“I’ve been waiting for you … “

I’ve been waiting for tomorrow to come since CastleVania: Lords of Shadow was officially announced. Honestly, though, I’ve been waiting for this day to come since roughly 2000. For nearly 11 years have I been waiting for this type of CastleVania game to be released on a major console. All the other major console games were considered failures but it looks like Mercury Steam has almost everything right.

I’m an old-school CastleVania fan. I was hooked when the first one came out on the Nintendo – too young to completely understand, but liked what I played. I immediately fell in love with CastleVania 2 and damn-near married CastleVania 3. I was the kid who was amazed when I found out I could whip in all eight directions in Super CastleVania 4. And I played that game so much, that I can boast clearing the game in an hour, no lives lost and not even get hit until I entered the first stage of CastleVania.

And to this day, I can’t understand why the women didn’t flock to me.

Unfortunately, that would be the last CastleVania game that I would really enjoy on that level – a Belmont traversing through Transylvania for a decent amount of levels, then having another decent amount of levels in a Castle. And you have your trusty Vampire Killer and another subweapon – and that was it. CastleVania: Dracula X was pretty good – but it didn’t have the gothic charm that the old games had. And from that point forward, we were given characters that separated from the Belmont legacy. Yes, Alucard was a badass – and he was a beautifully designed sprite – but, he wasn’t a Belmont, and he didn’t use a whip.

From that point on, as the series had gone down the path of Japanese lore – with every game [outside of three] being worded with some musical theme – Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance –  the game became labeled as a Metroidvania game … a game where the exploration followed Super Metroid.

Now, this wasn’t a bad thing by any means – Symphony of the Night, Portrait of Ruin and Aria of Sorrow are all great games – but, the formula became predictable and hence, every game felt like it was a rehash of the same thing. The games before the Western Civilization split did offer unique differences. CastleVania 1 was a strict side-scroller. CastleVania 2 was an RPG. CastleVania 3 offered multiple paths and multiple characters. CastleVania 4 offered whipping in multiple directions and stair jumping. [Okay, that wasn't a monumental change, but it did kill a lot of time!]

One could argue that the newer games did the same thing – they offered something different but still were the same. And I get that – but it just wasn’t the same for me, who grew up loving the original four games in the series. The gothic feeling of the series was gone and the fact that they later would eliminate Dracula’s presence from the games bothered me. I don’t care what they say – EVERY game needs to have a fight with Dracula or somehow involve him. Having a cult try to resurrect him doesn’t work – there has to be interaction with the man himself.

It also didn’t help that every attempt at a 3D CastleVania was scoffed at and essentially torn apart before it even came out. Personally, I loved CastleVania 64, Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. I’m not sure why it was so poorly reviewed. Curse of Darkness tried a weapons forging style and Lament of Innocence cemented the origins of the series [despite Iga's decision to kill some games from the official storyline]. And I think the problem was that people who saw Ayami Kojima’s artwork immediately associated the game with the portable games … and were frustrated when it wasn’t a 3D version of Symphony of the Night.

I grew so tired of the Metroidvania style that I never even picked up Order of Ecclesia. Sure, I didn’t have a DS … but I bought a PSP to play Dracula X: Chronicles … so I clearly have no problem buying a system for a CastleVania game.

Then, last year came and I saw news of a CastleVania game being shown at E3 …

… and as soon as I heard Patrick Stewart say, “These are dark times.” I was sold. But, as expected – there was a tear between the fans. You had the die-hard fans cursing Konami for breaking the traditional style and going 3D and you had other die-hard fans glad that changes were going to be made.

And if you haven’t been able to tell already – I’m glad they’re making this change.

It’s nice to see this game go back to what I consider its true roots. David Cox, from MercurySteam who has been the go-to guy when talking about his game [and he and I exchanged a few words via Twitter, too], has said that not only was this originally meant to be a remake of the original CastleVania but that Super CastleVania 4 was by far his favorite CastleVania game. I really liked hearing that, because I knew that this potential reboot was going to try to return the series to that style of gameplay.

No longer will the game start in CastleVania and you are just exploring the castle – this game actually has you explore outside of the castle – towns, woods, mountain ranges, frozen lakes, etc. And the architecture and style of the Castle is absolutely amazing as well. And from what I’ve seen, everything looks downright beautiful – and this game has received a lot of credit for the quality of graphics.

