Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Release date(s) |  May 6, 2003 May 8, 2003 May 9, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Action adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen CERO: All ages PEGI: 7+ |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Media | 64-megabit cartridge |
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (commonly abbreviated AoS) is a video game that is a part of the Castlevania video game series. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, and it closely follows the new franchise gameplay and features established in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Its Japanese title is Castlevania ~Akatsuki no Minuet~ (キャッスルヴァニア ～暁月の円舞曲～ Kyassuruvania ~Akatsuki no Menuetto~?, Castlevania ~Minuet of Dawn~).
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The game takes place in the year 2035 and stars Soma Cruz, a high school exchange student in Japan. While visiting the Hakuba Shrine with his friend Mina Hakuba to see the solar eclipse, Soma is transported into Dracula's castle along with her. There he meets Genya Arikado, who defeats a group of attacking enemies and explains Soma's ability to absorb monsters' souls, or the power of dominance. He reveals that Dracula was defeated in 1999, and that Hakuba family sealed Dracula's castle into an eclipse to stop his cycle of reincarnation. Arikado instructs Soma to proceed to the throne room, from which he and Mina can leave the castle.
As Soma travels throughout the castle, he encounters the self-appointed missionary Graham Jones, witch Yoko Belnades, soldier Hammer, and the mysterious, amnesia-ridden "J". Graham and Yoko elaborate on how this is the time in which the reincarnation of Dracula will surface and gain all of the former Dark Lord's power, although Yoko reveals that Graham is the one seeking Dracula's powers. When Soma reveals to Graham that he has the power of dominance, Graham flees in a panic to the throne room, stabbing Yoko in the process. Soma confronts the crazed missionary, who is convinced that he is the reincarnation of Dracula, and he battles Soma, only to be slain at his hand. Soma then absorbs the entirety of Graham's power and comes to a stunning realization - he is Dracula's reincarnation. Arikado reveals that for Soma to escape from his destiny, he will have to confront the source of Dracula's power, Chaos, and defeat it. "J", now revealed as Julius Belmont, who defeated Dracula in 1999, attacks Soma, convinced that he is the new Dark Lord. Soma repels him, and convinces Julius that he is attempting to rid himself of his dark inheritance, and makes Julius promise to kill him should he fail.
The game possesses multiple endings depending on whether Soma successfully defeats Chaos, and frees himself from his destiny, or becomes the new Dark Lord. Due to the continuation of the story in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Soma defeating Chaos is considered canonical.
[edit] Gameplay
Aria follows the model established by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, that of an action-adventure. The player collects new equipment and skills by exploring the game's castle setting and fighting increasingly powerful enemies and bosses, leading up to a climactic encounter with the castle's master. The player primarily attacks at close quarters using a variety of weapons. Soma Cruz's control and fighting style is reminiscent of Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, as opposed to that of a whip-wielding Vampire Hunter most prominently featured in the series. However, Soma has a different system of secondary attacks.
As with previous titles in the series, Aria introduces a new magic system. Each of the 110 enemies in the game may provide a unique soul upon their defeat, depending on the player's luck. Once collected, souls may be equipped, granting new abilities. However, two of the enemies, Graham Jones and Julius Belmont, will not give a soul, thus decreasing the total amount of souls to 108.
The souls come in four main types:
- Guardian souls - These provide mainly defensive abilities such as summoning Familiars, temporary invulnerability, or shapeshifting. They are activated or toggled with the R button.
- Bullet souls - These provide subweapon-like functionality such as fireballs and other attacks. They are activated with the UP+B button combination.
- Enchanted souls - These give Soma new latent abilities such as walking on water or increased statistics.
- Ability souls - These provide always-on abilities such as a double-jump and slide move. These are generally obtained from bosses and used to mediate level design in the same manner as in the Metroid games; that is, as new abilities are acquired, more areas are available to the player to explore.
Souls can be traded with the use of two GBAs, two cartridges and a link cable.
Unlockable modes include playing as Julius Belmont and Boss Rush mode, where unique items and very powerful weapons are awarded for defeating the Boss creatures in sequence in a set amount of time.
After finishing the game, a new game can be started in Normal or Hard mode, with the option of keeping all items and souls (except souls that are necessary to keep the game's storyline in order).
[edit] Reviews and reaction
Aria of Sorrow was well received by Castlevania's fandom in general. While many felt the Metroid/Castlevania hybrid gameplay started by Symphony of the Night had begun to wear thin at this point, Aria offered more balanced and clean gameplay, along with a fresh plot, good visuals, and other generally agreed upon improvements. The soul collection system is seen as quite fun, and gives much room for improvising and customization when combining Soma's powers in different ways. Many felt, however, that the system wasn't delved into as deeply as it could have been. Many people disliked how it is always random when trying to get souls, and this can be very frustrating when trying to get souls to progress in the game. Also, a complaint from the previous game, Harmony of Dissonance, that the game used too little visual contrast in the backgrounds.
Perhaps Aria of Sorrow's biggest claim to fame is a major plot twist near the end which surprised many Castlevania fans. (See Soma Cruz.) While Aria of Sorrow continued to expand on the tried and true exploration format of many of the previous installments, many fans felt that this plot twist, as well as the new time period (2035, according to the game's opening sequence), offered the potential for innovation the series' plotline needed. A follow up of Aria, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, has been released in 2005 for the Nintendo DS, which continues the storyline started in Aria.
[edit] Re-release
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was re-released in North America in January of 2006, alongside Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, as part of Konami's Castlevania Double Pack, which has both games on one GBA Game Pak. This package was also released in Europe later that year. In Japan, Castlevania: Minuet of Dawn was re-released in Konami's "The Best" line, the cartridge is the same one as the original release.
[edit] Sequel
In 2005, Konami released a direct sequel: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, for the Nintendo DS.
