Konami proves Nintendo isn’t the only publishers that can put out an old school side scroller. This game is a reflection of the old school Castlevania franchise and continues the story that began in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow on the GameBoy Advance (GBA).
Players of Aria of Sorrow will find a familiar feel to the game with some slight improvements and 
new features. For new comers, like me, to the hand-held Castlevania franchise, you will not find yourself lost in confusion if you’ve never played Aria of Sorrow.
You play the games protagonist, Soma Cruz, in a story that takes place a year after Aria of Sorrow. Soma has been tracking down a cult that seeks to bring back Dracula from the dead. Yes, Castlevania is all about bringing back Dracula. Soma has traced them to a large castle where his adventure truly begins.
The Graphics
For the Nintendo DS, this game exhibits great graphical value. Although the screen is small and the character detail is low, the environment keeps the game graphics high on the charts. Konami paid close attention to subtle details which make the game look like an RPG/Action game with a slight bit of anime on character profiles and story dialog.
The environments are well lit, allowing you to see the level clearly. This is an important detail when gaming on a small hand-held device. The team definitely understood their target platform and took a “dark” genre of gaming and lit it with just the right touch of color.
The Sound
The game music is themed to a classic Castlevania score. Fans could hear the soundtrack without seeing the game itself and would immediately know “Castlevania.” The organs and pipes give an eerie dungeon feeling while other areas are more up beat and fast pace.
As you move through different areas of the map, a new score will play that matches the environment. The score changes quickly when you encounter large bosses and enemies to reflect the impending doom upon you.
The Gameplay
Dawn of Sorrow plays like Aria of Sorrow, which one could say is a mix of the original Metroid, Zelda II: Adventure of Link and Final Fantasy. The side scrolling RPG action fits Zelda II very well while the map exploring and navigation is adopted straight from Metroid. The RPG style inventory and item acquisition would best be described as “like Final Fantasy.”
The castle, where your adventure takes place, is large and un-mapped. You crawl your way through the halls and rooms battling enemies and bosses while uncovering new sections of the map. Slowly uncovering sections of the story while learning new tricks and gathering new abilities. Your character, Soma Cruz, picks up new powers to assist him by defeating enemies and absorbing their souls.
It’s all about stats. You have your classic experience meter, attribute points, gold, items and magical powers. You gain gold by killing enemies or beating on the environment’s chairs, tables, chandeliers and all the classic Castlevania props that drop hearts and money.
As you progress deeper in the castle the enemies become more powerful. As you increase in levels of experience the challenge becomes greater. The enemies find more creative ways to inflict pain and absorbing their souls becomes more of a benefit.
What’s this soul absorption all about?
Soma has a chance to absorb a soul after each kill. This chance is increased if his ‘luck’ attribute point is higher. Powerful enemies have a less likely chance of releasing their soul to you, however persistence will pay off. Battling the same type of creature repeatedly through an area will eventually yield a soul. You can gain up to nine souls per creature type and the more you have the greater the souls power will become.
A soul may be a persistent ability that you can equip and utilize throughout your adventure or it may be a summoned creature to help you in your adventure. Lastly, some souls can summon weapons to use against the enemies. If you kill a Manticore and absorb the soul (if you’re lucky enough) you can equip the soul and grow a large scorpion tail to defeat your adversaries. Destroying a “Great Armor” gollum and absorb its soul will allow you to summon it to assist in vanquishing the enemy.
Some souls allow Soma to spin a fire shield, shoot high powered magical lasers, short area teleports, fly, recover health, regenerate mana, boost attributes and much more. You can collect many souls of varying power and utilize them to solve puzzles, squeeze through tight areas, break down special walls and assist in killing evil bosses.
The soul system creates a large value to the game because you’ll want to collect them all. Certain souls are required before you can progress further in the game and boss leaders will always drop a soul when defeated (not a random chance). Many of the boss’s souls will be important for progressing to new areas.
Magic Seals
The magic seal is a new feature to the franchise. To progress through certain new area you will need a special key, known as a magic seal, to open special gates. However, the magic seals have a dual purpose. You must also seal the souls of the bosses you defeat. This is where the DS game gets tricky.
To draw a seal upon the enemy requires you to…draw the seal using the screen and stylus (or finger). Although this does not require artistic talent, it does require you to memorize the pattern and draw the lines in the right order. There are many seals throughout the game and each seal becomes more difficult to draw. You can always practice from the inventory screen, once you’ve acquired the seal, but drawing them after a heated encounter with a boss can be stressful.
Once you have defeated a boss, a blank seal will appear on the display and you must complete the pattern by memory. If you fail to do so, the boss will regenerate some of its health and continue to beat on you. This can be fatal during a very close encounter. Just when you think “whew, that was rough” the seal appears and you scramble to draw it.
Mutli-player
There is a multi-player mode, however, I’ve not explored this section of the game yet. In the multi-player mode, one player will create a section of the castle and populate it with enemies. The castle builder and another player can then race to defeat the castle and all the enemies to reach the end of the level as fast as possible.
Players are able to exchange souls they’ve found throughout the game. This may be a great way to gain an edge in the single player setting when you’ve spent enough time “farming souls” for unique powers.
DS Features
The magic seals require the user to interact with the gaming environment in a unique DS fashion. You cannot defeat the enemy bosses without additional effort with the stylus and patterns. This adds a
unique dynamic to the game environment while adding a slight bit of frustration. When you encounter an enemy boss you’ll find yourself chewing on your stylus until you defeat the enemy boss. Then, upon defeat, grabbing the stylus from your mouth and drawing the pattern, leaving behind a few stressful teeth marks.
The DS comes in handy for controlling a few of your summoned henchmen. When summoning a bat, for instance, you can point at your enemies by touching them which will cause your bat to prefer them in battle. This allows you to battle one enemy while your bat takes on another.
As you adventure through the castle you will pickup the ability to break certain blocks. Unlike traditional Castlevania games which had Simon beating on the bricks with this whip, you touch the bricks with your stylus or finger and they will explode. Areas with a large set of bricks will require you to clear them away with your stylus or finger, interactively.
Overall
This game offers a great deal of retro gaming nostalgia. The adventure is simple enough to play on the DS easily yet complex enough to keep you coming back for more. The RPG nature of the game will appeal to gamers that like to build statistics and level your character to powers unknown. Item collection, puzzle solving, dungeon exploring and unique souls will make you want to repeat areas of the castle over and over again.
The unique DS features allow you to interact with the environment in unique ways, however, some of the features seem to have become available “just because” the DS has the abilities. They do not all add great value to the hand-held experience but help show off the interactive powers of the DS.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is well worth the $34.99 for gamers that enjoy the franchise or the side scrolling retro nature of the game. The game left sore thumbs and a cramped hand from extended hours of play – proving the Castlevania series lives on even after the death of Dracula.
