Topic: The Great Reviewer: All Castlevania Reviews (please read and debate)

[Pfil]

Legends:

A good attempt by Konami to bring a female to his series, which unlike what was your goal, failed to take girls to the club of fans of the series

No they didn't. They didn't fail. They catched me and a lot of girls, and they catched us pretty hard.

Konami managed to worsen the graphics and sound that already characterized the previous two Game Boy titles, despite having had several years of development.
Not to mention the gameplay, which holds the title of worst ever.

So, so wrong. The graphics are one of the best the GameBoy has seen, the soundtrack is great and the gameplay...
...you suck at playing videogames.

It is impossible to play this game without Game Genie.
...
This is the last game in the series that could reach recommended, and should only be those who want to play all titles in the series, provided they have a Game Genie, a lot of coffee, friends entertain us a bit as we endure the levels, and an emulator to record split states and torture in at least several sessions at the rate of, say, a weekly level. More than that would be too much suffering.

THANKS FOR THE LAUGHS!... great reviewer, hahahaha!!!

I'm tired, tomorrow I'll answer some more...

[chainsawmidget]

Despite large gaps in difficulty, I can play both SCVIV & Symphony over and over and over and over. It's hard to say which game has better atmosphere. Perhaps Symphony, by just a notch or 2. Peeping Eye in the background of the Marble Gallery. Mouse stuck in between the wooden planks in the Outer Wall. Seagull attending to it's nest at the lookout and flying off. Varying weather conditions. THE LIST GOES ON

I think CV4 does the best job capturing the more traditional and bleak Universal Monsters/Hammer Horror feel while Symphony is the best game in the Bram Stoker's Dracula/Interview with the Vampire style elegant overly decorated Gothic feel. 

The both do their job well, but they were aiming at completely different things.  (Although personally I prefer the classic style, each has it's merits.) 

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge was ill-conceived from its title. Simon Belmont Dracula faces for the fifth time in his life ... [snip] The only explanation I can think of is that Simon Belmont was the only human being besides Methuselah who lived several centuries, and also had several lives.

Well, obviously he picked up a bunch of extra lives while he was hanging out with Captain N.  Don't you know anything about the timeline?   

make this game one of the worst in the history of the NES,

You obviously know nothing about NES games.  As much as I love the system, it had some real stinkers.  None of the CVs should even make the top 100 worst NES games list. 

May I suggest you change your name to the Mediocre At Best Reviewer?

[The Great Reviewer]

@uzo: Yes, I gave him 1.5 out of 10 stars to Super Castlevania 4, no 2 out of 10. In score from 1 to 10 would be a 3 equivalent. I'm not here to make friends, I have many friends in real life, thank you very much. I'm here to offer my objectivity and knowledge of the industry, while gaining knowledge myself and other people's views of Castlevania fan. But always views based on pure objectivity. Not in the passion. It requires a lot critical eye and serenity to see that beyond the technical deployment of Castlevania 4, the game leaves much to be desired.
Thank you very much for your answer, anyway.
Best regards.

@PFG9000: I do what I can with the tools I have at hand, sorry, English is not my language. I do not think proper post reviews in Spanish in an international community. English is the universal language par excellence and not let my national pride up to my head.
There are no wrong opinions, they are based on subjectivity, and my "opinion", as you say, of Castlevania 4 is not an opinion, it's a professional review that has been published in a regional magazine for years.
Thank you very much for your answer, anyway.
Best regards.

@MontoyaGraphics: I am a critic specializing in digital entertainment, with a university degree. Do not know what you mean by "real critics". And did not study music, but do not need it, I studied critic and that's what I do, objective reviews. Nintendo always going to advertise their products, and in this case, their games consoles. Nothing new. A critical objective an overview without interest involved, and that's what counts.
Thank you very much for your answer, anyway.
Best regards.

@A-Yty: Maybe for Castlevania fans it is, but for an objective point of view leaves much to be desired in almost every way possible.
I do not understand why so much trouble in the community, if most of my reviews give positive ratings of Castlevania. Maybe I should get my latest reviews, with high scores, such as Mirror of Fate, which is 5/5.

@Flame: No, it is not. Castlevania for NES game is not as good, but better than Castlevania 4. You must understand that these games have aged a lot and the weather has not been kind to them.

@crises: Symphony of the Night is not exactly the best atmosphere, actually. Maybe for you it is, but there are many better examples within the series for this, as they say.

[The Great Reviewer]

[The Great Reviewer]

@ The Silverlord: Really, really Haunted Castle has one of the best designed castles in the franchise.
Glad to find a positive comment and a user who liked my review.
Thank you very much.

@ chainsawmidget: I know the timeline, approached me in the magazine, thank you very much.
No suggestion erónea, my friend.
More than 15 years working in a regional magazine and my column is called "The Great Reviewer", and the name was created by the people of the magazine. Must be my analytical skills and my pure objectivity is not left blinded by the feelings and personal tastes. What a critic should be.
And I have 38 years, I've played all kinds of NES games.
Tanques you very much for your answer, anyway.
Best regards.

@ Pfil: Again bad education. Little girl, I do not need personal translator, if I want people who speak English there's where I live, and that is when I do my networking page. Not now.

Aria of Sorrow: Everyone expected a fiasco. Maybe not in your world of fans, but the press Specialized yes, at least for the most part. That's where objectivity analysis.
What: Yamane is a wildcard. Konami used, calls when needed, pays little and then leave it. That was the statement, and perhaps the translator said it wrong.

