An excellent debut for the Castlevania series on the DS.
This is the sequel to Aria of Sorrow and the DS debut for the Castlevania series. I expected great things, and great things I got.
Gameplay: The classic Castleroid that we know and love. It still feels as good as it did back in Symphony of the Night, if not better. The tactical soul system from Aria of Sorrow returns without major changes.
If you haven't played AoS, the tactical soul system allows you to equip the souls of enemies. Different types of souls do different things. Red souls give you attacks, executed by pressing ^+Y. Blue souls give you abilities used either by holding L, or pressing L to turn them on/off. Yellow souls give you different boosts, and are in effect as long as you have them equipped. You can equip on of each type, and blue and red ones consume mana. There is also a fourth type of soul, which are silver in color. These are the rarest, and give you different abilities such as the double jump. Unlike the other types, these needn't be equipped to get the abilities, but you can turn them off if you want. Most souls can be acquired from dead enemies, but some silver ones are found in different places.
The only new thing here is that you can prepare two different sets of equipment and souls, and then change between them by pressing the X-button. This may seem to be a minor change, but it greatly improves the flow of the game now that you don't have to open the menu to arrange your souls nearly as often. It is also possible to forge souls into weapons to get new weapons of the same type. This is also the only way to get the best weapons in the game. The boss fights are great, and as usual there are multiple endings. By fulfilling the requirements for the best ending you'll get access to a whole new area with 2 cool bosses.
There's also a lot of replay value, with a great extra mode where you play through the game with three different characters(you can swap between them on the go), as well as a different final boss. The extra mode has a story, which is a continuation of the worst ending. With all this stuff, the game lasts quite long. If you're like me, you'll want to catch 'em all... er, I mean collect the souls of all monsters. This makes the game last much longer, as you have to play through the game twice to get all souls and all weapons.
Graphics: The graphics are pretty good. The sprites move smoothly, and the use of several layers in the backgrounds(as well as a few 3D towers) gives a feeling of depth when you move. The different environments are nicely portrayed, and every area in the game has a different theme. A big drawback was the new, ugly anime designs for the characters. They replaced Kojima's beautiful, gothic art with this? I hope they return to the old art, because this looks like a bad anime.
Sound: As all Castlevania games, the soundtrack is awesome, with a perfect mix of new tracks and old remixes. The sound effects are pretty good too.
Story: The games has a story, which takes place one year after Aria of Sorrow's. It's not very deep, and as in all Castlevanias it's just a reason to hack away at Dracula's minions once again.
Summary:
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Graphics: 9.0/10
Sound:10/10
Replay Value:10/10
All in all, this is an excellent game that is definitely worth playing. It's the best DS game I've played, and whether you're a fan of Castlevania or just looking for a good game for your DS, this is definitely worth your money.
