Castlevania and AoL

[YIGAhim]

So a little while ago, I played the original Castlevania, and when I was playing AoL today, I noticed that they are VERY similar.

Now I don't know which came first, but I'm thinking that one drew inspiration from the other.

Which one do you think handled the style of gameplay better, and why?



*If this thread fits better into general gaming then please move it

 

[Castle]

Arguably Castlevania, given its Metroidvania level structure was consistent throughout. AoL's free roaming side scrolling segments were limited to dungeons. Combat took place from a side perspective which is arguably unintuitive. The previous game's combat worked just fine so the change up wasn't even necessary to begin with. And AoL's combat was hardly as precise and responsive as Mega Man. The side perspective was also used for towns which just entailed being able to navigate from the entrance to town at one end of the level to the exit at the other and talk to any villagers or enter any houses along the way.

The side perspective functioned differently each time. The top-down perspective in the overworld was just used for simple navigation. So the game had all these different modes all broken up and working differently from each other. Castlevania had everything working from the same perspective throughout. The game's level structure flowed better. Navigation was more intuitive. Combat was more refined and the controls were more robust.

The side perspective didn't fit Zelda's overworld/dungeon dynamic. The two don't mesh. It works for Metroid because the whole game is one big interconnected free-roam side scrolling level. AoL didn't benefit from its side perspective at all. It might have if dungeons were side scroll and the overworld was the same as the first game, with integrated combat instead of taking place in a separate mode. A side scrolling perspective for the dungeons would have allowed for larger and more complex levels with more reflex challenges i.e. jumping and sword play, but the side perspective combat in the overworld doesn't make sense.