The Castlevania Adventure (Game Boy) review "Castlevania Adventure was a game that was released early on in the Gamboys life. It showed its earlier heritage, but it actually is better than I expected. It has many frequent problems, and yet I do love this game like I love the series. It has the same Castlevania feel, and I believe that it does rightly belong next to the great names like Dracula's Curse, and Symphony of the Night. To some, Castlevania Adventure was the worst game in the series, and to me, it is definitely close (I do hate Si..."

Castlevania Adventure was a game that was released early on in the Gamboys life. It showed its earlier heritage, but it actually is better than I expected. It has many frequent problems, and yet I do love this game like I love the series. It has the same Castlevania feel, and I believe that it does rightly belong next to the great names like Dracula's Curse, and Symphony of the Night. To some, Castlevania Adventure was the worst game in the series, and to me, it is definitely close (I do hate Simon's Quest though), but it is still a game worth the purchase of any true Castlevania fan.

THE STORY (2/5): There really is no story to Castlevania Adventure, you just run around and whip servants of Dracula, but you are Christopher Belmont, and your mission like every other castlevania game is to defeat Dracula, and that story in itself is worth two points.

THE GRAPHICS (5/15): The graphics are horrendous, and blurring occurs across the screen on many occasions. This, however occured in most early gameboy games, and that is the price you pay for attempting an adventure game for the gameboy. Christopher looks well, and is not blurred, but that is likely because the speed he moves at, for he moves at what many would call a snails pace. This gets really annoying throughout the game, and does hinder the rate at which you go, but with any more speed, the blurring would likely increase dramatically from where it is currently at. The backgrounds are not too shabby, for there is a nice amount of detail. The monsters do not really look to detailed, and yet they do all have their own special looks and feel.

THE SOUND (8/10): This game had great sound for the weak gameboy sound chip. The background music is good from the get go. When you hit the start game on the Castlevania Adventure gamescreen you hear a low toned music, which is appealing to listen to. The entire music track is spooky and haunted, which gives the right feel for one who is about to invade Dracula's castle. The sound effects are not as strong, but the whip does make a nice sound when it is used, as do the enemies make a ''swish'' noise when they defeated by that whip. All in all, it does give a nice feeling, both the sound effects, and the music.

GAMEPLAY (30/45): The gameplay is not that bad. There are only 4 levels however, which makes this game pretty short, but those levels are long and treacherous for entertainment. Each level has it's own distinct feel, and while the enemies are reoccuring throughout, the tactics needed are different, and the jumps are deadly and frequent in these levels. If you can completely fulfill a level, than you just move to the next one, no storyline no anything, but nor should there be. Just keep at the long levels, and you will one day succeed.

The enemies are also tough but are able to be defeated. Certain tactics will be needed, such as timing ducks and jumps when fighting the boomerang guy, or attacking the little white balls that are shot at you. The bosses each differ from one another, and are fun in themselves pushing yourself past each of them. The moles are memorable for they keep coming, and the others all are as interesting. The battle tactics will need to be intelligent if you expect at winning.

So while the game is fun, difficulty does hinder it somewhat. At points it will become repetitive doing the same jumps, and fighting the same enemies just at different locations. However just when you think it's starting to get long, you may find yourself to that next level with new backgrounds, and a whole new hope for defeating Dracula once and for all.

CONTROLS (5/10): Christopher is slow at movement, but the whip comes when the ''B'' button is pressed. There is not too much lag, which is very critical in Adventure, because the enemies are always around. However, some would prefer if the whip was a bit more responsive, and yet the timing is part of the game, because a whip does need to snap back before fighting, in true whip battles.

The jumping is very tough at points, but it is doable, and I have not died at the same jump more than twice. The key is, that Christopher must always be at the VERY edge of a point before he makes a jump. This is extrememely annoying and will take some practice before you can easily get it down. Also you can not change your jump in midair, and this definitely is a fault, because if you realize for a second that your jump was not from the very edge, then you will plummet to your doom with no chance of survival.

REPLAYABILITY (5/10): As with all Castlevania games, I have an obsession with playing them over and over. However for other people I can see that there is a pretty weak replay value, with only so much you can do throughout it. It will take many people years to fully get the tactics of Castlevania Adventure now, but if you are truly dedicated to your cause of completely conquering this difficult game, then there is alot of replay value for you, until you know the various levels and jumps like the back of your hand.

DIFFICULTY {2/5): This game is extremely hard, and there are millions of ways to end up dead. In my mind this is by far the hardest of the Castlvania series, due to the difficulty of killing certain enemies, and the frequent jumps that do not occur in many castlevania games. You will find yourself dieing by falling to your death alot more frequently then past Castlevania games. On the plus side, there are unlimited continues so you can keep trying to tackle the same deadly points over and over until you get it down.

Overall (57/100): Simply put, if you are a true fan of Castlevania you should pick up this game. If you are looking for an entertaining game, which will not drive you crazy, I would not advise it. This game is for only the truest and most dedicated gamer, one who believes that they can tackle even the most mentally annoying games possible. The jumps are frequent and treachorous and Christopher Belmont is slow in battle. I do not reccomend this game to that many, only to those that either love Castlevania, or love a true challenge. It is hard to find this game anywhere besides E-Bay, but it is a cheap game to buy, and is almost always around to purchase. Overall this is one game I do not regret buying, but many of you likely will.

Community review by ratking (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.