The PlayStation and Saturn classic may be an unexpected choice for the Xbox Live Arcade platform, but it's not unwelcome. The already classic Metroid-vania adventure really should be played by everyone, so we're thankful that Digital Eclipse is bringing it to Live.

I spent some time with the port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night today and came away very pleased. The game plays nearly identical to the original, with almost nothing to distinguish it negatively from the 32-bit original.

The game controls very well with either the analog stick or digital cross pad, with the only control change being that the castle map is now displayed with the left trigger. Graphically, the game looks like it did in 1997. Players can choose either original (pixelated) or enhanced (filtered) graphics modes, with the option to stretch the screen vertically and horizontally to fill a 16:9 display. I'd recommend against that, as the game looks far worse stretched out.

Musically, the rich soundtrack seemed intact. However, some voiceovers from a conversation with Maria sounded a bit choppy and the ambient noise of Central Hall was fairly loud, so don't take this as confirmation that the redbook audio is perfect.

There are ten achievements for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, all of which veterans or noobs should have little trouble completing. Some are as simple as defeating certain bosses, some as time consuming as completing 200.6% of the map, but nothing too extreme awaits future downloaders.

The game is due to be available on Live "soon." I highly recommend anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of securing a copy do so when it hit. This is still a great game. Michael McWhertor

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