Yes, that's a girl in your Castlevania, taking on the burden of saving the world from total annihilation and scores of Dracula-faithful minions. Order of Ecclesia switches up standard "Metroidvania" gameplay with a new weapon system, using collectible glyphs to generate magic-powered axes, lances, swords, rapiers, shields, spells and more. It's loaded with Castlevania cliche as well as innovative new tactics.

Is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia just what the Castlevania fan ordered?

Loved
A Kick In The Metroidvania Formula Pants: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia drops a massive castle in favor of a world map. That makes the game feel more linearly progressive than the "Metroidvania" formula that the Castlevania team has been employing for the series' most recent portable entries. It means less backtracking than you'd expect, but not a total elimination of it. That might not sit as well with fans of the established design, but it's a welcome change and gives players an opportunity to explore more varied environments than they're likely used to.

Stunning Presentation: Ecclesia delivers in the visual department, offering an impressive graphical leap from Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow. Beautiful environment art and splendid character design make the smattering of re-re-recycled enemies less offensive.

Villager Quests: Wygol's villagers aren't just another batch of collectibles heaped upon the mountainous pile of things — glyphs, armor, usable items, monsters, etc. — stuffed into Order of Ecclesia, they add real substance to the experience. You'll receive quests that net you worthwhile rewards, unlocking new items in the village's general store while fleshing out the game's storyline. It may be the Castlevania II: Simon's Quest nostalgia kicking in, but the villager quests were a brilliant addition that help to separate Ecclesia from its forebears.

Great... Voice Acting? In addition to a lovely opening cinematic, Konami has managed to pack some excellent voice work into the experience. It's not fully voiced, but smartly peppered throughout. The soundtrack may have a few curious duds, but it alludes to classic themes expertly.

The Glyph Sleeve: Essentially a set of weapons load outs, the Glyph Sleeve lets you switch between three sets of glyph configurations without having to resort to the menu system. It's handy when you need to figure out what type of weapon attribute an enemy is vulnerable to or you need to get around with the Magnes glyph.

Hated
Obscene Difficulty: While the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance entries prior to Ecclesia may have bordered on too forgiving, this entry borders on punishing. No, I don't want the game to have a big red "Win" button to press, but this Castlevania ratchets up the difficulty, particularly in the numerous boss fights, into sadistic territory. Long-time fans may be surprised at just how hard Order of Ecclesia is and new fans may be turned off from the experience.

Still Vague After All These Years: It's pretty clear that the Castlevania team aimed Order of Ecclesia squarely at its hardcore fans and only its hardcore fans, as the game doesn't bother explaining crucial item attributes outside of sometimes cryptic icons. It also doesn't quite stress how important saving all those villagers is to completing the game — you know, really completing the game, a design tactic that's starting to wear thin.

Outside of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia's fiendish difficulty, there's little to dislike about the latest "Metroidvania" slog. The gameplay is tried and true, mixing it up just enough to reduce Dracula-slaying fatigue and the Castlevania team finds a way to keep the combat system interesting with the new glyph weapons and unions. There's less of an emphasis on retreading ground and actually getting your hands on new armor, jewelry and health items takes more than just harvesting gold, making this entry feel less gimmick driven than other Nintendo DS games in the series.

If, for some bizarre reason, you were still on the fence about Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, get off that fence. This is a solid release, one that any long-time Castlevania fan will feel happy with — provided they stock up on patience.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia was developed and published by Konami, released in North America on Oct. 21 for the Nintendo DS. Retails for $29.99. Played story mode to completion.

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Konami brought what seemed to be their entire holiday lineup to New York City yesterday. There was a ton of stuff to try out, including a few new titles, but the first thing I wanted to check out, besides the open bar, was Order of Ecclesia for DS. To say I was looking forward to this game would be an understatement. In fact, it's the only DS game I plan on picking up the first day it comes out.

Along with the female lead, the most immediate change you'll notice when you start is the absence of any and all anime character art styles. I was never 'for' or 'against' them in the first place, but I know there was a contingent of fans out there that pleaded they be changed to a more mature look. See, bitching and complaining does work!

The new Glyph attack system is very similar to the soul system in Dawn of Sorrow. But rather than just collecting new, sometimes useable abilities and enhancements from enemies, the Glyphs make up your entire weapon arsenal. There are three slots to assign a Glyph. Your primary and secondary attack (Y and X buttons), and a special ability (right shoulder button). What's even more interesting is you can assign the same glyph more than once. For example, the first Glyph I acquired was the Confodere, a short sword, which I equipped to both the attack buttons. I'm allowed to then alternate attacks very quickly which makes killing much faster. However, each attack used lowers your total magic bar just a bit, which eventually refills itself after a second or two of keeping your weapons holstered. This prevents you from spamming the hell out of your attacks and making the game a breeze to play through (see: Crissaegrim).

If I assign, say, a throwing dagger to one attack along with my short sword on the other, I can do combo-like attacks and intermix all sorts of weapon types. The game is said to have over 100 weapon combinations, so it seems like there will be a lot of customization options. The only R button ability I got during my playthrough created a bubble-like field around our heroine. This allows her to gravitate to these specially placed pegs and, by pressing down and releasing, makes her zoom through the air to previously unreachable areas. As for stylus controls, I didn't have to use any throughout my time with it. The other two Castlevania DS games used very little as well, so I expect this game to do the same.

Also, it looks like you'll no loner be exploring one large map anymore. After I completed the initial trial stage, I was brought to *shock* an overworld map. What? Yes, as you complete stages, more and more areas open up for you to travel to, including a village where you can wander around inside the local's houses. There are 20 area's total to explore, but it's unclear right now how big they all are. The early parts I played through were pretty small, though.

I really wanted to just stay there and play this all day, but unfortunately other people wanted a turn. I thankfully won't have to wait too long to get my hands on a retail copy as the game comes out next month!

Long live 2-D!

『悪魔城ドラキュラ 奪われた刻印』にサントラ＆ブックカバー付きの特別版が登場 [Dengeki Online]

The story takes place years after the Belmont family has completely disappeared, but Dracula is still going strong. Many organizations have cropped up to try and defeat the vampire but the only ones who seem up to the task are the mysterious Order of Ecclesia. The art style for the characters has changed from the traditional anime style to a much more pleasing (to me anyway) illustrative style that really shows of the beauty of the female protagonist in particular.

The combat has changed as well, this time relying on a "glyph" system. Essentially, magical glyphs can be absorbed that provide Shenoa with magical weapon abilities. These abilities can be assigned and used from three different areas: left hand, right hand or back. These glyphs can be used at will, but beware because they will sap your magic points! Equipping the same glyph to both hands will provide you with a quicker attack, but will drain your magic faster.

Also new to this title is the addition of a world map that will allow you to travel outside the confines of the castle to explore locations such as mountains and a sinking ship. Two person co-op play will also be made available via local DS wireless.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is set to release in the fall of this year and Mr. Igarashi slyly promised to try and make sure it launches on time with no delays. I hope he can pull it off because no matter how many Castlevania titles I play, I am always ready and excited for the next iteration.