discern on the small screen, and sometimes I even ran right smack into them. The vine-climbing controls are poorly devised and nearly impossible to navigate. Had the developers possessed any knowledge whatsoever of old school gaming, they would have adopted the same mechanics that Donkey Kong Junior perfected over 20 years ago! Sheesh!

And then there are the "Atlasphere" stages - the one bright spot in Wrath of Cortex (PS2, Xbox). Unfortunately, these ball-rolling stages do not translate well to the Gameboy, thanks to lousy collision detection and bizarre physics. The 3D Jaws-inspired water skiing stages feature remarkable water effects, but don't play as well as they look. Entranced has its problems, but if nothing else, it offers some fresh and exciting new environments for this Bandicoot to roam. Let's face it, there's a Bandicoot in all of us, and he must be unleashed. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

"Oh how I love me some Bandicoot action!" Those profound words ring as true today as they did 10 years ago. And who would have expected that the Gameboy Advance could duplicate the same Crash Bandicoot action seen in the old Playstation games? These stages look like they were practically lifted straight from those classic titles! The original three Crash Bandicoot games were a combination of 3D "into the screen" action and 2D side scrolling stages.

Huge Adventure consists of mainly side-scrolling stages, although some well-executed 3D "chase" sequences are included as well. This is the kind of old-school Bandicoot action I thrive on, and the nostalgia factor is through the roof! Getting started however, can be a chore. You'll have to sit through about five annoying logo screens, and each is animated. That [expletive] has got to stop right now!

After that, you have to page through the ridiculous intro detailing how the evil Cortex has shrunk the world to the size of the grapefruit. Stop him? I think it's a little late for that! You'll be tapping buttons like there's no tomorrow just to get the game started, only to accidentally select "New Game" (instead of Load) on the main screen. When will the hurting stop?!

Should you persevere through all of that nonsense, you'll discover that Huge Adventure is quite good. The scenery consists of dense jungles, mysterious ruins, and even shipwrecks - what more could you want? With a few exceptions, the controls are finely tuned, and the new double jump is superior to the clumsy slide-jump used in old Crash games. The bongo-driven musical score sounds fantastic.

Naturally, I do have a few reservations. For one thing, the stages are so familiar that the word "rehash" crossed my mind a few times (not that young kids will notice). Also, the snow and swimming stages, which held great novelty value in the original games, tend to bog down the action. Control in the snow stages sucks, and the swimming stages are just plain slow. Still, brimming with nostalgia and irresistibly fun, Crash Bandicoot's Huge Adventure is one worth undertaking. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

There was always something appealing about the shallow arcade fun of the Cruis'n series, and that something is conspicuously missing from Cruis'n Velocity. Instead of blazing through colorful stages you're racing boxy little cars around dull, angular tracks. You only get two cars and two tracks from the outset, and the eye candy is basically non-existent.

A girl shouts "Las Vegas is exciting!" before the first race, but you'd never know from the bland graphics. Who in his right mind would render Las Vegas as a bunch of gray and brown buildings? The other tracks aren't much better. Mars (as in "the planet") is a bunch of tunnels and red canyons, and the Ireland track is best described as "pixel soup". You can't even tell where you're going in that one.

The racing action is certainly challenging - I'll give it that much. Other cars will block you from passing and when you hit one you'll hear crunching metal before practically grinding to a halt. The lack of a power-slide is glaring considering how many hairpin turns there are. You've got a limited number of turbo boosts, but double-tapping the accelerator to use them is problematic. It's too easy to accidentally blow through them, and you'll want to keep at least one handy for that final lap. The more I played Velocity the more I realized this wasn't a Cruis'n game at all. Velocity is just a tech demo bent on proving the Game Boy Advance can handle 3D graphics. I'm not impressed. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.