Overview

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Review

Release Date: 10.22.2003
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Publisher: Konami of America, Inc.

Reviewed by Christian Kontul on 11.3.2003

Review Rating: 8/10

User Rating: 7.72/10

Fans of Castlevania have been clamoring for a next-generation sequel since Symphony of the Night arrived on shelves in late, 1997. Six long years and three Game Boy Advance games later, their prayers have been answered... sort of. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence returns players to a spooky castle in the middle of the creepy countryside. Where's Castlevania? Where's Transylvania? Where's Sonia Belmont?! Actually, Sonia's been replaced by new Belmont patriarch Leon, but the other questions aren't answered so easily. Lament of Innocence completely rewrites series history and moves the action into three dimensions. The prospect sounds scarier than battling Dracula with a taco.

Series producer Koji Igarashi (Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow), or IGA, asks that we forget about the 3D Nintendo 64 installments, which he had nothing to do with, thank you very much! They are abominations, says he, and should not negatively influence anyone's opinion of the first Castlevania for the PlayStation 2. IGA knows what makes Castlevania good, and he won't disappoint. As a longtime series fan myself, it's difficult remaining neutral when the man sounds so passionate about his work. He is, after all, responsible for some of the best games around.

Still, I implore you to tether your enthusiasm. Lament of Innocence is not a three-dimensional Symphony of the Night, nor does it do for 3D Castlevania what SotN did for 2D. To be blunt, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, though a great action/adventure game, is simply a "really good" Castlevania game. Unless your expectations are unrealistically high, in which case you're setting yourself up for a massive disappointment, you'll find yourself lost in LoI's haunting atmosphere for the 10 hours it lasts.

Unlike the four previous 'Vanias (Chronicles excluded), Lament of Innocence puts a larger emphasis on action. Exploration and character development are present to a slight degree, but LoI makes sure that players become deadly with a whip first and foremost. Two buttons handle weak and strong attacks, and pushing them in varying patterns allows for combos. After Leon meets certain requirements, additional combat skills can be learned, like new moves and ways to block. Guarding against enemy attacks is especially important for several reasons: it keeps the hero from dying - shocking, I know; parrying effectively garners Leon Magic Points, which are not available by any other means, barring the occasional item; and avoiding damage provides the ideal opportunity for a counter-attack. Since Lament introduces new concepts one at a time, instead of dropping the collective load on the player, fighting is largely fun. Learning skills and mastering them constantly provides something new to work towards.

The series' standard secondary weapons return in prominent form as well, in a manner similar to the Game Boy Advance's Harmony of Dissonance. Orbs this time, not spell books, can be combined with the weapons to form unique attacks. Magical relics bestow special talents upon Leon, but they require MP. Although each provides more variety, the orbs and relics generally go unused. There's no real advantage to experimenting with them, because most fights are won with nothing besides deft and intelligent defensive work. What's even stranger, it's likely that a majority of people will finish the game with only one or two relics in their inventory! Much like its Metroid-inspired predecessors, Lament of Innocence has quite a few secret passages. However, finding them all amid the maze of redundant halls and rooms is often confusing and dull.

Hardly consistent, the castle in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a hub-based structure. The main entry area leads to five unique sections. After they're completed, the final area opens up. Every stage is a self-contained unit, so while they make sense within their own contexts, there's no rhyme or reason to the fortress' entire layout. Of course, special items found in some areas make hidden parts in others accessible.

Environments are strikingly different from one another. An underground palace of raging waterfalls and gently flowing streams stands in beautiful contrast to the sadistic laboratory stage, where gruesome tapestries depict horrific scenes. The wonderful music, a fusion of orchestral sounds, Rock, and electronic beats, will encapsulate certain moments in your mind forever. Michiru Yamane's brilliant score is understated this time around, yet it seems appropriate considering the new direction this series is taking. Sound effects create tangible tension that will make your skin crawl. A quick surface assessment shows very little to worry about.

But problems, like the undead, lurk among the shadows. Visually distinct though they are, the castle's sections are exact at the basest level of design. The hall-room-hall-room pattern isn't the exception - it's the rule. Areas contain a set of about five or six chambers and two or three corridors, and these are thrown together as a hodgepodge dungeon. The fixed camera, in line with those found in Devil May Cry or Rygar, doesn't always provide the most convenient perspective on the scene. As a result, missing doorways and concealed balconies is a simple matter. If it weren't for the convenient map, navigating the ways would be masochistic.

The developers may have cut corners constructing the castle, but they didn't skimp when it came to furnishing it. Repetitive or not, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a good-looking game. Textures look vivid and clean. The few room types available feature great depth and solid architecture. Symphony of the Night artist Ayami Kojima is back with another wonderful cast of characters, and watching them glide gracefully across Lament’s Gothic canvas is a sight for sore eyes. Character models are fantastic, specifically Leon’s, which animates perfectly no matter the situation. LoI’s control lets the player implement direction changes on the fly, but the brazen Belmont never falters a half step. Everything flows together perfectly. Recycled backgrounds and palette-swapped enemies can’t ruin this game.

IGA and crew accomplished what they set out to do: they made a good 3D Castlevania. If my word isn’t enough to convince you, take history into account. Nintendo presented Retro with the task of creating a new Metroid game. The company went about developing a first-person adventure. People were skeptical, but it all worked out in the end. Certainly, stories like these don’t always end well, since more than a few updates have gone awry in the past. Given the level of talent at work in this instance, hoping for the best isn’t unreasonable.

There’s only one possible stake in the heart for CV diehards. Lament of Innocence drains Sonia from the Belmont bloodline and, as a result, it reveals a very different origin for the family. Purists might not be able to ignore IGA’s blasphemy, but this new beginning is infinitely more interesting than Sonia’s. Lament sets the stage for some very exciting possibilities.

This holds for the entire game, actually. Of all the things it does well, Lament of Innocence is best at making players imagine the full potential of Castlevania in 3D. If Konami addresses all of Lament's issues, the next CV game should be unbelievable. Proof, in my opinion, that polygons can be friendly. Actually, no. LoI is proof of that. It does what many believed impossible: it takes the fast, atmospheric action from one of gaming's legendary series and updates it for the current generation. Lament of Innocence is a new beginning. Revive the battle against the undead, all over again.

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