Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

There’s a rather large variety of Castlevania games readily available, even if they all fit within a few genres. Variety in most cases is a good thing, but not in a series where many of the games are of varying quality. That also depends on whether they don’t age well – like many NES, PSOne, and N64 titles – or just total crap, the latter of which fits for almost any Castlevania game in 3D. You can rest assured that Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is one of the best in the franchise.

Aria released in a time where the Game Boy Advance began to hit its stride, when the average gamer started to realize that this portable gaming thing was worth more attention than just qualifying a mere diversion when away from a console. Aria was one of the first in a legion of great GBA games to release after the GBA SP in 2003, releasing between games like Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising. Aria, like the two aforementioned titles, still stands up almost perfectly today, and kept the 16-bit spirit alive.

Why is Aria so good, though? For starters, you can thank the unique (for a Castlevania game) environment the game takes place in. Aria takes place in our future, and it’s a semi-believable future at that. A young man named Soma Cruz mysteriously happens upon a castle he once regarded as only a legend. He finds his friend, Mina Hakuba, passed out on the floor and immediately meets a mysterious, though familiar, man in a black suit. He tells him that he has arrived in Dracula’s Castle, a labyrinthine monolith of a palace. Soma (that’s you!) has to venture forth through the castle in order to save Mina.

Good level design is a prerequisite for a game that begs for non-linear exploration. Aria is an entry into the “Metroidvania” style of Castlevania games. It deviates from the standard of going from beginning to end and repeating the process ad nauseam, and features a wide open castle for you to explore that’s similar in the way Metroid is. Sure, you could be cynical and call the thing a lame rip-off of the process, but the level designs of this style of Castlevania are so good that you’d have to be an awfully mean-spirited, soulless entity to even make an attempt at that. You know, unless you’re referring to when they don’t work.

However, Aria’s does, in fact, work very well. The castle is a behemoth with multiple paths to take, many of which can’t be explored initially because of a specific ability or item that has to be obtained later in the game. Is there a pristine-looking stylish piece of armor laying on a platform well above the position you’re standing in? Well that’s too bad, and you’re definitely going to need some addition to your arsenal in order to achieve a higher jumping technique. Aria is loaded with structures like that. It never serves as an impediment, though, but as an addition to the sense of exploration the game offers.

Aria requires a lot of backtracking, but it never feels like a chore, unlike some other games. That’s because it’s done with finesse, care, and thought. The designers were apparently aware of how much backtracking can be too much, and used a proverbial barometer to measure the balance between the factors of boring and absolute tedium, placing the bar in the middle to give the game a perfect sense of freedom. It’s one of the numerous elements that make the game playable more than once.

The other element is unique to Aria: The Tactical Soul system. Every enemy in the game drops a soul that gives Soma a unique power if equipped. Three different souls can be equipped at one time. One is used for attacks, a second one used for either stronger attacks or a defensive addition, and one used solely for defensive supplements. They’re helpful in keeping the game fresh, and anyone playing can go through it differently, given the multiple combinations of souls giving varying attributes.

Multiple weapons are also available throughout the game. Some found in various locations – the stronger ones being very well hidden, dropped randomly by enemies, or purchased at the store. The stronger ones come from the enemies, and the drop rate depends on their weaknesses – using a light-branded weapon against a dark-laden enemy is obviously beneficiary, for example — and your current Luck level. Both of these can be obtained through the three previously mentioned means, though the elemental-laden weapons don’t begin to become increasingly prevalent until around 1/3 through the game.

The weapons themselves are also distinct in their type. There’s the standard well-balanced sword, knives that are quick to use but not very damaging, rapiers that do about the same amount of damage as swords depending on what kind. There are also larger weapons, including gigantic swords that perform a heap of damage, but at the cost of a slow motion. Of course, if you prefer a huge challenge to the game, you can feel free to go without a weapon at all.

Aria’s difficulty fits squarely into the well-balanced criteria. Breezing through every regular enemy isn’t possible in this incarnation, unlike Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance. The bosses predictably prove an even bigger challenge; they start off easy enough, but the encounters with them ramp up ten-fold around the halfway mark. The difference between a boss being easy or hard can be decided by whatever souls Soma is currently equipped with. Make sure to experiment, because it can make the difference between a fight being tough-as-nails to almost effortless. What makes the encounters so enthralling is that they’re only as tough as you make them, and the challenge is never too overbearing.

Due praise should be given to the art, provided by self-taught artist Ayami Kojima. Her unique style is fitting for the game, helping to bring about the gothic style of the title. It also works as an assistance in the promotional materials, lending credence to the game’s unique aesthetics. The portraits in the game also help in giving it a harrowing feel when the need arises.

Those “unique aesthetics” come into play with the game’s vibrant hand-drawn graphics. Aria looks even better than the best the 16-bit titles had to offer, with a color-palette using a range of colors that’s never ill-fitting but giving the environments their necessary touch. Some of the environments also uphold the series’ standard of containing little easter eggs to discover by tinkering with them a little. The character sprites are also excellent for the system itâ€