My Expensive Addiction

Looking through the posts from the last month or two on here, you may notice they're pretty few and far between. You see, folks, I've unfortunately been stricken with a new habit. It's taking over my life, it's like nothing I've tried before, and it's near-impossible to kick despite taking all my time and money. No, it's not heroin (yet), but something much, much more unhealthy: Castlevania HD. I'm sorry, that wasn't a surprise, it might even have been disappointing. What I have managed to post of late has almost all been related to the damned game, so it should be no shock 'n' horror to know it's really been my go-to game this winter.

But that's not interesting, right? Indeed. What is unusual, however, is that Konami appears to have strolled into my life, a company whose games I have hardly touched, and taken almost all my money. Now, I'm not the kind of guy who will say 'DLC? Well, I liked the game, so I'll take it, TAKE IT ALL!'. In fact, with the exceptions of games I really want to squeeze the replay value out of such as Gears 2, Halo 3 and Red Dead, I often won't buy DLC at all. It seems that a simple old-school sidescroller made up entirely of sprites used in 10-20 year old games has avoided this rule.

I'll get this straight - Konami won't lie to you, or try to bend the truth, or even try to hide the fact they want your money. The game itself is 1200 points, 50% more than Undead Nightmare despite having not nearly as much content, or Puzzle Quest 2, which is a whole new game for goodness' sake. They've since steadily released new levels and characters, but get the prices for these. The first extra chapter was 400 points - a third of the whole game price for an extra 1/6th of the content. The following two were 320 points, and the two to come are 240 each, and that's only because they're in easy-to-code 8-bit format. The characters? All 240 each, except for the two 8-bit characters going for 160 each. These prices are undeniably ludicrous, but I have lapped them up like a cat with milk. Milk filled with delicious rare loot, and... sweet... 5 star drops...

But I digress, as I begin to drool over 2d items on a screen again. Funny, I've gone from a guy who's never touched a Japanese game in his life, to being utterly obsessed with one that might as well have been made 15 years ago. I suppose my only advice to give to readers, as people would with any drug, is don't start. If you like RPG elements, grinding, and killing fantasy monsters, you will love this game. Too much. And it will be the death of your wallet.