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Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia takes place during that time after the original reign of the Belmont clan, but before the Morris clan were given the Vampire Killer whip. During this time, the legendary whip has apparently been lost or sealed away or something, and mankind has been forced to find other means to combat Dracula. Enter Ecclesia (Wikipedia tells me it’s a latin word for ‘the chosen ones’ or something like that), a secret organisation made up of the world’s most powerful and talented sorcerers. Ecclesia have been given Dracula’s soul (magically sealed inside a container of course) and asked to find a way to destroy it. It appears that they are successful, having created a magical Glyph capable of destroying Dracula. Unfortunately, that Glyph has been stolen, and it is up to our hero, Shanoa, to retrieve it.

One area where Castlevania (CV) always excels is with graphics, and Order of Ecclesia is no exception. In fact, I would say that it is, without question, the best looking CV game on the DS so far, and anyone who’s played the previous two (Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin) will know that that’s no mean feat. While the characters look fairly similar to previous games, albiet with minor tweaks and much improved animations (especially for Shanoa), it is the environments where the game wins out. Never before has the world of CV looked so gothic, scary, or just plain good. Also, not only have the artists ditched the anime style of the past few games for a more realistic look, they’ve gotten rid of those 3D characters that looked so out of place in Portrait of Ruin (Peeping Eye anyone?). Now, all of the characters are done in 2D, with 3D being confined to backgrounds, and the game looks far better for it.

The sound effects are of the typical high standard, but one thing that sets this game apart from the other handheld CV games is the large amount of voice-acting. The conversations are still text based, but the prologue is fully narrated and the characters have lots of voice samples, which are mostly good but sometimes not. CV is also known for having really good music, and unfortunately I feel this game does not carry on that tradition. Sure, the music is solid, but it’s not as good as in previous games and I didn’t find any truly memorable or catchy songs.

The gameplay in this game is lots of fun, mainly due to the great new weapons system. Weapons come in the form of magical Glyphs (which means that every weapon requires magic to use, but that doesn’t come into play as much as you might think), and just like the soul system in Aria of Sorrow/Dawn of Sorrow, you can equip three at a time. In this case, it’s two to Shanoa’s left and right hands respectively, along with a third Glyph that can be equipped to the R button. More powerful attacks can be used by pressing Up on the D-Pad along with one of the hand buttons, and the type of attack will vary depending on which two Glyphs you’ve got equipped to the hands. The two-handed combat system is fantastic, and the Glyph system streamlines the weapons menu and makes more sense than Portrait of Ruin’s system (where there were about four main sub-groups of weapons to collect). The game also allows you to equip three sets of Glyphs and switch between them on the fly, which allows you to create different sets to suit different strategies. And believe me, this is a good thing.

Using the correct weapon against the correct enemy is more important than ever, because this game is much more challenging than other recent CV games. This is mainly due to the fact that money is harder to come by, and it’s no longer possible to drop into the store and rack up 9 potions before every stage. What this all means is that keeping your precious HP is more important than ever, and if you come up against an enemy covered in armour or stone and try to defeat them with a bladed weapon as opposed to a hammer weapon, you’re not going to last very long. Fortunately, thanks to the Glyph system, you can pretty much tailor the game to suit your own fighting style, which helps greatly.

As far as levels go, Order of Ecclesia has made a rather large change to the old ‘Metroidvania’ formula. Now, instead of one large stage to explore, there are around 20 smaller ones that are chosen on a map screen. Unfortunately, these stages do not intertwine with each other as much as they probably should, and the potentially cool concept of finding an item in one stage which is then used to unlock something in another stage etc. is not utilised very well. There aren’t any alternate paths through the world or anything like that- you basically play the stages in the order that they are given- and essentially, this system means that the game lacks the exploration that is the core gameplay element of all other Metroidvania games. What is does allow for though is a stage called the Village, a hub world of sorts which contains various villagers who act as shopkeepers or give you side-quests to unlock new items. This is a good addition and adds a bit of replay value.

There is one thing that most CV games contain, one thing which has divided many fans- the dreaded alternate ending. That is, if you play through the game normally you get one ending, but if you meet certain conditions you get the proper ending. Fortunately, this game makes it really obvious as to what these conditions are, and if you finish the game normally (and for once, the normal ending is actually good and wraps up the story, instead of being totally lame and unsatisfying) it will essentially show you where you have to go and what you have to do to progress further. This is a good thing in my opinion, because the proper story contains a massive twist that should be seen by everyone who plays the game!

As a CV fan, I initially found CV: Order of Ecclesia to be a very difficult game to rate. On the plus side, it does demonstrate that the makers of CV still have plenty of good ideas left, but on the minus side, are these changes for the better? Is this game an improvement over its predecessors or is it worse? After trying, and failing, to answer these questions, I decided to judge it on its own merits. Is it a fun, addictive, challenging game with great presentation and a compelling story? In this regard, Order of Ecclesia gets a resounding ‘yes’ on all counts. Debate will rage for years where it ranks among other CV games, but the indisputable fact is that it is a worthy addition to the franchise and a great game in its own right. If you’re a CV fan, this is an essential purchase. For anyone else that likes 2D platformers, it’s definitely worth checking out.

By Mr_M

Graphics: A+

One of the best looking games on the DS ever! Amazing artistic direction coupled with great animations.

Sound: A-

The soundscape is fantastic, but the music is disappointing.

Gameplay: A-

The Glyph system is excellent, and the game is more challenging than its predecessors. Most importantly, it’s fun!

Overall: A-

Konami, you’ve done it again! One of the best 2D platformers on the DS!