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Castlevania whips the DS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Konami struck gold by bringing the Castlevania series to the Game Boy Advance with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. It is one of the highest rated games in the franchise and back in 2001 showed that the gothic art and the whip action could work on a handheld. After two more successful games with Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow, Konami hit the fourth note with Dawn of Sorrow, which is quite easily the best of all four handheld titles and even one of the best DS games to date.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the prequel to this game, and the story revolved around a man named Soma Cruz as he traveled through Dracula's Castle to save the world from an apocalyptic eclipse. I won't ruin the outcome of that game, but in Dawn of Sorrow, you again control Soma in his quest to solve the mystery and reason behind his powers that he finds in Aria of Sorrow. A strange run-in with a member of a mysterious cult sends Soma to another castle where he hopes to wrap up his troubles once and for all, living peacefully in the world he worked so hard to save.

The story hasn't been altered, but added on. Similarly, the two-dimensional gameplay hasn't had much of a change but there have been several notable additions. For those who haven't tried Aria, Soma could find and equip dozens upon dozens of different weapons. Each of these weapons had different stats and could be swung, thrown, or shot in a different way. Slower weapons, like axes and great swords, were generally more powerful. Faster weapons, like short swords and knives, were slightly weaker. Depending on the player, each and every weapon had potential to be useful tools in killing Dracula's minions. On top of all the weapons, the soul-collecting system in Aria that allowed for different abilities is back.

Now, on top of collecting and using projectile, ability, and status souls, the souls can be harvested and fused into weapons to improve upon their stats. This essentially makes soul-collecting a priority, but it's addictive all the same. To balance out the ease of leveling-up and collecting souls, Konami raised the difficulty bar on some of the bosses, making for some of the most hectic and difficult fights on any of the four handheld games.

To increase the difficulty, and to make a cheap use of the DS' touch screen function, the player now has to memorize and draw "Magic Seals" that finish off bosses. If the player fails to correctly draw the Magic Seal, the boss is revitalized with a fraction of its health and the fight will continue until the player draws the Seal correctly. This is the biggest use of the stylus that I found, but I'm not disappointed--the gameplay is so beautifully simplistic yet so artfully balanced that throwing in a bunch of touch-screen crap would have ruined the system. Nice move, Konami.

Aria of Sorrow was a beautiful Game Boy Advance game, and Dawn of Sorrow simply adds on with more detail and smoother animation. Things like zombies being cut into halves, huge walking armors collapsing into rubble, and demons being sucked into vortexes are just a few examples of the attention to detail shown in Dawn of Sorrow. On top of this, the music and sound effects are exceptional to say the least. The epic introduction tune, combined with the fact that it's an anime-inspired clip, is enough to win me over but the detail from the graphics also carries over into the sound. Soma's little "HA!" noise when he attacks isn't what I'm talking about; enemies have distinct sounds, and in some instances, like boss fights, sound is almost as important as visuals. The goth-tastic score only adds to the feeling of the environment. Overall, this is a superficially perfect handheld game.

Take a simple gameplay concept and add a shot of addiction, sprinkle in a great story, and coat it in graphics and music that are sweeter than cake icing and you have Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, which is one of the best DS games of the year and one of my favorite handheld games. It doesn't really use the DS' functions but it's a great game all on its own and belongs in your DS library.

The best game on ds?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are 2-d. Its like old-school with the new-school(?).
If I had to vote between any game and this? Castlevania is my pick. Blood is seen very often when killing certain monsters yes, but that doesn't come between anything. I reccomd this to people at least the ages of 11 and up. Happy playings!

Classic Castelvania

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The gameplay and overall feel of this game screams Castlevania. The sidescrolling platform action is spot on, the graphics truly push the limits of the DS, and the variety of equipment/soul combinations will lend itself perfectly to creating a gameplay experience perfect for your style of play.

As people have said in past reviews, the use of the touch screen feels tacked on. To defeat bosses you have to draw symbols on the screen, which can be frustrating if a) you have poor penmenship, or b) are left-handed (such as yours truly) and have to scramble to take the stylus out, switch it to your other hand, and draw the symbol. It's a neat little addition but, again, it didn't really need to be there.

Also, the boss battles are sometimes a little too easy, even in the later levels. Don't get me wrong, there are some that are just downright nasty, but some of the bosses fire off their special weapon and all you can do is look at the screen and go "... that's it?"

Overall, this is another great game for the Nintendo DS. With the exception of the clunky touch screen addon, the game is overall fantastic.

Good game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is the best DS game out now.
it's pretty similar to Aria Of Sorrow,
but with some added features:

souls now have levels, the more souls you get, the more power you get.

