Review #703: 64 Memories - Castlevania - Legacy of Darkness

 The madmen at Konami did it, they fixed Castlevania 64!

 Part I: The Flashback
 While Castlevania 64 was a rude awakening to an aged game I used to enjoy a lot when I was younger, Castlevania Legacy of Darkness, the updated rerelease remained a game I needed to play. And I'm happy to report that somehow Konami managed to fix a lot of the game's shortcomings.

 As far as memories go, I remember being vaguely interested in playing it, and I also remember seeing Cornell's beta art, back when Castlevania 64 was first announced, on a Club Nintendo Magazine, and I always wondered why that white-haired dude never made it in.

 Part II: The Review
Since the basic gameplay remains unchanged, I'll try to focus on what's different. Changes to the game are more than just a bunch of new characters, a lot of levels got completely redesigned. There's a new first level, a boat level, the previous first level got changed completely, all the Tower stages were remade from scratch and the Clock Tower starts off pretty similarly but differences start showing up as you go through it. All the new designs are much better than the originals, they are shorter and more streamlined, to the game's benefit. The few areas that haven't changed and Cornell visits, namely the Villa, the Garden and the Wall, when Cornell plays them, he does so in a completely different way from Reinhardt and Carrie. There are also new bosses, like Medusa and a Spider-queen. Cornell himself gets about two exclusive stages no other character visits.

 Cornell is the only character available at first, and he is pretty fun. He has a new storyline that takes place 8 years before the original game. His main attack is a projectile slash, while his secondary weapon are his claws. He's also the only character that has a use for the L button, turning into his Wolf form, which makes him stronger and sturdier, which lasts as long as you've got crystal points. That said, there's a pretty huge oversight: You can't turn off the Wolf form, so you should save it for bosses and pray that a cutscene will revert Cornell back into his human form before you run out of crystal energy. Cornell's quest skips the somewhat tedious Mandragora sidequest, but instead visits all the Tower stages and has two new Towers that are exclusive to him. A new character, Ortega, serves as his rival, and his pretty darn cool.

 Beating the game unlocks another new character, Henry. He fights with a gun and a sword, like Reinhardt, albeit he swings it with the other arm. Henry is very interesting in that he has 6 stages, half the amount the other characters, and a 7 in-game days time limit. His objective: To rescue 6 kids, one per area, before time runs out. Each kid represents an unlockable: Reinhardt, Carrie, Cornell's alternate costume(The one from his beta art!!!), Reinhardt's alternate costume(His original costume from Castlevania 64!), Carrie's alternate costume(the one from the original Castlevania 64) and the hard difficulty setting.

 Reinhardt and Carrie remain pretty much exactly as they were in the previous game, although Reinhardt's upgraded whips look different(A morningstar first and a light whip on the second upgrade) and they come with new default outfits. They have the same cutscenes and routes that they used to have, albeit they start on the new first level and feature the redesigned tower stages, which is a huge plus, and, at the same time, doesn't make the original game completely obsolete since now each cart offers a few COMPLETELY different levels, even if they share assets.

 There are a few new subtle changes that make the game much, much better. Playing the game with the Expansion pack one and picking Low resolution makes the framerate a bit smoother. There are still moments when the framerate will sink, but they are not as frequent as they used to be. The camera system has been completely revamped, and now you can turn it around, as well as pick from three different 'zoom' settings by using the directional pad. There's a new 'auto view' which can get pretty annoying, but you can just tap C-Up and go back into manual mode, letting you readjust the angle to your liking. It's still far from perfect, but death due to a garbage camera are much rarer. The redesigned levels, plus the new camera, plus the slightly better framerate made for a much more fun game. I had a ton of fan platforming around stages, having characters be so 'clingy' onto edges is more fun than it should.

 Targeting in the game, by holding R, doesn't work at all, so don't rely on it. Also, remember how the original game had these dumb gates that would only open depending on the time of the in-game day? They are back. As a matter of fact, one of Cornell's exclusive levels is built entirely around these gates. Enemies drop a ton of the sun-moon cards, so you won't have to run around in circles waiting for time to pass, but you'll still have to enter the menu every time you need to change the time of the day, and then wait as the clock gets fast-forwarded. It's easily the worst addition to the game. On the same note, Henry's quest is also victim to this, there's a coffin that teleports you to different levels depending on what time it is when you jump inside. This is explained nowhere, so I had to look online how and when I could access his three final stages.

 Well, I'm happy to report that Legacy of Darkness is really good. It's proof of how a few key fixes can change a game for the better. The two new characters are fun to use, both Henry and Cornell get decent projectiles and close-ranged attacks, so combat is never an issue. Platforming around Castlevania's levels is pretty darn fun, and the new camera makes it as comfortable as the engine allows. The redesigned levels are simpler, and more fun, and the game is much more generous with Save Crystals, so you'll never lose much progress if you die. I think the best thing I can say about this game is that it plays just like Castlevania 64 did in my nostalgia-tinted memories.
 7.0 out of 10