And as I stated earlier, I’ve asked Dave Cox [via @CastlevaniaLOS] various questions – with some replies. Despite MercurySteam developing a brand new “universe” of the series, they are keeping some of the core elements. The music that helped make the CastleVania series will apparently be there, we have a Belmont with a whip as the lead character … and remember when you defeated a boss in the old games, and a red orb appeared to the sound of a heartbeat? Apparently, there’s even a variation of that as well.

Unfortunately, Gamestop and IGN reviews tell me a different story. They say there is NO familiar music in the game whatsoever. No Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, etc. However, listening to various songs that are out on YouTube, I can say that I do pickup some hints of older songs – the main theme has three familiar notes that is heard at the beginning of Vampire Killer. At the same time, the music that I’ve heard so far was great – so I think that even if this game doesn’t have blatant remixes of old music, the music will still be memorable. To help prove my point, here is the apparent main theme for the game:

Music is a key element in the franchise and I think CastleVania has the best record of memorable music out of almost any series. The music I’ve heard from the trailers are great. It’s orchestrated and feels very impactful – something that is necessary for a game like this. Silent music in the background is a waste. Music that is powerful leaves a more memorable mark to the gamers … but an acknowledgement of older games via old tunes would also be nice – even if it’s quietly in the credits.

And while I’m happy they’re including a whip – I really wish it would have been the Vampire Killer. That is a staple of the series and every game that doesn’t have it bothers me. I’m sorry, but that specific whip needs to be in every CastleVania game. Not a variation … it needs to be THE Vampire Killer. I’m not 100% sold on the Combat Cross, but I suppose that’s because I grew up with the traditional leather whip … what magically turned into a morning star … and sometimes a flame whip.

Overall, after the first E3 trailer, things went quiet, until E3 2010 – when another trailer was released …

… and while it didn’t build the hype like the last one did, to me – it made me realize that MercurySteam hit the atmosphere of the game right on the head. THIS is what the old CastleVania games would have looked like if they had the technology. It’s not a overly-colorful game with vibrant colors – it’s an overall gloomy game. It’s a dark game. It’s a gothic game. Sure, there are colorful waterfalls, but most of the game has a old, grey, worn feeling to it, which I think fits the series well.

I mean, I love what Koji Igarashi has done for the series since Rondo of Blood [even though he seems a bit cocky to me]. Ayami Kojima’s artwork is some of the best in the series and Michiru Yamane has composed great soundtracks towards the CastleVania series, but since Symphony of the Night – I’ve missed the outside exploration, and the old gothic feel of the game. I missed travelling through dark forests, haunted graveyards, swampy ruins and haunted towers. And outside of a game or two, that’s something we haven’t been able to do in quite some time. [And I don't count Portrait of Ruin]

As for combat, does it bother me that this may be a “God of War clone?” Not at all – God of War’s mechanics have been used by other developers so much that it’s pretty much standard. And I remember people saying that the God of War mechanics would fit perfectly with a CastleVania game. Well, we got what we asked for.

Plus, Kratos’s blades remind me a lot of a variation of the whip. So I often wonder if they got the idea for that weapon from CastleVania – since it’s still one of the only series to use a whip as a weapon. Not many other games have a character who brandishes a whip.

Now, I’m not completely sold on the overall storyline. Instead of hunting down an evil – like we do in all the other games – we are essentially looking for a mask. On top of that, Gabriel Belmont is actually looking to revive his dead wife. What this does is eliminate the formula that Belmonts were destined to fight Dracula. This is now a more personal quest rather than a “I have to defeat Dracula.” In the older games, that idea was basically tied into the Belmont family. Each Belmont knew that when Dracula rose every 100 years, it was their duty to fight him.

In this universe, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

And our only hint of Dracula is a man enveloped in shadows. It’s very possible that is ISN’T Dracula and that with this new universe, Dracula may not be involved whatsoever. This would be a shame. Regardless of how old the whole “Gotta’ kill Dracula” theme may be – it’s been the base of most CastleVania games, so it’d be weird to take that away.