Magic Seals, a very annoying gimmick to finish bosses
for example, let's say you fight a tough boss
out of the blue, you need to draw a special pattern
to kill it, and if the boss is panic-inducing to you,
you need to force yourself out the action, and draw
the seal, otherwise, you will mess up entirley
and have to start over.

anyway.

the gameplay is very solid, and non-linear.

i hope you enjoy this review :)

One of the Best in the Castlevania series.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is by far one of the best Castlevania games I have ever played. (Symphony of the Night for Playstation being the best). You will loose yourself as you spend hours collecting the souls of Dracula's minions to become more powerful, synthosize new and stronger weapons, and ultimatly strive for the best of the 4 endings, all the while trying to complete 100% of the map.

A definate MUST HAVE for any Castlevania Fan. If you aren't a Castlevania fan, this "Gotta Collect 'em All" game will have you hooked.

Koopa, Dawn of Happiness After Purchase

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

What a great game this one was. I was fortunate enough to pick up an original copy (neither the re-release or the greatest hits version) back when its initial production trickled to a halt. I left the game wrapped for a long time, thinking it would have the FFVII effect and people would be in demand for the game, after hearing how good it was. Unfortunately, the game was re-released to the public, but in a turn of good fortune, Konami decided it was time to make a greatest hits version, forever cursing the retailers of those really ugly game cases with red "Greatest Hits" printed all over it.

I have no idea what the other Castlevanias are like (except for Portrait of Ruin, which I eagerly bought after playing Dawn of Sorrow), but if they're anything like this one, then they must all be somewhat good.

For those that don't know what Castlevania is like (and I can imagine the crowd must be few), it's much like the Metroid side-scrollers. If you don't know what Metroid is like, let's just say Castlevania is a wonderful 2D side scrolling active fighting RPG much like Mario and it maintains a level of simplicity that allows you to stick to the game right up until you finish it. The weapon combos that allow for different boosts (such as the gold boost, attack boost, etc.) are to the point, and I don't know what else to say other than that it's a great pick up, both for collective and playing purposes.

Dawn of Sorrow release for $34.99, then fell to $29.99 on its re-release, but I think that had to do with the release of the DS follow-up Portrait of Ruin. You can nab Dawn of Sorrow for a great price of $19.99 at most retailers, although you'll get stuck with a rather ugly case. Either way, it's a really fun game to play and a pleasure to own.

Long live 2D games!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow was my first experience in the Castlevania series (even though it dates all the way back to the original NES days). Without a doubt, this is one of the best games available on the Nintendo DS. This classic platformer hearkens back to the gaming days of yore, where ultra-realistic graphics played second fiddle to fun gameplay. And boy is this a fun game!

There are two interesting points about this game, as compared to other similar platform games:

1. When you die, it's "game over." This caught me a little off guard when I started playing (I expected to have another "man" available). Thankfully, you can save your progress at any time via a number of save points throughout the castle; you just have to remember to actually do it (especially after the tough boss battles).

2. There's really only one level. Well, call it one and a half. The castle itself is the primary level, and "The Abyss" is the final (what I'll call) half of a level. Don't get me wrong, however; the castle is gigantic! It will easily take most players 15 to 20 hours to get through this game (possibly even longer; I know it took me a long time to beat).

There are so many abilities (over 100) and items (nearly as many) to pick up throughout the course of the game, that it quickly becomes a completist's dream. Getting 100% soul (ability) collection is really tough, and something I have yet to do. Which makes this game all the sweeter; there's always some goal to reach.

If you live under a rock like I do, and you've never checked out any of the Castlevania games, I highly recommend picking this one up. The sequel to this (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin) is also fun, but this one takes top billing. Highly recommended for platformer fans!

kindasorta= moron

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: October 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

the previous reviewer is totally brainless. most people enjoy stellar gameplay over pretty graphics in cr@p games. many people like myself are sad to see 2d games go, because i'll take a great 2d scroller like castlevania over the vast number of cr@p 3d games out there. nintendo is making a game for the people that want it. the sales don't lie...i drove around for over an hour looking for this because every games store was sold out of it. i'll take a tweaked castlevania: SOTN any day of the week. boohoo the gameplay is the same...that's why millions of gamers are still waiting for remakes of ff7, or suikoden ii, or zelda ocarina of time, etc. how many more mindless shooters do we really need? oh oh the ammo is stored in cleverly concealed bustable boxes? *yawn*

Not much touching, but a whole lot of magic.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

"Touch the magic" maybe wasn't the best choice of taglines for Dawn of Sorrow. The game makes only occasional uses of the touchpad (unless you use it for menu navigation.) This is not a complaint, simply a statement, and it can't overshadow the game's undeniable charms. DoS is good. Very good.

STORY: Um... okay. I'm not a hardcore Castlevania fan, but for most of the games I've played "story" means "Dracula's back; let's kill him again!" and serves as an excuse for a guy with a whip to kill random monsters in an improbable castle. The only deviations from this formula in DoS: You're Dracula and you don't get a whip. There's a few scraps of dialogue here and there, but virtually no character development and not much of a plot.

