A few years ago, a company dared to buck the 3D trend and release a new game in a classic series with a few new twists. That game was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Fans of classic 2D gameplay squealed like little joyous gaming pigs at the lush adventure set in front of them with SotN. The huge castle that literally turned everything upside down just when you thought it was all over, the insane amount of equipment and weapons along with the uber-tweaked gameplay that made for instant gold.

Enter the GBA, the last true bastion of 2D goodness, or at least the system where 2D has a real chance of flourishing, and a launch title called Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. The fact that this title was a launch title nearly made me want to stop gaming, thinking that it just cannot get any better than this. Luckily, I did not quit and Konami even announced another game in the series, on the GBA, to follow up this little gem.

Castlevania: SotN is basically the end all be all, in my personal opinion, of the 2D side scrolling action game genre. It had everything, loads of equipment, good story, spot on control, action, action, and some more action for good measure. CotM is what I would call SotN-lite. (Have I lost you with the acronyms yet?) Basically, the meat and potatoes that made SotN so great is there, however, there is just a smaller portion of everything.

The basic play mechanics return to the roots of the Castlevania series in that the main weapon is a whip. Much to the dismay of the people who loved the swordplay of SotN, the whip is pretty much the only weapon that you will have to work with during the game. Sure, you can power it up with some nifty DSS card combos, but I will get to that later. Also at your disposal are familiar gameplay elements such as the dash, double jump, sky boot jump, tackle, slide, etc etc. All of these tricks will need to be mastered in order to trek through and back track throughout the castle-maze.

The best thing that CotM nailed down was the control. Like SotN, you are in perfect control of this game. If you miss a jump or fall off a ledge, it is your fault, not twitchy controls. Managing equipment, DSS cards and your map is effortless.

The DSS card system is basically CotM's answer to not having magic weapons and equipment like in SotN. Personally, I really enjoy the system and the amount of gameplay options it offers, however I can see a lot of people not liking the system since it requires that you find and collect all of the cards which seems to annoy some gamers. The features added by the card combos have a wide range of abilities and powers, which really do add to the game. Sure, you might not use them all, but there will most likely be a time and a place for most of the powers. For instance, you may need a little power and range to your whip, so you might choose the earth whip which, although slower, gives you the range and power advantage.

There are also shield power ups that encircle your vampire hunter with fireballs, or even a poison cloud, which not only help to protect, but also greatly aid in finding hidden passageways and rooms throughout the castle. Some of the other unique and handy powers include combos that actually give you extra life when you get hit by certain elements. For example, if those Poison Armors are constantly hitting you and you are low on antidote, you may want to use the combo that adds to your life when you are hit with a poison attack. Especially useful DSS combos include the screen-clearing summons, which can make or break some boss encounters.

I do have some gripes, however, with this game. As great as I like to think CotM is, there are some issues. First, the main character animation is atrocious. I do not understand why either. The GBA can easily handle more than this. I am not talking about Prince of Persia style motion, but I would expect at least more than two frames of walking animation. I thought people were joking when I first heard someone say there were only two frames of walking animation, but it is true and embarrassing. I can see skimping on some enemy animations to save a little room, but the main character is what you are looking at the whole game. Sure, it doesn't really affect the gameplay, but it is something I really don't expect from a company like Konami.

Second, being a launch title, and a darker themed one at that (graphically speaking), CotM suffers from the darkness that plagued a lot of early GBA games due to the running hardware change in the screens before the official launch of the system. Later games were able to avoid this with some code tweaking but this game was a launch title, so make sure you are playing with a good light source. Even though I think people make too big of a deal with the screen issue on the GBA, I can even admit that this game is dark compared to newer games.

My final complaint is another small one, yet annoying nonetheless. Item management isn't hard or anything, however you are going to find yourself having a ton of useless garbage as you slay the same monsters over and over again. In SotN, the 'store' would allow you to dump off unwanted items for cash. There is no 'store' and you cannot even drop items here. You will find yourself playing my favorite sub-game, 'avoid the friggin magic gauntlets'. I don't know, maybe I'm just a neat freak with my inventory.

The rest of the game is spot on though. The music (especially the beginning theme with chanting) is just incredible and really sets up the mood right away. The in-game music and sound effects are also very good and easily a pleasant shift from the bloops and bleeps we are used to in pocket gaming.

Circle of the Moon also lasts quite a while, especially with the extra modes that allow you to play the game again with different abilities and attributes. For instance, in Magician Mode, after you beat the game, you can restart a new game with all of the DSS cards and high INT stats right from the start. However, your physical stats are shot to hell. Can you guess the twist in Fighter Mode? You max out your physical stats and have no magic at all. Thief Mode starts you with low stats in everything but luck, allowing you to find better items and equipment with much greater regularity. There is also a Shooter Mode that focuses on your secondary weaponry like the dagger, axe and mighty Cross boomerang. These modes allow for a lot of extra game time that may prove a lot of fun to someone who really loves this series. Otherwise, they may not be enough to rope someone in for more.

Overall, CotM was a reason for me to own a GBA as I feel many other people would agree. It is a game that you can pick up and play for a long time and feel satisfied. Although it isn't a true 'sequel' to Symphony of the Night, it is a more than adequate edition to the Castlevania series that won't leave many fans feeling empty.