None of the characters or environments looks as good as on the PlayStation, obviously, but the game does an admirable job of adding in much more impressive bosses. Right off the bat, you'll see a giant, lumbering knight bigger then the screen is tall, smashing his way towards you. While we only got a couple of bosses like that in previous editions, they're plentiful here. However, a few of the bosses inspire the same sense of déjà vu that the regular enemies give a seasoned fan. Many of the enemies in Symphony were taken right from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, and many of the enemies in Concerto are in turn taken right from Symphony. There aren't very many new creatures to fight, though they are faithfully reproduced on the smaller screen. In an attempt to try to make up for the smaller listing of enemies (while large, it's not the size of the previous games'), there are color variations which are simply more powerful versions. However, this isn't saying there's anything wrong with them, as they are still plentiful and fun to fight.

One of the oddities in design is the look of the main characters. For the first time in Castlevania, the lead character of the Belmont family looks nothing like any of the ones to come before. Instead, he's a dead ringer for Alucard (Symphony version), and his friend is instead the one who looks like the traditional Belmont. Both look very nice and move well, but have no extra animations at all. Due to the main character, Juste, returning to the Belmont trademark whip, his only attacks are of the regular whip swing. The whip itself can be powered up by finding new attachments, which change its strength or element focus. That will in turn make the whip stronger or weaker against enemies of corresponding elements. Dashing has been redone in this game, definitely for the better. Instead of just the back dash that's been used lately, the L/R triggers now each dash in their own directions, so you can blaze through the castle at a much faster pace then before and can still back dash instantly.

A new sub-weapon has been added in, although by itself it isn't very useful. It is simply a fist in appearance, and activating it causes a flurry of blows to emerge from Juste. The fist isn't very strong and is overshadowed by some of the usual more powerful sub-weapons. Concerto does offer a new variation on the sub-weapon attacking scheme that greatly changes everything, including the usefulness of all of the weapons: Spell Fusion. As you travel throughout the castle, you'll encounter spell books, each focused on a specific element. If a book is activated, you'll use a spell that consumes MP (which regenerates) instead of hearts, and they must be turned off to use the sub-weapons like normal. The spells range from the decently powerful, to things like chain lightning, or a shield that hovers in front of you destroying all enemies it touches while it lasts, or even the return of the mighty cross whirlwind. In a return of ideas from Circle of the Moon, one of the spell books is Summon, which leads to even yet more impressive effects that haven't been seen in any Castlevania game. Some of them do seem overly powerful or even out of place for a Belmont, in particular the screen-filling meteor attack.

Thankfully, Concerto continues the current trend of gorgeous gothic environments and animation. Flowing clouds are beautiful, all manner of statues adorn hallways, and stained glass windows project light with a very nice effect. Small puzzles are scattered throughout to continue, and while most use boxes, there are a few which are more impressive. Gigantic sprites like demon skulls or clock gears are utilized by Juste to roll around and form bridges to new areas. These effects are all done very smoothly and really help to convey the look of an ancient yet beautiful castle. One of the main things that really makes the detail in the castle stand out (and shows how much better the overall design is here than in Symphony) is the differences between the state of the castle. Some are decaying and old, while others seem brand-new and well kept. These overlap onto each other, and seeing two different versions of the same areas helps to show just how good each area is in both design and visual effect.

Outside of the bosses, the most often noticeable major effects are the enemy deaths. All of them are true to recent form, with none dying simply and flashing away, but instead exploding into light, burning away, or breaking into pieces. Almost all of the enemies are surrounded by a line to help make them stand out better against their surroundings, and Juste has that as well, but I did find it a bit distracting to look at. They all kind of look like cut-outs pasted on top of the backgrounds, but it's hard to argue with being able to see well. As for the bosses themselves, almost all of them use my favorite 2D effect of sprite rotation, allowing for some impressive movement I hadn't expected on such a scale on the GBA. Unfortunately, they all suffer from the same flaw of being way too easy. Each of the boss patterns can be figured out fairly quickly, and even if you should have some trouble against a boss the sub-weapons' Spell Fusion attacks can reduce many of them to rubble extremely fast.

What doesn't help the difficulty is that healing items are cheap and plentiful. As you explore, you'll encounter a merchant who offers all sorts of items in exchange for the money you find dropped by random monsters. Some of his later more potent equipment is very expensive, but if you can handle being without it (which won't be a problem at all) all that spare cash you'll have can be easily spent to load up on the low-priced healing items.

The new equipment setup is quite nice and very flexible, though it has less to offer outright then Symphony's. You are now given a total of four slots, one of which is always a piece of body armor, and the other three you can equip with whatever booster items, helmets, boots, or gloves you like in any combination. Want a boatload of luck? Give yourself three items that boost that attribute. Want really good defense? Load up on a helmet, gloves, and boots to help augment that body armor. I started to wish after a while that the game would give more varied effects in the whip itself, as you're pretty stuck with the exact same attack throughout the entire game. Only one of the whips really has anything extra to its attack, but it's also weaker then the others you'll find and not worth the effort of using against enemies. Even just a brief extra frame of animation, like showing off a quick spark or flame for the attribute whips would've been great, but it still works just fine as it is.

Unfortunately, the game is not as soothing to the ears as it is the hands and eyes, which is very odd considering the title. After Symphony, to have even mediocre music is a gigantic leap down, and this game simply doesn't cut it. Konami did include the track "Vampire Killer" as a bonus for one of the game's secrets, which is a lot better then the game's regular blah boss music. I rather wish you could switch them for the full game. On the flip side, the game has plenty more available in replay then Symphony did, giving you a new extra mode right off beating it, as well as multiple ways of playing through the full game again with added difficulty. Quite nice, considering the ease it takes to blow through it for the first time. The only way I can really see this title getting better by too much is to have it released on console. The limitations in weapons, graphics, and music will only be improved by a bigger system, but for the GBA this game is incredible. Every time I picked it up, I couldn't stand to let it go, and almost skipped sleeping for work a few days just so I could explore the next area.

Bottom Line:A true sequel to the odd man out in the Castlevania series, probably the only game I can see usurping Concerto as the greatest GBA title is Metroid Fusion. Damn, now I want to go play it again.

· · · MechDeus