"The Castlevania series continues its artwork in a beautiful portrait."

Sometime ago, I wrote an entry about my thoughts for the upcoming title in the series. How excited I was that this game was going to be so incredibly awesome. Well, I got it a week ago, and here's what I have to say; I'm happy. Yes, very happy.

To get down right to it, it is the year 1944, during World War II. You play as Johnathan Morris, son of John Morris from Castlevania: Bloodlines. The story is about stopping a vampire named Brauner from using the power of Castlevania to end humanity and to discover his connection with the Belmont line and why he can't use the Vampire Killer, the legendary whip that his been passed down by the Belmont clan. Of course, Johnny isn't alone here. He has a childhood friend, Charlotte Aulin, who is a descendant of the Belnades clan that has fought Dracula alongside the Belmonts since the days of Trevor Belmont's struggle in the 1400s. The story comes off as quite nice for the series, but regardless, Castlevania's never really been about the story. It's there, and it works well.

Although the game still uses anime designs which were used in Dawn of Sorrow, don't be discouraged. This is Castlevania doing well. The style itself is a bit different from DoS' and the classic elements are in tact as they have been for all this time. Also, if you think that the anime style itself is discouraging, then you haven't heard of Rondo of Blood. When you see Richter with a guitar and Maria jumping around with ice cream and animals, then you tell me its ridiculous. Except that they did, and the game is considered to be one of the very best in the series.

Superficial attitudes will get you nowhere with this game. It has a sense of humor, and that's always a good thing, but it also has its dark side. You're still traveling through the dark castle and slaying demons and zombies with plenty of them spewing blood everywhere. Castlevania has come a long way, but not everything has changed. You can slay them with a whip, a sword, axe, mace, whatever you find. Or for Charlotte, fry them with one of your spells. You also have access to various sub-weapons (press Up + Y), ranging from the Dagger, Axe, Holy Water, Cross, to newer ones like a Crossbow, a Steel Ball, and even skills, like Taunting you're enemies, Martial Artist rising knee attacks, and others. You can team up with Charlotte and combine spells. Together, you can solve puzzles together, as well, while you're in the castle's various areas.

You're not going through the castle, either. That's only for half of the areas. The other half take place inside of paintings that are based on different places around the world (Europe, Egypt, etc.). This is an element that follows Bloodlines' stage design, where you could go to the Atlantis Shrine in Greece, Versailles Palace in France, Munitions Factory in Germany, and of course, Dracula's Castle in Transylvania, among some others. They don't quite do it the same way by listing real world locations, but the point that you're not just traveling through the same areas in the castle again and again is a nice change of pace. You'll find a few familiar areas (the Clock Tower is a tradition), but most of it is outside. My only gripe is that some of the level design itself could have been a little better (not the first areas. They're good. This is noticeable later in the game, though) . However, since Dawn of Sorrow was noticeably repeating a lot of area themes, as these minor level design issues don't really hurt the game that much, this change couldn't have come at a better time.

Along with a change of areas, the game sports a wonderful soundtrack to go along with it. This is probably the best soundtrack in the portable Castletroids since Circle of the Moon, and is probably even the best one overall. The music is composed by legendary Castlevania composer Michiru Yamane as well as Yuzo Koshiro. Yes, the composer from Revenge of Shinobi and ActRaiser is helping to compose the soundtrack, and the two go very well together, as it shows. Tracks like "Invitation of a Crazed Moon", "Silent Prison", and many others, as well as the remixes from past games, sound terrific. It is no lie that this has one of the best known soundtracks in the portable series and lives up very well to the standard of the overall series in general.

Beating the game itself won't take long. Getting everything is another story altogether. You still have sub-weapons to master, quests to finish, items to collect, maps to complete, several character modes, and challenge modes where you set level caps when you're done with the main story. This has the most replay value of any game in the series. This game will keep you hooked for quite a while. Not only that, but you can team up with another person via Wi-Fi and play a Co-Op Boss Rush with them. Unfortunately, it's only a few levels long, but still, it's pretty fun trying to beat your times and teaming up with another person. I just hope that they can expand this aspect a little more in the next title. Also, you can open up a shop online or purchase items from another player and exchange rare items in case you accidentally get rid of a rare item for one of the side-quests in the game that you're offered by Wind, a mysterious character in the game.

If you own a DS, buy this game. Buy Dawn of Sorrow as well, but definitely buy this game if you have a DS. If this is your first Castlevania, that's good. It will be a fresh experience for you and it's one of the better titles in the series.

Happy 20th Anniversary!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/06