What is it?

Castlevania: Order of Shadows is the first original entry in the Castlevania series to come to mobile phones, at least in the US… as far as I know. The first NES Castlevania saw a more than competent mobile phone port, and even Aria of Sorrow is at some point expected to, but this would be the first all-new Castlevania for the platform.

As I had predicted would be the case, I was unable to resist downloading Castlevania: Order of Shadows to my cell phone when it was released on Tuesday, despite a strong suspicion (having played the demo on the website) that the game would be terrible. The tiny Java-based game stands as my first game download to my phone, though the phone did come with a handful of small games that top out somewhat smaller than this one.

How does it play?

The hurdle that has kept me from even being willing to try gaming on my phone has always been control. How well can you really control a game with a number pad? The answer is that it depends. If you’re playing a tactical game where speed is not as important as in an action game, mobile might be great. A submarine simulation, like Silent Service, would likely be an excellent game for the phone. Unfortunately, this is Castlevania, an action game that has been nearly at the peak of tight game control for more than a decade, and this game feels like a backward stumble.

With my phone’s large, square buttons that are all flush, I often would hit the wrong key and Desmond Belmont would simply stand there. Not to worry though, because the developers clearly were aware of how hard it is to control effectively, so the difficulty level was brought way down. How far down? Well, let’s just say on my first play through, even with the obstacle that the control brought, I completed the entire game in less than two hours. We need to remember that the game’s footprint is similar to that of an NES game, and with the Metroid-style underpinnings that have stayed with the series since Symphony of the Night, plus the fact that the visuals are a little better than NES quality, we can’t really expect a huge game here.

That said, there are multiple bosses that are similar to those in other games, a number of items that you are likely to use, and one feature that makes this game stand out from all the others: the backdash move is actually critical. The backdash makes you slide backward on your feet a few strides and it has been present in many Castlevanias since Symphony, but it’s always been almost entirely useless. In this game, there are enemies that can only be efficiently dispatched with several strikes of the whip and several backdashes to avoid their attacks.

The game lacks something of that Castlevania… feel. It’s not easy to describe, but the game felt like it was put together by a western development team, and a look at the credits confirmed my suspicion. This is a team that’s new to the franchise, and while Koji Igarashi is thanked in the credits and mentioned in the press release, I have my concerns as to whether he actually was involved very much at all.

There is a room in the game, for example, where you enter from the top right, go down a flight of stairs, and exit on the bottom right. If you turn around and come back, you’ll be at the top level again, and then if you turn right around again, you’ll be in a different room. It’s not clear how this wasn’t caught considering I found myself trapped in this loop a couple of times.

How does it look and sound?

The visuals are about halfway between those of an NES and a SNES. The visual style reminded me a great deal of Circle of the Moon actually, which was the first Castlevania to appear on the GBA, but while many of the sprites appeared to be lifted straight out of older Castlevania games, overall the game was a very mixed bag. Desmond’s sprite is colorful and bright, but not particularly appealing. The other NPCs in the game, who really were unnecessary in a game this small, looked even more lacking in personality.

You’ll notice some familiar music such as Bloody Tears, which was made famous by Simon’s Quest, plus a “Classic Music” mode that’s unlocked upon completion that lets you play the game with all old music. While the fidelity is pretty low on my phone, it doesn’t sound as bad as I expected. I played with the sound low or off out of necessity, but when I tried it at high volume it wasn’t painful like some cell phone game music is. The original music was decent, though perhaps not up to series standards.

How is the replay value?

Acceptable, I would say. With a hard mode and a classic music mode that are unlocked after you beat it, you could keep coming back, but with such a small map in the game, you’ll likely find yourself blowing through it even more quickly on subsequent plays. Dying only brings you back to the entrance to the room, and reloading does the same (or the room before in the case of bosses), so there’s little stress in playing the game and losing. You don’t even have to save, the game does it automatically in the few seconds it takes to load each room.

Is it worth it?

I would have to say no. On my system, the game was only $6.99, but unless you are a Castlevania diehard who can be very forgiving for another go at the Count, you’ll want to pass on this game. It was a good effort, but the game feels like an unfinished fan game just waiting to be shut down by Konami. It lacks the personality and challenge that series veterans have come to expect from these games, and the inventory and equip functions without any explanation of how they work are going to be too complex for the casual player. The developer could have better served the player by building an old-style Castlevania, more like the ones on the NES. It could have been a much longer, more challenging game. In the end, I have to give Castlevania: Order of Shadows a two out of five.