There are many great games on the Game Boy Advance, and ranking among the best of them is Konami’s Castlevania series. With three amazing entries on the GBA in as many years, fans were more than pleased with the titles. Konami seemed to have put the handheld part of the series on ice, at least until Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the DS comes out. However, the second you begin playing Shaman King: Master of Spirits you realize that’s not the case at all. They cleverly hid a new Castlevania title in a Shaman King license. I didn’t want to believe it; after all, I hate Shaman King. After playing through this game though, I learned it’s true. For the most part, this could have easily been a Castlevania title.
As much as this title plays like a Castlevania title, it’s obvious that the same amount of care didn’t go into it as Konami’s marquee series. There are a lot of moments where you question the developers sense, and wonder if any balancing was attempted; if this were Castlevania not only would these faults be unacceptable, there might be riots. Faults and all, Master of Spirits (not to be confused with the abhorred Shaman King: Legacy of Spirits games) was likely overlooked by most, and it’s a shame, because there is a delightful and enjoyable Action title being ignored.
Castlevania Similarities
I know, it almost seems like blasphemy, but here I am telling you that this is nearly an unofficial entry in the Castlevania series. It has almost all of the familiar trappings, and some of the exact features. It’s not identical though, since it does some things differently, and it’s also missing a couple very important details that would have made this game less frustrating.
Like Castlevania, you control a character equipped with a sword. You guide this character through areas inhabited by monsters, which you defeat with your sword. You can jump, duck, and dash backwards by double tapping down. All of this feels very Castlevania. Also, the level design screams Castlevania, so much so that a few of the levels use exact backgrounds from the GBA’s Circle of the Moon. You’re going to want to explore all the nooks and crannies for hidden secrets, though there aren’t any destructible walls. Several of the enemies seem to be lifted directly from the series as well, adding to that overall Castlevania feel.
"Konami cleverly hid a new Castlevania title in a Shaman King license."
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You also fight a plethora of bosses through the course of this game. These bosses will be for the most part huge, a little too easy, and grant you new abilities. A few of them offer a slight challenge, but overall they’re very weak.
It’s different in what way?
Unlike Castlevania, this game has a world map. The stages in Castlevania are connected; Master of Spirits allows players to branch out in different directions. It’s still pretty much set-up like Castlevania, only sometimes you can pick a direction. Also, this world map is where you save, and access the store. Easy access to both of those things is a plus.
As I mentioned, your character uses a sword. While it upgrades as the game goes on, you never actually get new weapons. Sword combat is based on a timed combo system, which allows for three hits, each one dealing more damage than the rest. This combo system is effective, but a little slow at times.
"... my main frustration with the title: there’s no double-jump..."
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It’s important to note my main frustration with the title: there’s no double-jump, or double-jump-like ability. It boggles my mind that they didn’t put one in; especially since the level design is so close to that of Castlevania’s, and so many other abilities are stolen from the series. There were countless times where I cursed due to the lack of this ability, and it’s sorely missed. Hopefully in the sequel this problem will be rectified.
The Spirits of Power
Much like Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Shaman King: Master of Spirits allows the player to take the abilities of enemies and use them, or is granted completely different abilities from them instead. Some of which are useful, many of which are not.
Some abilities are passive, meaning if you equip them they affect you without activation. Things like increased life, increased attack, and the like. The other type of spirit, active spirits, provide special attacks or other abilities. These abilities include dash maneuvers, and other types of moves. While the passive abilities don’t use up any of your magic points, the active ones do. The meter refills automatically. The player is given four areas with five slots each to equip spirits, which the player can switch through quickly with the select button. R and L are used for the active abilities, so you can only equip two active abilities per area, though you can equip all five areas with passive spirits should you choose to.
"While it’s not quite Castlevania, it’s as close as you’re going to get..."
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At first, I really liked how the developers set this up. You have four areas to equip different spirits, so early on it’s not a big deal to switch them around when you need to, but as the game goes on there are too many necessary abilities to mix with the special ones you want to use. Certain abilities should have been mapped to the main controls, like the slide ability and the dashing maneuver just to name a couple. It’s also a major annoyance to have a weird drawing flash on the screen and a voice scream some random crap at you each time you use these abilities. I just want to jump over a pit; I don’t care if it’s the "JAGUAR SWIPE!"
Use It to Hold You Over
Shaman King: Master of Spirits isn’t exactly a long title, but some of the levels are so brutal that you can’t help but spend a lot of time on them. The enemy placement is rough at times, and you really need to pay attention to what’s going on because the enemies deal damage easily, and quickly. There’s a very short amount of time after a hit where you’re invincible (much shorter than normally in games), so running through a group of enemies, especially on later levels is usually a guaranteed death. This is also doubly a problem with enemies that freeze you.
There also isn’t a huge amount of replay value, but given the amount of times you’ll die in certain areas, you won’t need to worry about that; you’ll invest a lot of time in this game without something to go back to. There are abilities and items in the early levels you can’t access until later, but there aren’t very many and they’re usually not worth the effort.
There were some moments where I really hated Master of Spirits, but once I got past those parts it was smooth sailing until the next random annoyance. While it’s not quite Castlevania, it’s as close as you’re going to get until the next one comes out. If you’re a fan of Castlevania-style gameplay though, you can’t go wrong for $19.99, and with a sequel coming out, it might be wise to jump aboard the train now.
