I picked this game up a few days ago, on account of how rad the rest of the Nintendo DS Castlevania games have been and I was not disappointed. On the other hand it didn’t bring almost anything new to the series at all. The story is basically the same, someone is trying to bring Count Dracula to power, and you don’t want them to.

Well, it’s slightly more complicated than that. The main character in the game is a human broad named Shanoa and she has the unique ability to suck in “glyphs” and then use their powers. Someone steals the glyphs that contain Dracula’s power, and you are trying to get them back.

The trailers for this game were very deceptive, because it looked like the format was going to majorly change. The trailers were filled with magic spells that looked very unconventional, but radical, and there was very little weapon fighting, which seems to be what the other games are very much about. It turns out that this game was also very much about it, you are mostly using swords and maces just like the other games. So nothing much changed, but not changing from a winning formula is change we don’t need, right? They do introduce new ways to fight the same way though, and this somehow kept me very interested, amen.

That’s not change! That’s more of the same! –Slugtron & Joe Biden

This game is actually a pretty easy beat, you may get stuck at a few of the bosses at the beginning but by the end you have so much dope shit that you are practically unstoppable. So you are way more likely to die against the crab boss in the third dungeon than by Death himself. Which some might consider a flaw, but I had fun the whole time. I even had fun running through the game a second time on hard! Which was even easier then playing through on easy (because you get to keep all of your equipment.) On the plus side there is a harder version of hard, and also a different version of the game with another character, as well as all the other normal Castlevania extras like a boss rush mode.

All in all, I highly recommend this game to anyone that liked any other Castlevania game. But it’s simple enough for someone who hasn’t played any of the other games who wants to jump in and have fun. In fact as far as the revamped series goes starting from Symphony of the Night, this is about the easiest and most basic, even though I think the trailers would force you to believe something completely different.

As with all Castlevania games I would recommend jumping on it and buying it quick. Because for some reason they usually mysteriously stop producing them after the first week and seldom go down in price. In fact this game has an “out of stock” message at the creator Konami’s website.

Order of Ecclesia gets 143 out of 156 stars as well as a decree by me, Doctor Cyborg, that Castlevania rocks! But only until the movie comes out and embarasses the entire franchise. Apparantly written by Paul W.S. Anderson the mastermind behind such wonders as “Alien Vs. Predetor” and “Mortal Kombat”. Not that directing those movies wasn’t already a black eye, I would also like to point out that with nine films he has a 0% success rate on rotten tomatoes. Directed by Sylvain White the professor that gifted us with such miracles as “I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Stomp the Yard” also boasting an astringent 0% on rotten tomatoes. You better strap in and then hold on to your hats when these two come together. Also I don’t really care for the idea of a Castlevania fighting game that is slated to come out later this month.