Customer Reviews

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's something charming about Circle of the Moon. Beneath the game's simple, but effective graphics (which are best appreciated on a GBA SP, Gameboy Player, or with a miner's lamp attached to your head), beats the heart of a game so lovingly retro, it's hard to hate.

Combat is basic- jumping, attacking, dodging, and using sub-weapons will be familiar to fans of the series, and will be picked up within five minutes by newcomers. Level design is also simple, with treks off to the bosses cleverly concealed by the Metroid-style ability gathering. A close look at the game reveals a series of corridoors ending in boss battles, short story segments, and new abilities; repetitive? Surprisingly, no.

The sheer skill in balancing the game ensures that it never becomes dull or monotonous; new areas open up just when the game threatens to become familiar, with pleasing puzzles offered up to test your new skills. The magic system offers a nice diversion from the main quest, and a reason to return after Dracula has been dealt with. Indeed, finding a new card and the various magic effects it gives is the main thing that drives you on.

A special mention has to go to the music, which is arguably the best on the GBA, and provides (some) compensation for the basic graphics.

Highly reccomended.

I played this game and completed it many many times on my GBA. I enjoy playing this game because it's something different than most of the similar games out today in the market. It's difficulty is the example for this. You have to master each level or room to upgrade your skills to survive the game to the end.

It look's pretty hard if you're new to Castlevania games but once you get used to it it and know how you can proceed to higher difficult levels and bosses it then becomes pretty enjoying.

To me it's a must have game for GBA owners who like these kind of games. I enjoyed it and still do. Now I'm waiting for Castlevania Down of Sorrow for my Nintendo DS.

I got my GBA, and lack of a game dragged me down to my local games rental place. I picked up this game and have had it for over a week now. Before this, i was a fan of Castlevania, but now i'm a die hard lover of the games. The Action/Attribute cards are greats, morphing your whip into flames, thorns,ice (to freeze enemies to use as jump platforms), extra length earth and to have fire/iceballs circling you and defending you. I'm only 36% into the game and, cos i'm soon coming into money i'll definitely be buying. The graphics are in between SNES and PSOne standard (closer to PSOne in my opinion) on all games and the added colurs and 32bit, and huge 2D power make this game so pleasing to the eye it's evil. Banish the Dark Lord Dracula and stay sit back and sip some blood! Better than Mario Advance and probably the best launch game along with Rayman this is well worth digging to the bottom of your wallet and handing over all your cash for!

The game is set in the heart of a castle on the outskirts of the austrian border.your job is to solve puzzles and and fight evil minions of dracula like over-grown were wolves and bears.the graphics are excellent and the levels are challenging and fun.the booses are very challenging and there are many items to collect-u can collect magic items and dss cards to make special weapon combinations to fight the bad guys.there are alot of things to do and i never lost interest.and i never got bored this is an extremely exciting and intriguing game with all the medieval monster and you can even battle cerburus the creature that guarded the gates to hell.there are many enemys and the interest never stops .the different zones and mazes of levels are fun to work out along with the puzzles.

Mushroom.

When I first got my imported GB Advance, this was the game got with it. I have always been a huge fan of Castlevainia games, from the moment I first saw Simon Belmont crackin' his whip in the original incarnation on the NES, so I was looking forward to getting my hands on Konami's latest effort. The controls are exactly as they are on the NES/GB versions and the graphics are stunning (Especiallythe Mode 7 sections)! The gameplay has changed little from the original, but I don't deem that as a fault, however some might view this as lazy programming. The graphics are scarily good, if a little dark at times, resembling the PS's Symphony of the Night. The characters are well animated and clear. Unfortunately my versions Japanese and hence I understand little of the storyline (although I can't see a huge departure from the oft-told tale of vampire kings on the rampage). I think that this game could be one of the sleeper hits of the GB Advances launch, for both fans of the series and newcomers alike,however if you do like Castlevania then prepare for the best outing since the SNES version!

CastleVania:Circle of the Moon, is the best lauch title for the GBA. Forget about your Mario and your F-Zero racing cars, go out and buy this game! The background graphics are the best on the GBA so far, such as the beautifully animated bells swinging from the walls, or the detailed pictures. The gameplay, while being a bit linear for some, is great, being a blend between action and Rpg, with leveling up and stats. Also, to spice things up, Konami have added in attribute cards, which can be paired together to give you a special ability(such as a flame whip, or healing powers). The game has lasting replay value, with different modes being unlocked after you finish the game. My only complaints about the game are the poor animation on the character and the difficulty level!. The character walks through the game as if hes strolling through a park, and the difficulty level is cranked up to extreme! This doesnt detract from the gameplay though, so forget i said it and go and buy the game!

I bought this game last year and played in on my Nintendo DS lite, and I just want to comment on the "darkness" issue that many reviews of this game mention. This Castlevania was one of the first releases on the GBA. The old-style GBA didn't have a very good screen, and Castlevania looked very dark, making it difficult to play in a normal lighted room. The screens on the Game Boy Micro and Nintendo DS are much, much better and there is *absolutely no problem* with the darkness of the screen.

The game itself is excellent and well worth picking up. The difficulty was just right for me: not too easy and not too difficult, although it helps to find the most useful of the cards to make things easier (especially the final battle). Check out www.gamefaqs.com where you can find a very useful map of the game.

CastleVania is back with a bang on the gameboy advance. Its a tough nut to crack but the atmospheric graphics and sounds mean that you get the best of all worlds. It has what all games need - gameplay by the coffin-load. If you like action and/or platform titles then this is for you.

I got this game 2 days ago and since then i have not been able to put it down. i havent played on such a good game since streets of rage for the mega drive. this game is a must have for all gamers with a Game Boy Advance.

Castlevania circle of the moon is a superb game!! This is the first and only castlevania game I've played , but it was so good I'm going to buy another one. The only bad thing about this game is that the game is very dark environment which is sometimes hard to see. This game is at the perfect length and is at the perfect difficulty. As you go along in the game you pick up special cards, which give you different abilities and weapons. This game is brilliant and I reccomenned it to any castlevania fans.

Thank you for reading my review.