by Russell Cohrs

Created on: October 03, 2009

The second installment in a long series of games, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest featured a very distinctive playing style.

Story

As Simon Belmont, you previously whipped your way through Castlevania, destroying Count Dracula in the process. It's now several years later, and you've been suffering from a terrible life-threatening curse. In order to lift the curse, you must find the five body parts of Dracula, burn them to resurrect the Count, and kill him again. You also have a time limit, so there's a chance that you'll still die even if you complete your quest.

Gameplay

The game is similar to the original Castlevania in that it features side-scrolling action where you whip monsters into submission. That's where the similarities end though, as you'll find out from the beginning. You start the game in a town, where people say a bunch of cryptic things to you in the form of pseudo-clues. Exploring a little more, you'll find that it's possible to buy items in this game from demonic looking shopkeepers. While this may be a strange departure for Castlevania fans, it's similar to the gameplay found in Vampire Killer released for the MSX system in the same era.

Instead of a linear sequence, the game allows the player to wander somewhat freely while searching for the various mansions that house Drac's body parts. As you wander, you can defeat enemies to earn hearts, which have a triple function. Hearts allow the player to gain experience points, which boosts Simon's stats upon reaching the next level. They're also used as currency in the shops, and to activate special weapons such as Holy Water or the new Diamond.

An internal clock switches the game from a fairly benign day setting to night, where the monsters grow in strength but leave more hearts. This switch happens fairly frequently in real time, but fortunately it doesn't occur when entering the mansions. The towns are also overrun by zombies during the night, so it's impossible to shop for the items you need to advance.

There are only a couple of main bosses in the whole game. When you do reach the end of a mansion, you must buy a stake and drive it into an orb to reveal one of Drac's body parts. The body parts are also functional, and some can be equipped as items, like using the rib for a shield or the nail to destroy walls with your whip.

Most of the game involves puzzle solving, which can be extremely frustrating due to the lack of in-game clues. Puzzles can definitely be obscure and ridiculous in the game,

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