MadCap's Game Reviews - "Castlevania Bloodlines"

Finally! A game that isn't a Game Boy port!

It's even a decent game!
Castlevania Bloodlines continues on the epic saga of the family Belmont only it doesn't because the game doesn't actually have a Belmont protagonist. No, instead, you play as either John Morris (the son of Quincy Morris from the original Dracula novel) or his best friend Eric Lecarde and battle against the insidious Elizabeth Bartley (because those Elizabeth Bathory licensing rights were just awful back in 1993) and stop her from resurrecting Dracula.

John fights with his whip while Eric uses a spear. Apart from that, they're really not all that different.

So the game's plot takes place in 1917, right after World War I. Apparently, Elizabeth Bartley orchestrated the entire war just to get more souls to resurrect Dracula. No, I'm not kidding, this is actually the plot. Vampires were responsible for World War I in the Castlevania universe...at least in the main timeline.

Instead of being stuck to in and around Dracula's scenic castle, John and Eric go all across Europe to stop the vampire and her minions. Apart from that, it's a standard Castlevania game. Beyond the variations on the traditional fighting style of the whip and Eric's with the spear, you have your alt weaponry...only it's been reduced to three items: axe, boomerang, and holy water. They also use gemstones rather than hearts as ammo, but that's a minor complaint. The lack of variety in the weapons is a little bit short sided and there are plenty of times where, say, the pocket watch that stops time would be welcomed as a game mechanic. It doesn't quite suffer the Super Castlevania IV problem of the alt weapons being pretty much useless, as they're still quite handy to have around.

Whipping in every direction isn't an option anymore, sadly. Neither is moonwalking as in the previously mentioned game, but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme. It plays much closer to the original Castlevania in this way, though with updated graphics and sound. The score by Michiru Yamane is great (you might remember her as the composer for Symphony of the Night) with both action-packed and haunting tones as appropriate. Also, like a Castlevania game, it's balls out insanely hard. I'm happy to say, playing on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection as I am, that this has been translated into the modern era well.

Yeah, take your Dark Souls and shove them up your-

That's really all there is to say. It's fun to play, it keeps you invested, and it's the very definition of Nintendo Hard...which is kind of funny when you realize this was released on the Sega Genesis and was the only game to be released on the Genesis and one of the only games to be originally released on a Sega Console - the other being Symphony of the Night on the Sega Saturn - and the first non-PC or non-Nintendo version barring the Sega releases until Lords of Shadow in 2013. Basic point, to sum up, it's fun. Play it!

Castlevania: Bloodlines was developed by Konami originally for the Sega Genesis. It is now available on other platforms, including PS4 and Xbox One via the Castlevania Anniversary Collection.

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