Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

"A Highly Addictive, Well-Crafted Game with Stamina"

At its core, the premise of the Castlevania series--essentially a hero traveling from point A to point B, slaying zombies, werewolves, eventually Dracula, and a slew of chandeliers, brick walls, and candelabras--seems far too thin to have endured for two decades and several generations of consoles. In fact, the original Castlevania, which can now be "enjoyed" in all its glory in re-release form on the Gameboy Advance, isn't really a stellar game at all; even those suffering from the most severe nostalgic cataracts would have to agree. Worse still, the series seemed (and still seems) doomed in this age of polygons and vast virtual expanses to remain at its best in the seemingly outdated 2-dimensional realm (the 3-D iterations of Castlevania have, to be kind, not performed very well). Yet ironically, the franchise devoted to the repeated slaying of Dracula seems as impossible to kill as its infamous antagonist.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is the latest incarnation of the series, built around the Metroid-esque blend of action and exploration, as well as adding RPG elements to broaden the experience even further, much as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night did when it exploded onto the PS1 over a decade ago, re-energizing the franchise for the first time since the still-excellent Castlevania III did years before. Although SotN's succesful bending and blending of genres is old hat now, it's still unquestionably a combination that works, and Dawn of Sorrow almost flawlessly continues that trend, as an adventure that's tough to put down as well as possessing many elements that will leave you re-playing the game for some time to come.

GRAPHICS ~ 9

Obviously, the game is gorgeous, with its large, colorful and detailed sprites popping off the screen, never becoming swallowed as they populate the lush environments of Dracula's castle. Some backgrounds even feature some polygonal scrolling, creating an impressive sense of realistic perspective that merits a few moments of play time just to observe the angles at which you can observe the buildings in the background.

Attractive as these visuals are, however, they're still just more of the same in terms of the Castlevania series; there's a cavern, a clock tower, the castle, the church, etc. One wishes that there were more environments to play through, if for no other reason than to give gamers who've been playing the game for years a change of scenery.

SOUND ~ 10

The standard grunts, thuds, thwacks, and well-placed vocal samples are all standard fare, but the minute one happens to waltz into The Lost Village for the first time (or the Wizardry Lab), one realizes how freaking AWESOME this game's soundtrack is. Easily the best soundtrack since 2002's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, the compositions really drive the game forward, with many of the melodies and rhythms sticking with you long after the game is shut off. Spanning from gothic to pop-rock to funk to haunting ambience with ease, the game's soundtrack actually does more to distinguish each new area of the castle than the GRAPHICS do. Furthermore, you may find that one of the reasons you come back to the game is just to enjoy its excellent soundscape.

More developers should realize that how a game sounds can drastically affect the overall experience, even in an action game where audio can oftentimes take a backseat to absorbing, intense gameplay.

GAMEPLAY ~ 9

As was stated above, Castlevania is really just a hero wandering from one destination to another, killing things with a weapon. Rinse and repeat, many times, until the game ends. This is precisely what makes it so accessible, as any gamer can easily pick up the game and play it fairly well. The controls are crisp and responsive, the configuration is simple, and the extra abilities that the hero gains are easy to use as well. In short, this game is simple enough for anyone to play. Even the RPG elements are straight-forward and streamlined (you kill enemies to gain experience points, which makes you stronger; you find money to buy items and better equipment--though like any good adventure the best items are found through thorough exploration of the castle).

Consequently, however, the game really isn't all that challenging. Whereas CotM's two-headed Zombie Dragon still has me biting my nails from time to time, none of the bosses in DoS really reach that level of challenge, although one or two come close. Furthermore, it can't be said that there are really any tricky platforming sequences or combinations of terrain and enemies that make any particular area especially challenging to forge through, even on Hard Mode.

The meat of the game, it seems, has been placed in the Soul System, taken from DoS's predecessor, Aria of Sorrow, which grants the player special abilities, new attacks, and boosted stats depending on what souls of which enemy the main character absorbs and equips. Although the idea is great on paper and would seem to allow for a somewhat customizable character, in reality there are really only a few souls that are really worth utilizing and powering up. It should also be said that one of the game's few flaws presents itself to the gamer who wishes to take full advantage of the soul system, or to gain 100% completion scores: it can definitely be a chore to harvest souls, as there is only a small chance that any given enemy will yield a soul when it is killed. Granted, there are items as well as souls that can greatly increase the chances of souls appearing, but more often than not these are obtained by even MORE soul-hunting! It's really the only chore in an otherwise fun game, and spending hours leaving and re-entering a room to get a single rare soul is more frustrating than any real challenge the action throws at you.

Again, however, these gripes would probably have no bearing on the casual gamer just wanting to get through to the end, as this is still a very solid game of modest length, with simplistic gameplay that is addictive.

REPLAY VALUE ~ 8

Any action game is going to wear itself out after a time, but the extras in DoS, as well as the variety of weapons and experimenting with various souls will keep many gamers occupied for a while. Of particular note is "Julius Mode", an unlockable version of the game the puts gamers in control of Julius Belmont, whip and all. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that Julius Mode is AWESOME, is not what it seems at first to be, and offers basically a new game to those able to unlock it. What fun!

OVERALL

On a system that is starved for more more adult-themed, traditional gamers, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow keeps the franchise alive while keeping the DS ever-so-slightly out of the realm of a mere kiddie machine, as Nintendo's recent products have been accused of being. With solid action, plush visuals, a memorable soundtrack, and great replay value, this is definitely a must-own for the Nintendo DS (and especially the DS Lite--the visuals look much more stunning).

Thank you, Konami!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/06