The Castlevania series has found its gloomy way onto just about every games machine over the last decade, usually providing a solid platform adventuring experience. When I heard Konami and Glu had a mobile version on the way, I thought this may finally be a conversion too far. Turns out, it wasn't.
Due out in mid-April, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is, of course, an adaptation of the 2003 GBA title, the first truly successful portable incarnation of Konami's long-running series. You play highschool student Soma Cruz who finds himself inexplicably warped from a near-future Tokyo to Dracula's castle, making this an unlikely proto-gothic cyberpunk time travel adventure. Soma must now escape the zombies, skeletons and giant eyeball monsters to reach the throne room, which leads to safety.
While this is basically an exploration-focused platformer, the mini-RPG elements from the GBA original have been faithfully transported to mobile. Soma must collect weapons, potions and armour enroute, while also sucking up the souls of vanquished enemies which give him a range of new abilities. These usually open up new areas of the (impressively large) game map: 'Skula' for example, lets you walk under water, helpfully providing access to that sub-aqua door you glanced a few rooms back.
All of this is tracked via a dense inventory screen that soon becomes cluttered with familiar spells, swords and armour types. Managing these items and selecting the best for your current situation (you can only utilise three skills at once) is as absorbing as ever - even if the combat itself is mostly random dagger pokes and lobbed projectile attacks.
While the character animation is basic, the grand gothic interiors are nicely detailed, faithfully recreating the look of the GBA title (although Gameloft has since pushed the graphical envelope a little further with its excellent Prince of Peria titles). There's also a lot of loading between level areas, which - as veteran platform gamers will quickly recall - can get frustrating.
But this is a great translation and compelling enough to have me playing well into the night a couple of times, when I really ought to have been sleeping.
(Image is from the GBA version: come on Glu, send me some screenshots!)