GAMEPLAY: Fun! As the old saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." DoS keeps most of its predecessor's winning combination of fighting, exploring and ability gain. As you fight demons, you get their souls, which you can use to manifest abilities. Most of the time, these are new means of attack, though once in a while you get a soul that grants you an ability you need to get somewhere in the castle, like swimming or turning into a bat. There are a few new twists on this power: most types of souls increase in power the more you have, and something called "weapon synthesis", which allows you to bind souls to weapons to increase their power. This leads to some resource conflicts during the game: do I sacrifice this rare, hard-won soul, or do I keep my weakling weapon? Purchasing more powerful weapons is possible (to a point,) but not as efficient as weapon synthesis and takes away money you could use for less available items. Besides, the idea of wielding a weapon that has several demonic spirits bound in it is pretty cool.
The game seems quite a bit tougher than Aria; I found myself running through potions much faster than last time. Some souls and items have different effects, so things you relied on in Aria probably won't cut it now.
The addition of the top screen is incredibly convenient. You can either have it display Soma's current status and the stats of whatever enemy you're attacking or the automap, and the Select button switches the two.. Going to the menu to look at a map just feels clunky after that.
Sadly, the gameplay retains some of its ancestor's flaws as well. It's possible to kill the same monster a hundred times over without getting its soul or rare item drop, and you may have to spend some time just running around and leveling up, something I hate doing.

The use of the Touch Screen feels pretty forced, like it was just something they put in because they felt they had to. You almost never need the thing, unless you like to navigate menus with it. One thing you do need it for is boss fights. At a certain point in a fight, you'll be prompted to draw a "magic seal." Draw it properly in the allotted time, and the boss dies. Fail, and the fight continues until you damage the boss enough to seal it again. It's really not that hard to do, but it feels sort of arbitrary. Other uses only come up once or twice and are promptly forgotten. Even directing monstrous allies you've summoned is generally unnecessary.

GRAPHICS: Great! While most of the main character sprites are sort of "scrunched" (that is, their facial features and whatnot are indiscernible,) the monsters and backgrounds are HUGE and well-detailed. There are several layers of background graphics that shift realistically as you move across the screen. The monsters are splendid to look at, well-rendered in their grotesqueness, and most have impressive death sequences. I do believe in the death sequence as an art form, and DoS delivers. Werewolves howl and are consumed in flames as they revert to men. Demons fall apart and go spiraling down an abyssal portal. The bosses, long a highlight of the Castlevania series, don't disappoint. Some exceed screen height/length and all are finely detailed.
There are some nice little touches that you wouldn't expect. For instance, one enemy soul creates a demonic vacuum cleaner that sucks HP from nearby enemies (Bizzare? Yes. Every so often you get a weird one like this.) Any "loose particles," such as feathers, petals or blood from injured enemies are also sucked into the tube. In the opening stage, a snowy mountain village, you can see Soma's breath. This sort of thing is what raises the graphics beyond simply "good."
This isn't to say the graphics are flawless. Most items look badly pixelated in the menus (though they look great on-screen. One lance in particular, a spiky thing with all sorts of nasty serrations, almost made me physically flinch..) Blood is pretty blocky also.

SOUND: Not bad! A few of the tunes really help get you in the mood for some dungeon prowling, though most are simply unintrusive. Most of the characters have vocal exclamations once in a while, though they're in Japanese so I don't understand most of them.

VERDICT:
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a very good game in a popular series. If you've got a DS, I can't think of any reason not to get it. I don't think it would justify a DS purchase in and of itself, but if you need just one more good reason to get one, DoS just might be it.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Best game on the DS?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This just may be the best game so far on the Nintendo DS. This is a sequel to the GBA game, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. It was also the only DS game, other than Meteos, to recieve a perfect 5 out of 5, from G4TVs Xplay.
Castlevania DoS plays just like any other Castlevania game before it: great action, fun platforming, and lots of undead.
Where this game shines, however, is the unique DS features: There are touch screen puzzles to solve throughout the game, and the ability to dominate enemies powers and use them in battle (just like in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow).
The graphics are great for a 2-D game and it plays very smooth. The music is very fitting and you will find yourself humming some of the creepy tunes hours after you are done playing. There are plenty of unlockables, and this will provide at least 20 hours of great gameplay.
The ONLY bad thing about the game is that the replay value is not unlimited. You will get sick of it eventually, though not for a while. If you own a DS, you owe it to yourself to pick up Castlevania: Daws of Sorrow.
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
GRAPHICS: 9/10
SOUND: 10/10
REPLAYABILITY: 8/10
OVERALL: 9/10

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