Thirteen hours, give or take a few minutes. That's how long it took me to clean out this game on my first run through. That's not bad at all for an action oriented title. Keep in mind that I visited 99.6% of the castle (now where is that other 0.4% hiding...). Of course, if you glanced at our codes section, you know that that's not quite the end of the game. Completing it opens up a new mode which you can access by entering your name as "Fireball" at the beginning of a new game. It only works if you've beaten the game once though. The cool thing is, it lowers your stats so that you're dealing about half as much damage to enemies, while you take twice as much from them! Very hard, except that the game starts you with all twenty DSS cards and multiplies your intelligence rating by 4x!

Let's talk about these cards for a second. With two rows of 10 cards that can be combined in pairs to create magic, you have a total of 100 possible effects. Many are similar (i.e. Fire whip, Ice whip) but it's still quite a lot, and most of them are useful. With careful use of your cards, you can increase your damage or defense a great deal, disarm bosses, summon familiars, cast spells, absorb damage and much more. The DSS system as awesome and it really adds a lot to the game.

Another thing I've noticed after playing the game through, is that it can be very hard, especially if you are missing some cards. The challenge mostly comes in the way of bosses that do insane amounts of damage to you and take a billion hits. This is old school at it's best! I haven't been adequetly challenged by a game in ages! (Bad control schemes or frame rates don't count). Still, it would probably have been easier if I had stopped and raised levels at some points. That's the beauty of an action game with RPG elements. If the boss is too hard you can either: (a) master a strategy and beat him anyway, or (b) raise some levels to make him a little easier. I usually chose (a). I like a challenge.

After finishing the game, I have to say I'm very impressed. It never let up in it's quality and intensity, right up to the awesome final battle. The play control is spot on, and the game is challenging at times, yet not absurdly difficult. My only complaint is that it can be hard to see in lower lighting conditions. So, put in some shiny new light bulbs before you play because despite this or any other small flaw, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is a system-seller if there ever was one.

David Trammell, Staff Writer

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It's been said before, but you must buy this game!

Written: 06/12/2001

In my recent memory of 2d games, there is one game that stands head and shoulders above the rest. That game was called Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It was a PSX game that featured beautiful sprite graphics, insane scope, awesome surprises and one of the best musical scores I've ever heard (in or out of a game). In addition to this, it was a sequel of sorts to a hit Konami franchise (although you played the anti-hero, Alucard, rather than the usual whip-toting Belmont). In short, if you haven't played this game you should do something about it now!

So, you may be wondering if I'm ever going to get around to talking about Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Well, I already have. You see, Circle of the Moon is every bit as good as it's predecessor and it only differs in a few key ways.

So, let's start from the beginning. You have a whip now instead of a sword. That's the biggest difference in character design. Instead of finding new whips, you find a series of cards. There are two rows apparently. You have one row that provides some sort of elemental power like fire, ice or plants. Then there is the other row which I only have one card in. You choose one card from each row to "design" the magic for your whip attack. It's a clever system and it will have you rejoicing at the sight of each new card. Monsters also drop other items as well. You can find clothing and items to equip on your arms that increase your strenght and other attributes, and you can find healing items.

Moving around is very similar to the previous game as well. You jump much the same as Alucard did and as TYP mentioned previously, it's very easy to move around and fight (although I love old school Castlevania, especially part IV). You'll find power ups that allow you to run, smash walls and jump in the air once among others. Each one will allow you more access to parts of the castle that you couldn't reach. This makes the game a huge adventure. There are warp points and save spots scattered throughout the castle that make the game hassle free in terms of stopping, starting and back tracking. Super Metroid always comes up with this game because the map is similar, and so is the gameplay on some levels. Obviously, that is a good thing as the scope of the game perfect.

Naturally, there are a few changes forced by the cartridge medium. Among them are the lack of loading times, the lack of shoddy voice acting and less complex music. Don't get me wrong though, the music is very good given the medium and system, and the composition is excellent. My only gripe with the music is that whenever you pause the game to look at your map or items, the music is muted. I want to hear the music at all times! Ah, oh well. At least those CD loading rooms are gone.

In conclusion, I just have to say that I'm very happy with this game. It retains the action adventure gameplay with RPG elements that made the original so great, and it is the launch title to own, hands down. And I'm only 30% through the game. Unless you have something against 2d gaming (why'd you get a GBA then silly?) you need to get this game now!