"Beats even the legendary Symphony Of The Night!"

Rare are those games who are utterly perfect. Games whose graphics, music, game play and replay value all add up to one magical experience that can't be missed.
I can name a few: Goldeneye, Final Fantasy 7, Halo, Chrono Trigger, Symphony Of The Night, etc.

We can now add another name to that precious list of titles who are so enjoyable that nothing can touch them: Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow.

It's not simply the best game in Konami's legendary franchise, it's simply the best 2D game ever. A game so perfectly well made, that it knocks the socks off Konami's other efforts in the same series and at the same time, makes Nintendo's hand held a must-buy for any action or RPG players deserveful of the moniker, gamer.

With Symphony Of The Night, Konami added a whole new dimension to it's decades old franchise. Equipment, exploration, level-ups like in a RPG, multiple endings...

It reinvented the gameplay of the older iterations and added so much that while it lost many fans, the series gained more recognition then it's brethren and SOTN is now hailed as one of the best PSX games ever made.

Dawn Of Sorrow is so amazing that it simply dwarf the PSX's masterpiece. It perfects the gameplay of SOTN and keeps the additions brought forth by the GBA title Aria Of Sorrow to create the ultimate Castlevania experience. A game so rich and fun to play that only the harshest players will find something that is not to their liking in DoS.

The game continues the adventures of Soma Cruz, a Spanish exchange student whose life in Japan took a turn for the worse when he found himself stuck in a solar eclipse with his friend, Mina Hakuba in Aria Of Sorrow. It's now a year later, and Soma still possessing the power of governing the souls of monsters and demons, has to fight against a peculiar cult led by an ice-cold but beautiful woman named Celia Fortner who wishes to dispose of Soma so that his powers can be inherited a member of her's sect.

Helping him, are the always reliable Yoko Belnades, a witch who works for the church, Alucard, the son of lord Dracula who vowed the defeat the evil brought forth by his father centuries ago and the vampire hunter Julius Belmont, who still doesn't trust Soma completely. Mina also returns to fulfill the damsel in distress role, like in AoS. Also along for the ride is the soldier Hammer, who serves as the shopkeeper.

I'll split the review in four parts: Graphics, Music And Sound, Gameplay and Replay Value.

GRAPHICS: Dawn Of Sorrow looks like a GBA title in screen shots and videos. But seeing it on the DS's screens with all the proper filters makes it much more gorgeous. I'm a huge fan of 2D gaming and I can safely say that Dawn Of Sorrow is breathtaking. Soma moves so fluidly that one wonders how many frames of animations does he have. Even Alucard in SOTN didn't move that well. In AoS , the attack animations where limited but Soma never wield a weapon the same and this is a huge plus.

The enemies are also amazing looking with many creatures being pulled from SOTN while the majority are new including huge slimes to pig like beasts. Each of them is fluidly animated and look striking. 2D fans will melt in joy after witnessing these.

The backgrounds are also detail filled an quite frankly they feel more refreshing than the ones in SOTN. From luscious gardens to ghostly caverns to a huge demonic doll house, each area looks gorgeous and it's a bliss to travel in them.The Lost Village area with it's snowy forests or it's wooden bridges and houses with the castle looming in the background is simply something that will make any Castlevania fans sink to their knees in joy.

5/5

MUSIC AND SOUND: Symphony Of The Night had memorable music but with following games simply didn't have as memorable compositions or quality as good as the PSX sound chip. DoS still doesn't get perfect quality songs but the amazing music will still wow everyone who plays the game.

The themes for The Lost Village, the Wizardry Lab, the Cursed Clocktower, the Condemned Tower and the Pinnacle got to be some of the best songs in a Castlevania game. These songs are so memorable that simply listening to them as I stalk the castle simply brings tears of joy to my jaded ears.

I'm also a sucker for good boss music. I like to fight the big beasties while listening to great music and Dawn Of Sorrow's boss tunes are unlike any others. You get a chaotic, orchestra driven song, a extremely catchy electronic song that reminded me of Megaman X and a beat that would have perfectly fitted alongside the songs of Street Of Rage.

The sounds are also exemplary. From the footsteps of Soma or the monsters, to the screams or the voices right to the impact of every blow, DoS's sound is perfect. Like the music.

5/5

GAME PLAY: If you haven't been following the recent Castlevania, here is how it goes. You get to explore a massive castle and it's surroundings. The areas ranges to woods, to cathedrals right to caverns and mines. You run on a 2D plane and fight your opponents using spears, swords, guns or axes. You can equip armor and accessories. Just like a RPG, you got stats and you gain levels. It's Tales Of Phantasia meets Metroid. A weird mix and it works.

Much like Aria Of Sorrow, each enemy got a soul you can absorb by defeating them. If you manage to get a monster's soul, you can use their abilities to help yourself. Unlike AoS which had many useless souls, DoS never gives you a useless ability. The possibility are staggering.

New additions to the franchise are weapons synthesis, which also Yoko to use the souls you collected to transform your weapons into something better and the possibility to upgrade your abilities by collecting more of the same soul.

Being on superior hardware then the GBA titles, Dawn Of Sorrow is much lengthier and padded out. The game is filled with items and weapons and well as secret passages. Using the DS's touchscreen features, the game presents a series of weird puzzles that if correctly solved will give the players amazing rewards. It's way better then having to find hidden walls, which are still in anyway.

The game also forces you to use the touchscreen to draw symbols over the bosses you defeat to seal them forever or they come back to beat you up some more. No need to worry. Kill the boss then take out your stylus as slowly as you want. The game only starts the timer when you start drawing. Miss your shot and the boss lives. Get it right and you collect it's soul and move on.

Much like SOTN, Dawn Of Sorrow got a flurry of endings which are triggered depending on what you did or on what item you are wearing at some moments. Just like the PSX one, you can lengthen the playtime but getting the endings that allows you to continue deeper in the castle and meet more bosses and monsters.

The best thing that can happen is getting the bad ending which mirrors the one in Aria Of Sorrow but takes the concept farther allowing you to tear up the castle as Julius Belmont while allowing you team up with Yoko and Alucard to defeat the reincarnation of Dracula.

This make the already 15 hours plus game gains way more play time as you get a whole new side of the story to explore. Unlike the other games in the series, this special mode of play got an actual story and your characters can level-up like in the main game which puts it ahead in term of gameplay easily.

In all, it's a perfect game.

5/5

REPLAY VALUE: Remember how we explored Symphony just to find some cool new tricks like the haunted confessional in the chapel or sitting in chairs with your fairy familiar on your shoulder. Dawn Of Sorrow got plenty of little details like that and even more then before.

Completing the main story can be fairly long since getting the best endings is pretty tricky to figure out. Getting 100 percent map percentage and getting all the secret weapons is also pretty long.

Playing as Julius, Yoko and Alucard with a whole new story is also pretty long and involving too.

Add to that, a unlockable Hard Mode, Boss Rush Mode where you can unlock some pretty sweet prizes and even a multiplayer mode where you put souls you collect in a series of room which you can have a blast in either alone or with a friend and you got a extremely long game to complete and one of the biggest hand held games ever.

5/5

If you are a action or a RPG fan or simply a Castlevania enthusiast you can't pass up on Dawn Of Sorrow. It's a monster of a game which will be remembered by players as much as the revered PSX title, Symphony Of The Night. It's great to see a game actually live up to it's hype since this hasn't happened in quite a long time. Let's hope the next DS chapter will be as good as this one!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/04/05