Reception
Alucard has received praise and criticism from several video game publications, primarily concentrating on his role in Symphony of the Night. GameSpot featured him in their article "All Time Greatest Game Hero". In a review of Symphony of the Night, RPGFan celebrated the fact that Alucard was not a member of the Belmont clan, the protagonists of most Castlevania games, and that the fact he was Dracula's son added "an element of depth to the plot" due to the varied reactions he would receive from the inhabitants of Dracula's castle. RPGamer disagreed with this assessment, noting that the plot and Alucard's role "isn't very deep" and secondary to the concentration on gameplay. Games Are Fun called Alucard "the best anti-hero to ever star in a videogame" and that the relationship between Dracula and Alucard was "enthralling." Alucard's graphical representation was the subject of praise from critics. GameSpot called Alucard's sprite and running animation "easily some of the most impressive visuals in the entire Castlevania library." Games Are Fun extolled Alucard's sprite as "the star of the show," making note of its size, animation, and the variety of special effects that occur during gameplay, and also praised Alucard's design by Ayami Kojima as "absolutely stunning." James Paul Gee noted that "even though Alucard is a vampire hunter, he has no distinctive skills associated with this profession".
Alucard's appearance in Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow as Genya Arikado was also noted by reviewers. RPGamer celebrated how the greater concentration on supporting characters, including Arikado, were a welcome change from previous Castlevania games. RPGFan derided Arikado's "cool and impassive personality" as stereotypical, but praised the game's character development as setting him apart from previous supporting characters in the series. The switch to an anime style for the character designs in Dawn of Sorrow was notably criticized, as many reviewers preferred the designs made by Ayami Kojima. GameSpy deplored the "shallow, lifeless anime images" and IGN called the images "down to the level of 'generic Saturday morning Anime' quality."
Read more about this topic: Alucard (Castlevania)
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