Castlevania: Bloodlines
Developed by Konami for the Sega Genesis, 1994
I don’t really follow the Castlevania series anymore. I had a look-in at one of the more recent titles (Curse of Darkness for the original Xbox) and was frankly unimpressed by the rather vanilla level design, ghastly graphical upgrades, and completely ridiculous story (who really gives a damn about the storyline of this series anyway? It’s a given that Dracula doesn’t stay dead for very long. We all know that. All you need to say is: “The Count has risen once again and you must stop his nefarious evil, brave hero!” and begin the game.). I think what it boils down to is the fact that Castlevania has its roots in 2-D platforming, and much like the Mega Man or Contra series, the game has never quite transitioned into the 3-D era all that well. I know a number of game players loved Castlevania 64, but for me, the game peaked with Symphony of the Night – the game that is surely the pinnacle of all things Castlevania.
Yet there is another game in the series I enjoy almost as much as the virtually flawless SotN, and that is Castlevania: Bloodlines, the one and only Castlevania entry for the Sega Genesis (a slightly censored version was released in Europe for the MegaDrive under the title: The New Generation, because apparently ‘blood’ was too strong a word to appear in the title of a game in the UK at the time. You know, blood being such a highly controversial part of the human body and all…). Regardless of what it’s called in your country, the game is six levels of 16-bit action platforming greatness, easily one of the top Genesis games of all-time.
The player has a choice of two characters. Will you go with John, the burly Texan or Eric, the effeminate Spaniard with teal colored hair? Who you choose has a definite impact on the gameplay, as John’s weapon, the trusty whip, has a much better speed but deals less damage than Eric’s powerful yet slow spear. Each weapon has a different special ability assigned to it; the whip allows John to swing to certain areas, Indiana Jones style, whilst the spear allows Eric to plant it in the ground and use it like a pole vault, boosting him up to previously inaccessible areas. This means that at certain points the game branches into two different directions, adding a large amount of replay value to the title (in addition to the different ending for each character). Both characters have access to three different types of thrown weapon: axes, holy water, and the boomerang, all of which will save your ass at various points in the game, and are a great help during some of the difficult boss fights.
Now six levels may not seem like a hell of a lot to today’s console gamer, but each level is broken up into a number of smaller stages, with one or more sub-bosses appearing at the intervals before you get to the big bad at the end. Also remember that this game is from a time when console titles still had a bit of challenge to them. Yes, there is a password system implemented here, but Bloodlines isn’t like 95% of the newer games on the market, where you have the ability to save at any given time, nor does the game contain hundreds of unnecessary checkpoints. If you mess up, you’re going back to the beginning to try again, dammit. I am by no means some sort of elitist gamer who only plays games on the most hardcore difficulty, far from it (I’m actually not very good at a LOT of games). However, I do like a nice challenge in the moderate to high difficulty range, and Bloodlines provides that from the word ‘go’ without any of the pandering I see in console titles today. It’s not Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts in terms of difficulty, but it ain’t a cakewalk either.
Graphically, the game is excellent, especially for a game roughly fifteen years old. The animation is smooth and fluid, from the action moves of the heroes to the flowing blood of your enemies. In this regard, Bloodlines looks less like a Genesis game and more like a Super Nintendo title from the tail end of its lifespan. The only slight disappointment is one you get with virtually all the Genesis games, simply because it was one of the limitations of the system: colors. There are a limited amount of colors on display here, so while the animation looks quite keen, Bloodlines backgrounds are not quite as vivid as they should have been. You’ll also see exactly what I mean about the lack of color depth when an enemy bleeds, as there’s really only one shade of red the designers could use. The result of which is just a huge gob of gore, which might actually look good to you if you’re of the more cartoonish persuasion. The pink zombies do look a tad strange, but later in the game you’ll encounter some wicked looking monsters of the clockwork variety (the game is set in the early 1900’s.), which takes the game out of the purely gothic mindset and inserts just a vague hint of steampunk into the mix.
Another Genesis ‘flaw’, the frequently bemoaned sound issues, are not as bad here as they were on other Genesis games. Granted, some of the sound effects are a bit lame or simply out of place, but then again, they’ve captured things like screams or the ’swoop’ of some vicious winged creatures perfectly. The Michiru Yamane score is fantastic, even if it doesn’t contain some of the more famous numbers from the Castlevania franchise like “Bloody Tears” or “Vampire Killer” (they are part of the sound test screen though…). Instead, Miss Yamane, on her first project for Konami, set out to create some iconic themes of her own, and given that “The Sinking Old Sanctuary” theme from stage two has been reused a number of times after Bloodlines, I’d say she succeeded in her objective. It’s not as eclectic as her sublime SotN score, but for a Genesis game, Bloodlines has a very fine selection of music.
If you own a Genesis and you can track down this somewhat rare cartridge, GET IT! Actually, the state of the economy has helped bring down the prices of some of these uncommon to rare games, many of which were ridiculously overpriced to begin with. Otherwise, get yourself a USB gamepad and emulate away on your PC. Hours of ghoulish enjoyment await.
4 / 5