Adventure: Again talking about the lack of personal ability. I could say the same about your lack of objectivity.
Nobody beats Dragon's Lair. I've seen great players fail. Dozens of them.

Castlevania:'m a fan of Castlevania. But do not let my bigotry get in the way of an analysis based on pure objectivity and academic knowledge.
And again, again, poor education. I do not need music lessons to see the disaster accompanying soundtrack this game.

The final insult. "You suck at playing video games," she says.
I'm tired of this, until the coronilla, do not respond by today, or I will lose my temper, coño!

Best regards.

[The Great Reviewer]

@ All: I'm surprised the poor reception given to me. I have come to respect and treated well at all. I have been cordial, helpful, friendly, and have received many votes negative in my reviews, just for being objective. It's a shame. Anyway, thanks for your honest answers. No one is to blame.

[chainsawmidget]

Let's try doing this in a way you'll understand. 

Again bad education. Little girl, I do not need personal translator, if I want people who speak English there's where I live, and that is when I do my networking page. Not now.

Realmente, al escribir mensajes está leyendo lo que en este sentido. 

Es muy difícil de pronunciar lo que usted está pensando en la actualidad.

That's how many of your posts come across to us.  However, since you insist on using English, let's go back to it. 

It's obvious from your reviews that you have no idea what you're talking about half the time.  You blatantly get the story, major details, and even the main characters names wrong.  Further more, you seem to take the stance that anything old automatically sucks.  I'm sure if you were to review a classic black and white movie, you'd probably dock it points for not having CG effects and color.  You seem to review things based on what they aren't rather than what they are. 

You also seem to hide behind your "professional status" and your over use of the word "objective."   

What a critic should be.

A critic should be informative, entertaining, accurate, and (here's an important one) should actually speak the language they're reviewing in.  You manage to do none of the above. 

[uzo]

Oh right, stupid me. That would be 3. As 1/5 is 2/10 already, 1.5 there by would be 3.

Technicalities aside, I'm not not really sure if this is a troll thread or not after reading your replies. If we want to throw our 'official epenises' around, I could rebuttle with myself being a professional game developer and my objective examination of Super Castlevania IV is a hell of a lot different than yours.

Super Castlevania IV is a game you learn from each time you play it, as a player or a designer. Every time you play it you notice something new. A graphic detail, a special effect, a layer in the music, a design element, a trick; something that was somehow overlooked in all your last playthroughs. So many things were new and unique between levels, only appearing in one segment instead of getting reused to death through the entire adventure. This kept things fresh, and the whole experience a wild unpredictable ride from end to end.

This is the mark of a true classic. If any game deserves an overall gold star as a stand out example of the entire medium, let alone just series or era, this is certainly one of them. Super Castlevania IV is a masterpiece on all levels.

[Nagumo]

@The Great Reviewer
Well, at least you're not condescending.

[crisis]

Sumac's little brother.

Or Skycaptain Steampunk 2.0

[jestercolony]

I honestly hate video game journalist with a passion, because most of them don't even bother to sit down and actually 'understand' the game, they just rush through it, trying to find as many flaws as they can, doing the same old shit over and over again. Me personally, if I was a journalist, I would tell my boss to piss off until I was able to fully fathom the game, then give my full 100% honest review.

VG Journalism only destroys the value application of gaming (imo), it is THEIR opinion, not the people's or the very gamer themselves. I've played a lot of games over the years, that have gotten low scores, but you know what? I have fallen in love with these said games (Zone of the Enders, SaGa Frontier are some examples) In my perspective, they only want to either mislead or ass kiss a gaming company, imo.

No review is 100% fair imo.

But to each their own.

[Neobelmont]

ummm you see  I miss about a month and something like this happens I miss out on the good stuff -_-'

I honestly hate video game journalist with a passion, because most of them don't even bother to sit down and actually 'understand' the game, they just rush through it, trying to find as many flaws as they can, doing the same old shit over and over again. Me personally, if I was a journalist, I would tell my boss to piss off until I was able to fully fathom the game, then give my full 100% honest review.

VG Journalism only destroys the value application of gaming (imo), it is THEIR opinion, not the people's or the very gamer themselves. I've played a lot of games over the years, that have gotten low scores, but you know what? I have fallen in love with these said games (Zone of the Enders, SaGa Frontier are some examples) In my perspective, they only want to either mislead or ass kiss a gaming company, imo.

No review is 100% fair imo.

But to each their own.

If it's like ign and mainstream stuff then yeah I understand but shows like Classic Game Room not only give me some information but it also makes me laugh mind you this is inecomcompany not undertow. Mark is awesome.

Also Z.O.E is awesome 

[A-Yty]

@A-Yty: Maybe for Castlevania fans it is, but for an objective point of view leaves much to be desired in almost every way possible.

I'm not thrashing the opinion. SCVIV just feels like the least likely to deserve nergative criticism for much anything. I find it difficult to find anyone who dislikes the game. Even if they don't love it, they think it's at least ok.

I really don't think its fanboyism. SCVIV is often mentioned in many lists of games considered Nintendo's finest and it was critically acclaimed the time it came out.

[Dark Nemesis]

Sumac's little brother.

Or Skycaptain Steampunk 2.0

No no no no.......you've got it all wrong, he is from Spain, so he is the cousin of Cox who entered here and he's trying to troll us to the death.

[A-Yty]

Cox is Spanish?