Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Preview

Developer	Konami
Publisher	Konami
Genre	Action
Release Date	11/19/03

Castlevania Comes Home Again...to a Console!

The Castlevania franchise has got to be one of the longest-running properties in videogame history. For 17 years now, the Belmont/Dracula battles have been running rampant on consoles and handhelds alike; from the NES and GameBoy, to PlayStation and GameBoy Advance. Most especially the GameBoy Advance, which has seen 3 fantastic Castlevania games in as many years; all in the same bloody vein as the PSone classic, Symphony of the Night -- which is heralded as one of the best Castlevania's of all time. It also marks the last great Castlevania game to grace a console; until now.

In the form of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, you will once again have the pleasure of controlling one of the mighty vampire hunters of the Belmont clan. Only this time around, the franchise is making several twisted changes to the tried-and-true Castlevania gameplay, and also plans to reveal exactly how the whole struggle between Dracula and the Belmonts came about in the first place. Lament of Innocence is the earliest set Castlevania in the entire legacy; a full 500 years before Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse.

A Deeper Journey Into Gothic Horror
Since Lament of Innocence will serve as the "original" prelude to Konami's long-standing franchise, the game will appropriately introduce a new character in a different age. Set in the 11th Century (when Dracula becomes a vampire), Lament follows the story of one Leon Belmont, a warrior trained in the sword to serve a local baron. All is well until Sara -- Leon's bride-to-be -- is kidnapped by a raging beast.

Leon immediately prepares to go after his love, but he must first be granted permission from the church. Unfortunately, the men of the cloth are far too busy launching the Crusades, and they have little time for anything else. Furious and irritated, Leon quits the militia, and sets off to find his beloved...alone.

In time, Leon will stumble across Rinaldo Gandolfi, a vampire hunter-turned-alchemist. It is Rinaldo who will pass on the legendary whip "Vampire Killer" to Leon. From there, the story goes into even further detail, and players will eventually know the story of Dracula and his never-ending war with the Belmont clan.

The New Blood
Koji Igarashi, the man who is responsible for the classic Symphony of the Night, and the GBA Castlevanias, will be once again heading this new project. But rather than simply updating, Igarashi is instead planning to completely re-invent the franchise in three dimensions. Sure, we know all about those N64 Castlevanias games that attempted the 3D experience, but Igarashi had nothing to do with them (they were developed by Konami's American branch). GWX has faith in Igarashi and his team.

Music to our Ears

The musical composer of Symphony of the Night, Michiru Yamane, is composing what is sure to be a fabulous, ambient soundtrack. In fact, Igarashi is so enthused about the music, that he is thinking of bundling the 40-plus track CD with the game, similar to what Konami is doing with Silent Hill 3.

Of course, faithfully recreating such an epic legacy won't be easy. Most of all, 3D games tend to have an awful camera system, where properly placing a constantly panning camera is a big issue. Because of this, Konami is going to great lengths to perfect it's camera system. The formula so far is basically a camera that is able to pan and shift, but only when there is no combat involved.

A Castlevania of a Different Color
The past few Castlevania games have all played largely the same. Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow all contain a huge castle layout that shares some similar designs to the Metroid games, and your character powers up with an expansive list of weapons, armor, and magical items. Your character is also able to level-up like in RPG's, gaining experience from the massive roster of beasties you encounter. Lament is no different in monster count, as the game will contain over 70 different creatures to combat.

What will change though are the RPG elements; those are getting scrapped altogether. For instance, rather than having a plethora of weapons at his disposal, Leon wields only the whip. Now, the whip itself can be upgraded in multiple levels, and can even have magic enchantments cast on it. But in terms of melee combat, the lack of a huge weapons list is made up in the form of easy-to-use combos. You have a light attack (fast) as well as a heavy (slow), and Leon also has the ability to sidestep and parry. You will even be swinging from place-to-place via the whip, and it can also help Leon up onto a ledge. Using these commands in conjunction with Leon's combos, and one might get the feeling that the game would resemble Devil May Cry. But in reality, the two games are very different, though Igarashi admits that he's studied DMC's 3D engine fairly closely.

Leon will also be doing a tiny bit of puzzle solving here and there. Nothing excessive; Igarashi has stated that he doesn't want too many elements interfering with the action. But from time to time, you'll still navigate the occasional trap, just as you will be finding secret areas and items.

Nice Orbs
Lament of Innocence's main power-up system will be familiar to anyone who has played Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA. There are 7 colored orbs of power to be found in the game: red, blue, yellow, green, purple, white, and black. By combining one of these orbs with one of five subweapons (dagger, cross, holy water, axe, and a new one: crystals. They behave like landmines.), it creates a new attack that is more powerful (and shows off more dazzling effects) than the subweapon by itself. There are 35 special attacks in all; more than enough to satisfy.

Stop and Ask Directions
As in previous Castlevania's, Lament is home to a gigantic castle with huge, sprawling areas for each main locale in the game. The castle's five main areas are the garden, opera house, laboratory, dungeon, and cathedral. Each locale contains layer upon layer of passages, creatures, items, and secrets. Expect lament to be as sprawling as any other Castlevania before it.

The Symphony of the Night
Igarashi has personally seen to it that all of the voices in Lament of Innocence are of top-notch quality. He oversaw the English dubbing in Hollywood, and we can rest easy knowing the voiceovers won't be nearly as bad as Symphony of the Night's. Igarashi also adds that he had nothing to do with the voices in past games; they were simply rush jobs because Konami decided on dubbing voices at the last minute. We hope that's all it was. Good thing though that the excellent musical scores that Castlevania is known for will be making a return to accompany the newly-done voices. Once again, it is Michiru Yamane, the musical composer of Symphony of the Night.

Castlevania Reborn
We admit that we have a few reservations as to how Lament of Innocence will turn out, but we have full confidence that Koji Igarashi and his talented team will create a masterpiece worthy of the Castlevania name. The graphics look sharp, all the sounds are there, and the 3D engine looks to play exceptionally well. All that needs to be done now is to simply bring it all together. PS2 owners can learn of Dracula's legacy November 19th.

Preview by Brendon Hivner