Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (Sony PlayStation 2, 2005)

The game is the typical side scrolling fighting game where the goal is to defeat a boss and gain their special ability to help you in the following stages. As you fight the evil devils, you gain experience points which you will use to upgrade. The interesting twist is this time you are now a Forgemaster in which you are able to conjure up what they consider Innocent Devils to fight for you. Each Innocent Devil type has different characteristics which you you will find usefull in one way or another (healing vs fighting vs flying, etc).

As with previous Castlevania titles, the graphics are ok. The fight engine is arcadic with limited controls needed to accomplish anything.

The Good:
1) Beat them up... a lot
2) Puzzles
3) New twist on conjuring
4) Wow... cool bosses
5) Much better graphics than before
6) Definitely replayable game to see all the different Innocent Angle forms
7) Ability to switch weapon each with their own attributes
8) Combos and more combos

The Bad:
1) Graphics are still not that good in certain areas
2) Fight engine is still just a basic hack and slash
3) Feels very repetitive.

Overall, it's a keeper with lots of replayability.

this is a review of the game itself and no reflection on the seller. i know what i'm getting into when i risk buying pre-owned games. it was in fine condition.
The game itself is a lackluster clone of Lament of Innocence, which is far superior even though it isn't as full of options and variables like C.O.Darkness. It's built on the same engine. only they didn't do anything new with it. So 'built on' is untruthful...more like, 'used the same engine and did the bare minimum with it'.
I swear I think the background graphics actually worsened- definately more simple and far more repetitive. Most notably i think the world in this game is about 80% empty hallways that do nothing but connect rooms and hold 4 torches to break, which most of the time offer up nothing but $1. We are talking long, LONG corridors with nothing to do but watch Hector run down them. they are not save rooms or places to gather and organize your items- you can do that at any time. It feels like at some point they planned on programming monsters in them but then just wrapped up the dealine or something.
The bosses and battles are wide ranging, from impressive to lackluster. One boss will be difficult and the next too easy.
Eventually they suddenly progress to impossible in the final stages.
3 level fights where you are drained of all your items by the second round are not cool.

The good:
i ended up liking the innocent devil feature more than i thought- once i realized it was essential to playing and not just an option. Evolving the helper devils and their skills became the only thing driving me to keep playing the dull game. However I have only evolved my devils in one direction (each helper evolves differently depending on what weapon/battle setup you use throughout the game) since most of the time i used a sword, all of my helpers evolved to that battle program. Had i used a staff or axe, they would have evolved differently. Kind of wacky, and i want to- actually NEED to go back and grow some different devils to access certain areas or use their skills, I have no intentions to run through the sprawling empty boring worlds in order to do so. so i'm kind of stuck.
I can't imagine that any casual gamer could have more experience points, items, or helpers saved than i do now, having played straight through the game once. The levels are so long and boring that not only do you feel like they are designed to stay behind you, never to be entered again- but you simply DON'T want to go back for anything...
oh wait, i'm supposed to be talking about the 'good' things, well, if i must...

the wide variety of weapons, and the ability to combine them into new ones is entertaining, for a time. You feel the need to collect and see and try them all...again this is probably only to to some obsessive collection disorder that I have, and younger players raised on pokemon, etc also have (which is also why the innocent devil feature is entertaining).
However soon you realize that the differences between the damage they inflict is not that impressive.There will literally be a sword that inflicts one more point of damage than another....but there is an educational check and balance- the really powerful weapons are slow, the faster weapons are weaker, but in the end you can get in more damage because of it.
I found myself using the 'bastard sword' most of the time because of the balance of speed and power, leaving all my other weapons on the shelf.

overall, a sad castlevania

I don't know why people are giving this a bad review. I almost gave it 5 stars simply because it IS so good. They've brought back the feel of Symphony of the Night and put it into a 3D game. The visual details, sounds, and music are very well done and you can change your weapons. There are also "familiars" or what are now called "innocent devils" who are summoned monsters that help you out and level up; they also change their shape and develop stronger attacks based on what type of weapon you are using. To me, this increases the replay value quite a bit, because you can go back and see all the different types of creatures your innocent devils can evolve into. The levels are fairly long and the play area is much larger than last time. I felt the first 3D castlevania for the PS2 wasn't anything special, but this one has much better controls, better camera control, and it has extremely fast gameplay. The soundtrack is also very good.
The American voice acting in this game isn't that bad, however, the Japanese voice acting is done very well. The only complaint I had was the music at the end of the game--it doesn't really fit in with the theme of Castlevania and I found it sort of boring. Aside from some obvious weirdness with the story and the somewhat bizarre music in the credits, this game is very good and very well worth purchasing. There is also a character in the game who many long-time fans of the series will be familiar with. So, there is nostalgic value here as well.

Intense battles, planned survival, and heroic adventure combined into a single package, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness offers the player much to experience, as a fighting game combined with RGP elements. The first hour of play was a quick dive into the gameplay and story, not as with many slow RPGs. You travel the lands of Valachia in vivid scenery - mystic forests, haunted cathedrals, and lonely mountains battling monsters and demons. All of the artwork is beautifully rendered and faithful towards Gothic and Medieval architecture.

The most noteworthy locations in the game were Garibaldi Temple and Mortvia Aqueduct, although the entire game was certainly rewarding for each and every location visited. Overall the game was very challenging and very immersive, certainly providing hours of fun without being overly long such as the Final Fantasy series. The bosses are very well-modeled (e.g. ten thousand polygon fire-breathing dragon) and require a high degree of skill and strategy to overcome. The battle system is very intuitive and offers real opportunity for strategic planning. The only weakness to Curse of Darkness is the lack of widescreen support. The sound quality is superb on my audio receiver system - the game supports Pro Logic II. I would rate Castlevania: Curse of Darknesss at 91 / 100%, an excellent collector's masterpiece.

Overall this is a good game. Adequately dark intro, brooding, etc. The fact is that it is also a complete engine rip from Lament of Innocence, which I liked a lot. Mechanics are very similar, and the devil forgery skill is another attribute to keep track of rather than be enthusiastic about. The only weapons worth forging are (at least to my game style) knuckle, sword and axe. Since the sword is most balanced between damage and effect, it is easiest to use that exclusively. Evasion becomes easier earlier in the game, and the introduction of a support innocent devil first makes it easier to understand the role of them in the game, but nothing assists more than combining melee attacks on very strong adversaries. Knuckle weapon attacks are just is neat, and axe seems to be damage heavy and effect light. Spear is a COMPLETE poseur weapon. I actually wanted to see them balance at work in the weapons but it does not exist. The innocent devils are pretty interesting as a game development, though, but they do not make up for the rather lackluster combat sequences. Overall good, but the mechanics needs improvement. Good storyline, though.