1.03.2010

Casltevania The Adventure ReBirth (Review)

Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth (Nintendo WiiWare)


Rated “T” For “Teen”


Another ReBirth title from Konami. With the popularity of their ReBirth titles, will the rebirth of this Game Boy Castlevania title receive the same adulation or does it succumb to a curse of a bad score?


=====Story=====

“Count Dracula, a demon king with a once great demonic power who seeks to hold the people of this land in the grip of terror!


Time after time, throughout history, Dracula was defeated by the Belmonts, a family of vampire hunters who brought peace to this land.


100 years have passed since Dracula's demise, and with the fear of him gone, he rose again along with his castle to scourge the land with his evil.


With such a tragic history repeating itself, Christopher, a descendant of the Belmonts, decided to stand up for humanity against the demon. He alone seeks to infiltrate the dark castle where demons run rampant.”


=====Gameplay=====

One button to jump and one button to attack with your whip. That’s all the old-school Belmonts needed back then. Secondary weapons are still around and handle just as easily.


The standard mode of play allows you to have control of your jumps (moving back and forth in midair). You can unlock a Classic mode that disables that free air movement like the ancestral Castlevanias.


There are multiple control schemes available, but the one interesting one is where you use your Wiimote motion controls and crack it like a real whip. Interesting, but very tiring and not recommended for a full game run. But if you want to feel like you’ve been using a real whip, try it.


=====Difficulty=====

This is old-school hard. If you’re not accustomed to this type of difficulty then you may have some troubles. Those of us who were raised on these games will find them familiar and still challenging as we were always better at these games back then.


The platforming isn’t too difficult until some later stages. The enemies aren’t too randomly spawned, but do come in larger swarms on harder difficulties. Bosses do take a little strategy, but it’s nothing you have to write down to remember.


Alternate paths can alleviate any aggravation from monsters and sequences you may have to trudge through due to multiple deaths. They are a nice welcome and are usually worth finding. But then you’re back on the same deadly path to Dracula.


No saving of any kind may add to the difficulty. It’s not a long game. It can take an hour to beat, but those that aren’t seasoned to play a straight session through may find it tough to quit and have to start all the way over again.


=====Content=====

Again, alternative paths are great to find, but it’s not too much of a need since you’re brought back to the normal path anyways. It does add some extra replay value if you wish to find them all. Other than that, the main reason to play again is to try the harder difficulty levels and see how far you can get.


From what I’ve heard, this is a big overhaul of the original Game Boy game. Pretty much, it’s not a direct remaking. That’s good for those that have played it back then since it’s practically a new Castlevania. And for those who haven’t played the original Adventure (like me), it’s still a new Belmont quest.


=====Final Thoughts=====

This is another good ReBirth title by Konami. It’s a great throwback to times of old when Castlevania only gave you a whip to kill Dracula with. There’s not much to do except go forward, kill monsters, go forward, die, go forward, and kill Dracula. Don’t expect an expansive hunt and search quest that the series has grown to be. Just get your whip and get ready to kill or be killed.


It’s classic gaming, it’s classic Belmont whip action, and it’s classic Dracula.


Rated 3 out of 5




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