White Night Concerto--Great game with an ironic flaw...

I just got White Night Concerto for the GBA (import version game), and I can honestly say that it is twice as much Castlevania as any other Castlevania game*.

The graphics are amazing; it's almost as though they brought over Symphony of the Night to the GBA and retooled it a bit. Each segment of the whip is even an individual sprite, so you can do the super l33t whip action from Super Castlevania IV.

The new gimmick (spellbooks) is pretty interesting. There seem to be Fire, Ice, Earth, Thunder, and "Item Crash" books, as far as I know. The "Item Crash" book actually lets you do item crash attacks (Hydro Storm, etc.). And there's a "rapid punch" subweapon in the game too that unleashes a barrage of fists. The item crash for this, btw, is a Hadoken. (or, if it had a beam, a Kamehameha, but that's another story)

Now for the "ironic flaw"--the music. Given that the game is called "White Night Concerto," one would expect excellent music. The music is what some folks call "fair to middlin'" all around. But it's all good. Perhaps Konami had this flaw in mind when they chose "Harmony of Dissonance" as the US name.

*This assertion is based solely on the fact that both the US and Japanese versions of the game have the name "Castlevania" in their titles, whereas the Japanese names of prior installments have opted for "Akumajo Dracula (technically, it's DoRaKi(yu)Ra, but let's not split hairs)."

It's weird because on the intro/story screen it says "Concerto of the Midnight Sun". Did it have yet another name change?

Just a review that will make me buy the game for sure...

One thing, does the JPN language bother you? Is it playable without a Jap language knowledge?

SNK4EVER:

Concerto of the Midnight Sun... that's what it's called. I just called it White Night Concerto because that's how I've heard it referred to from myriad sources.

ray_7

Yes, it's mostly playable. You might not understand what's going on, and finding out how to open various doors is a problem if you don't understand, but trial and error should see you through.

i played it briefly.
the game doesnt look as good as the first one.
that is the chara doesnt look as detailed.
neat thing with the spells or relics or whatever.