Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP represents one of the best value purchases currently available for the console. Not only do you get a remake of one of the best Castlevania titles - Rondo Of Blood but you also get full versions of Symphony Of The Night and the original Rondo Of Blood on the disc as unlockables!
This in itself is fantastic as Rondo Of Blood has never been released outside of Japan (until it's release on the Wii Virtual Console) and the PC Engine original has always commanded a high price.
I have spoke before about my love for the original Rondo so i will move straight onto the remake. Graphically it's a bit of a mixed bag, some areas indeed do look gorgeous but other areas can look a bit shoddy, especially the character models. I feel that the game would've benefited from being proper 2d instead of the 2.5d polygon look.
Music is decent, Rondo always had an amazing soundtrack and it's nice to hear the old tracks performed in an orchestral style (i do still feel that the original soundtrack is far superior though).
Gameplay wise the remake plays pretty much the same as the original - very hard! This isn't helped by some of the muddy textures in a couple of areas sometimes making it hard to pick out certain enemies (bats at the start of stage 3b being a prime example))
Maria also seems to be less effective on the remake compared to the original, her attacks don't seem as powerful as they did. I've found myself struggling on a couple of bits with her which i blitzed through in the original. I hate what they've done to her and Richters character models, i loved the sprite work on both of them in the original.
Symphony Of The Night is still fantastic, and having it on the lovely little PSP screen is a joy to behold. This is reason enough really to own the Dracula X Chronicles in my opinion especially as it can be picked up for around the same price as Symphony Of The Night costs on the Playstation Network.
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