Castlevania (Nintendo 64) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Castlevania received generally positive reviews. It has an average of 78 out of 100 on Metacritic.

At the release, most critics considered the game to be a good transition to the series, despite lots of gameplay changes. GameSpot praised the graphics, audio and gameplay, saying "The developers have done a fantastic job of capturing the atmosphere and spirit of the series, while providing a well-balanced, challenging gameplay experience that's filled with pretty visuals, awesome (though limited) music, plenty of secrets, and some incredible bosses (just wait until you see Death... whew!).", while IGN highlighted the sound better than the graphics, saying "Outstanding sound effects with lots of bass. Good music, even if it's a bit simple at times." and Game Pro said "Is Castlevania fun? It depends on what kind of game you're looking for and how much energy you want to spend playing it. Fans of the old Castlevania will marvel at this version's familiar sites and environments and will appreciate the dedicated tack of the gameplay. Novices will be chilled to the bone at the thought of replaying a huge level after an untimely fall (fortunately, there are numerous save points). Castlevania's a 3D platform spectacle that definitely warrants a good look from N64 owners everywhere—you won't find better hauntings than this one." However, Cosmo Wright of SpeedRunsLive praised the game for its "genuinely difficult platforming hearkening back to a day of more visceral and gritty gameplay, comparable to the older castlevania titles."

The camera and the controls, however, were heavily criticized. Game Revolution stated that the camera almost ruined the game, saying "(..)the camera is barely tolerable. Acting like a 7 year-old on Pixie Stix, the camera will occasionally just go nuts, running around the character. Getting a good view of the action is almost impossible, so players find themselves just making due with a bad camera angle. This, of course, often leads to death." and regarding the controls, "(...)the control itself is a little frisky(...)Most of the control problems are found in the speed of the character. Moving close to an edge in order to jump to a lower platform is tedious - you end up mastering the lemming dive before you are able to do it with some degree of success." IGN stated "Control feels too float at first and the camera can be painful".