On the other side of the coin, though, MercurySteam was able to nab some good actors to portray the characters and help tell the story. I’m really looking forward to Patrick Stewarts’ and Jason Isaacs’ voices being in this game. I love Patrick Stewarts voice, and I love Jason Isaacs as an actor in general. It’ll be great if he plays an antagonist in the game – because I believe Isaacs is at his best when he plays the villain.

*Potential Spoiler Alert – Highlight to Read*
And if his IMDB profile is correct – then not only will he play an antagonist, but he is providing the voice of Dracula.

For those of you who don’t know, he was Hook in the latest adaptation of Peter Pan, he was the antagonist in the Patriot and is Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.

Another concern is that some of the enemies in the game seem a bit far fetched … the titan battles, for one … seem like a direct steal from God of War and Shadows of the Colossus. CastleVania is a game that revolves around the dead and mythical lore. The only titan I recall facing in the previous games was the Stone Golem from CastleVania 4. Is this a deal-breaker for me? No. But I am left wondering if they’re really proper for this world that MercurySteam created. It’s kinda’ like giving War a gun in Darksiders. It DOESN’T fit, considering all of his other weapons are blades [outside of the metal fist].

But hopefully these will be answered in-game.

And if there is any wonder if this game was influenced by the old CastleVania games, all you need to do is hear the first few minutes of this trailer …

… where the song for the first two minutes is the intro to Super CastleVania 4 as well as the short level you play before entering the Castle.

And how do the reviews so far fare? Well, for a game that has so much hype – IGN gave it a 7.5. Now, I don’t take those reviews too seriously. They often hype games that don’t deserve the hype – Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario – while giving mediocre ratings to great games like Darksiders, Just Cause 2, etc. This is why I’ll always trust smaller, personal blogs for reviews rather than major gaming sites that may receive … well … other reasons for giving a game a high rating.

What numerous websites say, though, is that CastleVania appears to have lost its identity. I have yet to judge but I hope this isn’t true … because without the identity from previous games … this is just a game with the CastleVania stamp on it. Now, at the same time, I wonder if they compare this game to the Koji Igarashi games and not the ones before that? In that case, they may be a bit misleading. Thankfully, I’ll be able to judge for myself in roughly 12 hours. As a CastleVania nerd, though, I’m worried I’ll be playing a good game but thinking, “This ISN’T CastleVania.”

On the other hand – I may be completely sold on the rebirth of the series. I mean, I wasn’t too enthused with the direction CastleVania: Rondo of Blood took the series, but it paved the way for Symphony of the Night, which almost every CastleVania game for the next ten years followed. [Even the 3D ones]

The reviews also state that there isn’t much room for exploration and that it’s quite linear. This is perfectly fine. Many games are too explorative. Games that require a lot of exploration wear out the fun of the game when you’re having to look over and over for one item. I find nothing wrong with a Point A to Point B system with enemies and puzzles thrown in. It’s a nice split from the traditional style of games.

All in all – I’m excited for this game. Other games are coming out that I’m looking forward to … but I’m genuinely excited about playing this game. I am worried that some of the staples of the series will be yanked, but I also respect what MercurySteam is trying to do – they’re trying to take the game in a new direction and open up the series to new fans who haven’t played a lot of the previous games.

And let’s face it, when a game has a long, established storyline, it’s not only hard for some people to follow along … but it’s also hard for companies to come up with a story that can fit into that storyline.

I guess my final concern is that if this game does do well … all the credit will go to Hideo Kojima’s studios since his name is plastered on it. (And let’s face it, a lot of early comments were that this game will be an instant success since Kojima’s name is on the project)

Nope.

MercurySteam deserves almost all of the credit. If this game becomes acknowledged as the first great 3D CastleVania game, I hope the credit goes to MercuryStream – because they deserve it. They appear to be a lesser-known studio, and with what they’ve done, I hope this puts them on the map.

I really do applaud what MercurySteam has done. They’ve rebooted the franchise, [hopefully have] kept core elements of the game so that it’s not completely different, and appears to have captured the atmosphere that the CastleVania games of old had. It’s just now in 3D and with HD graphics.

They’ve possibly done what Konami has failed to do since 1997, bring CastleVania successfully into the 3D world. I think the other games were shot down before they were given a fair chance … well, this game has been put directly in the spotlight, so it has a good chance to succeed.

We’ll find out in a few months if they did it or not.