A classic proves it's (mostly) free of wooden stakes, and a great value.

Seeing an early Playstation era classic on Xbox Live Arcade comes as a bit of a shock. Especially to those of us who remember eagerly awaiting the game's release back in 1997. (was that really ten years ago?) As we all know, old does not mean irrelevant, and Symphony of the Night holds up very well for it's age.

SotN is the story of Dracula's son, Alucard, who has awoken to investigate the events surrounding the Castle of Dracula's return. At the beginning of the game, Alucard loses the powerful weapons and abilities the player has so briefly enjoyed, in one of many similarities to the Metroid series. From there, Alucard finds new equipment, levels up by killing enemies, and more and more of the castle is unfolded to explore.

The sense of exploration and character growth is very tangible, when you see that far off ledge or small passageway that taunted you an hour ago all of a sudden become accessible, and a whole new wing of the castle with it. For new players, the game might seem a bit difficult at first, when you're at lower levels, almost any enemy in the castle can unexpectedly kill Alucard and leave you to load your game at the last save spot. The game does become easier and more playable as it goes on, with difficulty ramping up again about halfway through for spoiler related reasons.

The game takes place entirely within the castle, but a great variety of locations and visual styles keep things interesting. Little details on enemies like skeleton heads that clack their teeth together in anticpation of Alucard's demise are very enjoyable too. Alucard controls fluidly and animates very well too, with his cloak and hair all feeling very separate from his body's movements. The animation has such a satisfying feeling that you might find yourself moving Alucard around the screen, just to enjoy the animation and flowing movements of the character.

The most praised and memorable part of the game is the music, which sets the mood very well for each area of the castle. The entranceway's use of drums and guitar gets the player excited to charge into the castle. More elegant compositions in the library and garden areas contrast well with the horrible creatures and purpose of the castle as well. Do beware the soft rock elevator trash ending theme, though. "I am the wind" is an atrocious track, like finding a rotten, festering spot in an otherwise delicious apple.

One concern of the game coming to the Xbox Live Arcade was sound quality. However, all the soundtracks are at least equal to what I heard on the Playstation disc, without much compression distortion. It doesn't make sense that the game defaults to Mono sound, and you should be sure to change it, as the sound quality increases in Stereo.

SotN on 360 uses the original US Playstation voice acting, which can be seen as a positive or negative. The voice acting is bad enough to make you cringe, especially with such great music surrounding it. For some who've played and loved the game over the years, this might be a point of nostalgia. Personally, I'm a bit put off by the acting and wish they would have cleaned up the game's few lines of dialog, especially after seeing how Resident Evil's (GC) cleanup worked to improve that game.

Speaking of other negative points, SotN lacks direction. Exploring can be fun, but the average player not using a guide or with previous knowledge of the game could "finish" it in 5 hours and get a very disappointing ending. There is a whole second castle and further boss fights, and other playable characters, but none of these are clearly hinted. Thankfully, intelligent achievements are made available to direct people to dig deeper on the 360 version

Widescreen support is somewhat available, by stretching the screen and getting very pixelated results. The "enhanced" mode does little other than to smudge the pixel edges. As always, the 360 controller presents a challenge, especially when doing complicated magic button combinations. You can get by with using the analog stick, but forget trying to use the official D-Pad.

It is hard to complain, though, especially with so much content and such a well done game available for just 800 MS Points. ($10) The original Playstation version never retailed at that point and is tough to find on the resale market even day for less than $40. It's a classic that any platforming and especially any metroid fan should play immediately.

With these kind of retro releases, it's tough to give just one score. I'm going to give recommendations different for people who played the game years ago from those revisiting SotN.

For newcomers: 9 of 10. An essential game to play. You're getting an excellent version on the cheap, and if you get lost, there's plenty of guides available online to help you get the most of it.

For vetrans: 5 of 10. Achievements aren't enough to recommend ebaying your PSone copy. The shoddy widescreen support and slightly compromised sound mean you'd be getting a better experience through the original disc. Little here you haven't seen before.