Castlevania Symphony of the Night (PS1)

After taking far too long to get the PAL version of this I finally bought it for a price that hurt and yes, it is a good game, I really enjoyed it and it is my favourite of the series. But I'm here to bitch, not make friends, and what better way to kick things off by saying that this game is way too easy. I defeated most of the bosses first time round, and even certain bosses like Death, who are usually always a pain in the other games, were wiped out without problem. The only boss I considered difficult was Galamoth, he took several attempts to kill. But then it turned out I could have skipped him and still beaten the game with the second best ending. Dracula was a total let-down, with just one form and he's just chilling out in a chair surrounded by three Alien rip-off heads whilst waving two big hands about, I defeated him just by hiding in the bottom left corner and sword slashing away.

Next up comes the voice acting. I know I'm a good 11 years late with this but the English dub is hilariously bad, and I had no idea "Die monster!" cames from this game until I played it. Alucard and Death's voices sound alright, but everyone else are lulz-worthy.

No, I'm not done yet. The final complaint I have is about the inverted castle. I really enjoyed the first half of the game, trying to get to certain places on the map and then getting to explore them is really rewwarding. But at the halfway point it turns out there is another castle which is the same as the one you were just in but...it happens to be upside down. And the thing is pretty much fully opened up already so exploring it isn't as much fun as going around the normal castle.

Now I have my stupid gripes out the way, everything else about this game is awesome. The graphics are brilliant, it has one of the best musical scores that I've ever heard in a game and the scale of it all wipes the floor with any other Castlevania game I've played of this style. Whilst the stupid borders in the PAL version are irritating the speed hasn't suffered that badly, it still moves at a decent pace. Oh and one final thing: Dracula's line where he says "HAVE AT YOU!" was incredible and I wish more video games would have people saying that. I'm certainly using it more often.

Shinobi (PS2)

I've had this for a while but never really got anywhere in it, but I decided to start playing it again whenever I was stuck in Castlevania. I suck at this game and have had to start it again on easy mode where I don't suck quite as much. It isn't something like Shinobi III in 3D though, it plays completely differently and instead of primarily uses shurikens you use a sword. The catch is, this sword gets cursed on the second level and drains the life our of your ninja dude Hotsuma unless you keep on killing things rapidly. It's an OK game but it hasn't ever really grabbed my attention aside from having a zombie helicopter boss.

Art of Figting Anthology (PS2)

And finally this month we have a retro collection featuring all three arcade games from SNK's Art of Fighting series. The series most people hate but I think they are OK and a decent alternative to Street Fighter or KOF. The first Art of Fighting game is terrible, the second one is underrated and whilst the controls are a bit strange I quite enjoy it and the third one (pictured) is easily the best in the series and would have been a lot better if they'd bothered to think up some better characters! Ryo, Robert and Kasumi are fine but the rest are a bunch of forgetables. A shame really as whilst AoF 3 is still slightly "clunky" and not as fluent as other 2D fighters it is still worth a look.