E3 Disclaimer: AMN’s E3 previews are designed to inform you of what each game at E3 plays like, and what we think of what’s shown. These previews are not reviews, and we reserve final judgment of each game until it is finished and released. These previews offer an honest opinion of what a publisher chose to demo at E3. So, without further ado, read on.

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What The Game's About
Castlevania fans rejoiced when word came down that the Japan-only Rondo of Blood was in the works for the Sony PlayStation Portable, and now Konami has put together a two level demo of the reworked Rondo for E3 2007. We sat down with Konami to take it for a spin, secret level and all.

What we have here is an honest to goodness 2D old fashioned action-packed Castlevania adventure from the days of yore. Richter Belmont is our hero this time around, but both he and his world have been redesigned in glorious 3D similar to how Mario was reinterpreted for New Super Mario Bros. Richter has all the old school moves including the whip lash, item crash, Up+Attack subitems, and even a nifty backflip. Leaving the RPGish trappings behind, the object of the game is to proceed from level to level, beating down enemies and bosses on the way to Dracula himself.

Seeing as how Rondo of Blood was the last traditional Castlevania game before the stylings of Symphony of the Night took over, there are a few upgrades from the old formula. There are a number of secret out-of-the-way paths to be found that act as shortcuts or alternate routes, plus there’s an unlockable secret playable character – Maria – for players to find. In our time with the demo we found the secret path in the first level that held a large flying dragon boss, but Maria eluded us. The whole affair ended with a battle against a vicious werewolf that would cling to the sides and top of the screen before targeting Richter in a mighty fireball attack. In addition to this new reimagined Rondo, the original PC Engine version will be included as an unlockable extra, as will Symphony of the Night. Why as unlockables? The developers want players to explore the new Rondo before jumping into the original version of the story and its sequel.

What's Hot
This is definitely Castlevania. The music, the sounds, the action, and the controls are of vintage stock, and picking up the PSP to play is like slipping on a comfortable pair of pants at the end of a long day. Provided the finished product maintains this level of quality, fans should be in for a treat. The high point of the demo was during the werewolf fight in which we managed to slaughter the beast by tossing a boomerang behind its head, allowing the weapon to strike it from behind while Richter whipped it from the front. The demo had several other action packed moments such as this, all of them exuding various levels of awesome.

What's Not
There’s not much to complain about in the Dracula X Chronicles demo. The visuals are a little low quality when the 3D models are shown close up, but that’s to be expected in some regard considering the limitations of the hardware. Locking away the other two games until the new Rondo is completed seems on the sour side, but since most players will want to complete the new game anyways, it’s not such a big deal.



Outlook
We can’t wait for Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles to hit stores later this year. Packing three full adventures on a single UMD seems like a great value, and it’s always good to see Symphony of the Night again. The inclusion of the original Rondo of Blood is just the icing on the cake (or stake, as the case may be).