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Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow |
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Impressions: 
Great expectations were on my mind, when picking up Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS. All previous incarnations of the Castlevania series have humbled me (minus the 3D versions). From the very beginning there was rock solid game play, and a tale so good it was golden. You and your whip against Dracula and every type of nasty ever conceived! The franchise has progressed over the last decade. It has been molded and shaped more towards the RPG genre as of late. The first time the series took this twist was Symphony of the Night for the Playstation. This ultra rare gem of a game is most often referred to as the best of the series. Castlevania: DoS has stayed true to the side scrolling formula and RPG elements of Symphony of the night in every regard. In fact it has improved upon them all. IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) it should be named the new king of the franchise. You can steal monsters souls to gain their abilities. Combine weapons together to form new ones. Fuse monster’s souls to your equipment to give it new abilities and over all improved stats. The equipping system is deep in this game. They even have a switch back A – B equipment setting. This allows you to have two very different equipment and weapon setups switched up on the fly. 
The touch screen functions are limited to not much more than doing magical seals (which is basically tracing a pattern with your finger). The dual screen function serves a handy purpose of being a map or a stats menu display. The sound of and music in DoS is another classic in the series. Nothing new here though, all Castlevania sound tracks have received rave reviews. This one is no different. Another great new feature to look out for is the surrender saves. This allows you to quit the game immediately, but saves your location. Konami realizes that the DS is a travel companion system. This is the perfect function to allow for quick Castlevania fixes on the go. There is one downside to this near perfect game though. The artwork having been so consistent throughout the series, was changed! Kojima Ayami was a perfect fit! It went from some of the best illustrations I have ever seen, to some low-level quality anime art style. Maybe that’s being too harsh. I guess my real beef with the anime style is it’s too light hearted and colorful. Castlevania is supposed to be dark and grimy. Parting Words: All in all the Castlevania: DoS was a great game and a great reason in itself to pick up a Nintendo DS. I also want to thank Konami for creating a new genre, the SSRPG(Side Scrolling Role Playing Game). - January 11, 2006 
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