Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia -- Final Opinion.

I have completed Order of Ecclesia with a final time of fourteen hours and fifty-five minutes. That time tells me it's a much smaller game than the standard Metroidvania but it really doesn't feel that way to me. The game is more focused due to what amounts as the game's first castle being broken up into roughly ten smaller areas before you arrive at the nearly full sized final stage of Dracula's Castle itself. The game seemed the easiest to earn one-hundred percent as far as map coverage is concerned. There isn't a lot of focus on the hidden. I also never received the bad ending. It's far more clear as to what you need do to earn the good ending than any other Castlevania before it. We know the structure of the game feels new by incorporating a couple of old ideas from previous entries but how does the combat fare? The game also uses a modified mechanic from earlier entries for its battle system. This time around you're using glyphs. Glyphs can be absorbed from living enemies, or absorbed from drops by defeated enemies and statues. There are two types of glyphs. And it essentially breaks down as glyphs that be assigned to the X and Y buttons and glyphs that can be assigned to the R button. The glyphs that are assigned to X and Y provide magic that replicates swords, axes, daggers, hammers, fire, lightning, ice, shields and the like. They're your means of attack and they come off as traditional Castlevania attacks only with the pretense of being magic. The glyphs assigned to the R button can be toggled on and off and they are more of the status boosting or context use variety. Pressing up and either X or Y will unleash what's called a glyph union attack. The combination of the equipped glyphs is what will determine what actually happens in a glyph union attack. The combat system is essentially remixed enough to feel new. The sense of it being fresh is bolstered by the overall tougher difficulty. Especially in the boss battles. The game features either the greatest bosses in series history or the most torturous depending on your point of view. The bosses are far more complex and old school in design. They're all pattern recognition. There isn't any more going toe-to-toe and just slugging it out with a boss until it's dead. You'll have to learn their patterns to survive. The game actually throws a couple of its toughest bosses at you very early on and that might discourage some players. I'd suggest getting by bosses two and three before making up your mind as the game balances out for the remainder. The game is easily the best looking Castlevania game ever made in my opinion. I loved the new art style. All the way around, in the characters, the enemies and bosses, and the environments. The biggest flaw one could truly pin on the Metroidvania titles in the series is in how much they've blatantly reused assets from Symphony of the Night forward. That's no more with Order of Ecclesia, the game is full of entirely new and redrawn enemies and locations. I also really prefer the new more adult and realistic style over the anime and previous styles. Dracula's Castle has never looked better, the interior backgrounds are just truly impressive. The game has great sound. Really good voice for the Nintendo DS and clear and crisp audio. Nothing is muddled or tinny. Overall I'm rather impressed with Order of Ecclesia. It definitely feels fresh, I'm just not sure it feels better. I'm giving Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia a 9.