Dracula Densetsu Rebirth / Castlevania Rebirth (Wii) (2009)
Developer: Konami

Review by Faididi and Co.

Redemption for Christopher, but not much else

Story: Average

As this series' tale goes, the demonic Lord Dracula returns to terrorize Transylvania (and the rest of the world) about every century. The current warrior successor dude of the Belmond clan, whoever he happens to be at the moment, is stuck with the job of trudging over to Dracula's place and killing everybody there. For this installment, our hero is Christopher Belmond.

Gameplay: Average

As a Wii-exclusive downloadable game, Konami's Dracula Densetsu Rebirth (Castlevania Rebirth) is a single-Player side-scrolling action platformer. It's actually a remake of the series' first Game Boy installment, Akumajou Densetsu (The Castlevania Adventure), but thankfully without the very rough edges that have plagued that handheld debut.

Like Castlevania Chronicle about eight years ago on the original PS, this game is a nostalgia-driven return to the pure action roots of the series. Christopher fights through 6 linear stages, each guarded by minions, environmental traps, and exactly one miniboss and one bigger boss. All the medusa heads, pointy spikes, and comically ambiguous pairing of Death and Dracula one expects can be found right here. Besides the basic whip-lashing attack, our hero can use subweapons (the throwing knives, the axes, the holy water, the boomerang-like crosses, and the enemy-freezing pocket watches). Christopher can also obtain the whip fireball power-up first seen in his very own Game Boy installment.

However, while there's nothing wrong with being just an action platformer, Dracula Densetsu Rebirth simply feels lacking. Sure, its level and enemy designs all scream of the series' old material, but that means a lack of surprises, too. As with Castlevania Chronicle, Dracula Densetsu Rebirth comes nowhere close to the fantastic SFC/SNES remake of Akumajou Dracula (Super Castlevania 4), which still impresses with its eight-way whipping, crouch-walking, and hook-swinging controls. Unlike Konami's own Contra Rebirth, which makes the effort to add truly new challenges and multiple playable characters with different traits, Dracula Densetsu Rebirth contains nothing that can't already be found in the earliest of its own predecessors.

Controls: Above Average

The controls are solid work, and they can also be customized, with your choice of any accepted controller type for the Wii: the remote, the classic controller, or the GCN controller.

Graphics: Excellent

This game's impressive visuals look arguably more colorful than those of Contra Rebirth. The smoothly animated characters are beautifully rendered, and the backgrounds are very richly textured.

Audio: Above Average

The audio effects are quite decent, too. The whip-lashing, the fire-whooshing, and the rest of the sound effects play out with force. The music consists of updated versions of the past installments' most driving and catchiest tunes.

Overall: Average

For a downloadable Wii game, Dracula Densetsu Rebirth isn't as good a deal as Contra Rebirth, for the simple fact that it doesn't attempt anything new at all. If you've already played through the earlier action platformers in the series, you can skip this overly literal remake without fear of missing anything important.