Reviewed by CL on 1/30/2006
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is Konami's latest entry in the popular Castlevania series and sequel to the Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow on the Gameboy Advance. This game picks up just after Soma Cruz discovered that he was destined to become the next iteration of Dracula yet manages to suppress this uprising. The current game picks up with Soma living happily when an occult cult decides that if they are to resurrect Dracula, then they must eliminate Soma so that Dracula can rise again. In order to prevent this, Soma decides to go on the offensive and attack the cult at their home base, which happens to be a reconstruction of Dracula's castle.
This sets up the story and background of one of the best Castlevania games to date. Since this is sequel to Aria of Sorrow, the soul stealing system returns. Enemy souls that you obtain can be equipped and used to boost attacks or defense or to add other abilities. Every enemy in the game has a soul that you have a chance of stealing every time you defeat them. Of course some are harder to obtain than others. This serves as the game's main way of adding depth and keeping you playing for hours as you scour the castle looking for new souls to steal.
The other thing that keeps you playing this game is the fact that there are some parts where you have to play over and over again because there are parts in this game that are really hard. There are some bosses that I must have tried 15 times before I finally beat them. This is a welcome change from Aria of Sorrow and is a nice nod to the original Castlevania games where skill and reflexes were required.
In terms of new additions to the series, this game doesn’t really contribute any. The touch screen is really rarely used. There are several puzzles throughout the castle that require you to use the stylus to solve. For example, there are sections filled with special blocks that you need to use your stylus to destroy in order to move forward. The other use of the touch screen involves boss fights. Through out the game, you acquire these “magic seals". These are just some simple patterns that you draw on the touch screen. When you reduce a boss’ hit points to zero, the screen suddenly changes and you are required to draw this “magic seal" in order to completely defeat the boss. If you are too slow or draw the symbol incorrectly, the boss regains some life and the fight continues. Since some of the bosses are quite difficult, this adds a nice element of tension to these encounters (it actually made me fight the bosses with the stylus in my mouth so I could quickly grab it and draw the symbol).
The replay value of this game is extraordinary. You’ll probably spend 10-15 hours trying to complete the main quest. And if you’re trying to collect all the souls of every enemy, you can be at it for a significantly longer time. Not only that, but after you beat the main game, there is an entire second game to be played! In this game, you play as three different characters which are can be switched between at any time (similar to Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse). This additional game has more bosses and a slightly different story line to follow so it is definitely more than just a simple unlocked minigame. It is so good that it probably could have been its own standalone retail product.
Overall, this is one of the best Castlevania games to date and I would highly recommend this title to almost anyone.
