Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

The first Metroidvania

So I finally finished Symphony of the Night on my PS3. It was really fun playing through a classic Metroidvania game. Need to dig through my DS collection. Anyway, this game starts with a look back at the end of Rondo of Blood when Richter Belmont defeated Dracula. Afterwards it turns to Alucard, the son of Dracula rushing toward the castle as it has once again been summoned to this world. There he meets Death that takes his weapons and armour. Wandering the castle Alucard finds Richter being the new lord of the castle and Maria trying to save him.Behind the scenes lurks Shaft who mind controlled Richter to summon Dracula and it's up to Alucard to stop him.

The game is a mix of platforming, exploration and RPG mechanics. Grind for exp to get better stats, get items that help you in different situations and explore to find some lying around. It also allows you to play it differently to your liking. You don't have to use the armour that absorbs the damage from the optional hardest boss in the game, but to me it sure was welcome. One thing I didn't like was that the map was hard to see. I actually had to have a map on the computer right next to me to actually see where I was supposed to go since the TV-screen made it hard to see where rooms where connected and such. And my parents TV isn't that small. And it was even zoomed in. 

It was fun, and as noted the voice acting is so chessy, but everyone gotta quote it as some point. A pity that the second half of the game hardly have any cutscenes. Wonder what game I should play now.