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Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

• By McKinley Noble
• May 29, 2008 10:42 AM PST
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A solo female lead, multiple castles, and a unique combat system all come together on the DS to make this Castlevania game a different beast than its predecessors.

Related Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Features:

• Castlevania: Order of Ecclasia Screen Gallery
  
• Video: Konami Gamer's Day: Castlevania Interview
  

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The reliable Castlevania series doesn't fix what isn't broken, but change is never bad. Order of Ecclesia, the newest DS installment in the long-standing Castlevania series, may appear to follow the same formula as previous games -- bust into Dracula's castle, hunt for powerups, collect items, beat the bad vampire boss -- but this new title has more than a few new surprises in store for whip-cracking gamers.

Girl power returns to Castlevania

The first main change in Order of Ecclesia is apparent from the moment you see the screenshots: the main character is a girl! And unlike Portrait of Ruin's Charlotte Orlean, the mysterious Shanoa is taking on Dracula by herself. Not since the adventure of Castlevania Legends has a female character taken the top billing in this series, an interesting fact given the canon timeline's treatment of Sonia Belmont. Remember her? No? Oh well.

Thankfully, Shanoa doesn't appear to be a softhearted weeping willow. As a member of the Order of Ecclesia, she's charged with protecting the world from Dracula's army in the absence of the Belmont clan. The game's combat system gives her the power to use glyphs, which throws a tactical twist into the gameplay. Rather than collecting monster souls or other trinkets, Shanoa can equip glyphs to her arms and back, giving her interesting combat and non-combat abilities. By pressing Y and X (or R for her back glyph), Shanoa can launch single attacks, rapid-fire combos, or simply combine her powers for an all-out bomber blast. With over 100 different ways to combine and configure her glyphs, Shanoa's combat options are impressively open-ended.

Looking like a classic again

One of the main complaints in recent Castlevania games has been the lack of detailed artwork in comparison to past games like the regal Symphony of the Night's character designs. Thankfully, Order of Ecclesia bucks the Saturday morning cartoon-crap drawings with traditional art from the talented series veteran Ayami Kojima. For the critical Castlevania fan, that's just the icing on the cake.

Order of Ecclesia also sticks to the super-detailed 2D sprites that series creator Koji Igarashi loves so much, another trademark of the handheld titles. There's little to no three-dimensional graphics, but the game still looks remarkably pretty. Judging by the early screenshots, Order of Ecclesia probably takes place anywhere from the 1800s to the 1900s, so expect a lot of impressively crafted Gothic-style designs in the levels.

More monsters, more castles, more mayhem

Castlevania usually dumps the main character in Dracula's castle, where they're trapped until toppling the big baddie. Shanoa's adventure shakes things up by taking her to different places within a world map -- meaning gamers can get some fresh air throughout the game. If anything, this could mean less backtracking through the same dungeons, more background design, region-specific enemies, and more. Here's hoping there aren't a ton of lazy palette-swapped levels like last year's fun-but-flawed Portrait of Ruin.

With all these changes, we're more than ready to battle the demons of the dark. Order of Ecclesia rises from the darkness in Japan this August, so let's start praying for a quick American follow-up.

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