Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Nintendo Game Boy Advance, 2001)

After playing the other 2 games for the GBA trilogy, I felt that playing the first would be fitting to try since Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance were really fun portable experiences.
It is a decently long game, taking me about 10 hours to reach the final boss. The map uses much darker texture and colors and to me has more of a castle look and feel to it. Enemies in the game look more intimidating and realistic to me than some of the bright cartoony ones in HOD. So the level design in general seems to have more of a classic Castlevania gameplay look to it. the scenery is more expectant of what a castle should look like in a castlevaina game.
For most people, finding out where to go next and getting to save points should be fair. The castle size is similar to AOS, but with fewer warp points. As I said, this is a challenging game, patience is everything. Enemies can be quick or hit you for a lot of points. So being cautious in avoiding hits and status attacks is important. knowing where save stations are is critical as they will heal you completely. Many rooms, unlike HOD, will be crawling w/ enemies. Learn your dss card system, it really helps. That is if you can find the cards and then figure out the most usefull card combinations for you as you progress in different parts of the game.
Expect bosses to be hard as well. Don't be surprised if you die a few times. Some seem much harder than others, but using dss cards can mean life or death usually. Unlike HOD and AOS, there is no shop so all items must be recovered off defeated foes. Although good item drops are few and far between so it can be very frustrating and near impossible to collect a fair amount of strong recovery potions. There are plenty of hidden areas in the walls throughout the game so make sure to look for them, as they provide you with very helpfull HP and MP increases.
I liked exploring the castle even more in this game. each area of the castle has it own unique look and collection of obstacles in it for the player to overcome. I would highly recommend that before you start the game to go online and figure out how to find the dss cards and what each combination will do. I don't find this cheating really, as it just helps the player to know what to look for because some card combinations will be much more usefull to you than others. Overall rating 90%

PROS
- good castle design and look including bosses and enemies. (although animation is a little choppy with some)
- DSS card system is overall well done. it was alot of fun to use and just play around with. Also some DSS abilities are extremely usefull in boss fights
- Sound effects are just as good as the other GBA titles. Music isn't as repetitive as HOD
- IF your looking for a challenging Castlevania, give this a go. Other game modes come available after beating it so if it wasn't hard enough the first time... another challenge awaits
- I just couldn't put the Gameboy down at times, plenty of things you can do

CONS
- Some bosses/enemies are a little too ridiculous and just require too much jumping/running to avoid their overwhelming hits
- Item drops could have been a better and more of them
- double tap the d pad to run annoyed me too much
- Subweapons a little useless, except for cross
- "The Arena" is hard, would of been funner to be able to use MP
- Poison/Curses are unnecessarily long
- Need good lighting to see w/ 1st geneation GBA models

This game is great especially because you can make around 100 weapon combination just for the primary attack. It is an extremely fun game that is challenging and complicated at the same time. Navigating around the castle is mysterious and there are many hidden places and rooms that may need powerups after beating bosses to access. Great game but the graphics could be better on it because it looks like it could run on Gameboy Color. A+

world best game review of year

one of the awesome game of the year fun to play if your inrested in this game i got say well u just can't get enough of this & take my word for it this game is awesome to play if your gamer & u don't what to play this is it i recommend on this game it so worth playing 10 out 10 perfect
plus beleave gamers i got the worlds greatest to the worst & take from me i just love even the world dumdest game could be awesome on my book to graphic well don't see the problem with but all i can is a job well done sound hmmmm i hear just it perfecly the music i think i love videogame music i just can't get enough of it & the gameplay well as u see its like i all ready knew how to play when i got it at the store ready if u don't beleave what i say then take look at the game 4 yourself if u don't like it then don't play it

Graphic 10/10
Gameplay 10/10
Sound 10/10
Music 10/10

In other just an awesome game of the year

Classic gaming for the GBA. The first of 3 true GBA series. Very refined, traditional gaming. The music & sound is excellent & really sets the tone for exploring the castle. Lots of exploring & action. The card system gives lots of customization of how you want to plan your attack.

This is the first Castlevania game released for the Gameboy Advance. It offers hours of gameplay as you scour the castle of the famous Dracula searching for power ups and key items to free your captured master and defeat the king of darkness.
The game truly offers hours of play with great animation. THE BIGGEST COMPLAINT is how dark some of the pixels show up on screen of the original Gameboy Advance, if your playing and an SP or DS or even the Gamecube Gameboy Player, there is no problem and you will enjoy the animation better
The music is some of the best in games, it creates great atmosphere, has a fun story, memoriable boss fights and is the only game to offer a new way of fighting, the DDS magic system allows you to combine effect to create your own magic attack and allows your own custom way of beating the game over and over again
A MUST for any Castlevania fan. A MUST for fans of 2-D side scroller, Metroid fasion DONE RIGHT!!!