When you're not listening to the great musical score (done by the same composer as Symphony of the Night's music), you're enjoying the sound of a skeleton's bones shattering under your whip. The music is spectacular, and the sound effects have a satisfying thump to them. The game has two branching paths - one for each character - and features a classic Castlevania storyline with a little Bram Stoker mixed in. The challenge, as always with this series, is not lacking. While it might seem like all these new skills would make the game easy, you'll need every last one if you're going to make it through this game. Returning from Dracula X is the item crash move, which is an extremely powerful move different for each sub weapon in the game, but is used at the cost of many crystals. The super jump can be used to reach high areas too tall for John to jump up to.Īs with any game in the series, there are sub weapons, such as the axe and the holy water, but instead of your supply being represented by hearts, in this game your sub weapon ammo is represented by crystals. Eric also has the super jump: an extra high pole vault that is activated by holding down on the Dpad and hitting the jump button. If you're looking for a change of pace, however, Eric uses a spear, which has longer reach, can be thrust in any direction, and which can be twirled above his head in order to deflect projectiles and fend off surrounding enemies. He'll appeal to the Castlevania fan looking for some good old monster whipping action. He can use the whip swing to clear across gaps that Eric can't. John uses a whip, in keeping with the time honored tradition of the series, and can weild it almost as well as a Belmont, but not quite (you can't whip in all eight directions). Instead, we get two new characters: John Morris and Eric Lecarde, two vampire hunters who, as it turns out, are ancestors to the Belmonts. The gameplay is kept classic: sidescrolling, whip snapping action with some light platforming and intense boss fights at the end of each level.īut, some fans may be disappointed to hear that there isn't a single Belmont in this game. One of the more overlooked titles in the series, Castlevania - Bloodlines is a great counterpart to Super Castlevania 4 for SEGA fans.

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