GRAPHICS - 9.5
SOUND - 9.0
CONTROL GAMEPLAY - 9.5
LASTABILITY - 8.5
FINAL - 9.5


Written: 09/18/2005

Since the release of Symphony of the Night on PlayStation, every new Castlevania has to be compared to that masterpiece of 2D gaming. The last GBA game in the series, Aria of Sorrow, approached the watermark for gameplay. Its direct sequel, Dawn of Sorrow, builds on that momentum with upgrades to the graphics and sound, plus more replay value. I'm going on record to say that Dawn of Sorrow matches and in some cases exceeds the quality of Symphony of the Night in almost every way. Yet the two games have their own styles and features, so the newest addition to the series is in no way redundant with its legendary forebear.

Although Dawn of Sorrow inherits a great deal from Aria of Sorrow, there's no particular reason to play the games in order (though you should definitely play Aria, as it's by far one of the best games on GBA). Castlevania games have never had strong storylines, and this one is no different. In fact, the game would be easy to play through in Japanese except that enemy souls are identified only by name, so it's hard to find a particular soul for accessing new areas or for weapon synthesis. There's also a story event late in the game that requires you to equip a certain item, but you'd have a hard time knowing what to do without being able to read the text or item descriptions. Besides, the game is due out in both Europe and North America within a few weeks. If you can't wait (which is understandable) or can deal with the Japanese text, you can import a copy from our partners at Lik-Sang. They also have the North American version for pre-sale.

I explained the new gameplay systems in my preview update, but now I can say just how much these improvements add to the game. Weapon synthesis is a great feature that lets you put your souls to work by upgrading basic weapons until they are blades of legend. Some of the advanced weapons are extremely useful (and cool) and are well worth the effort to track down specific souls for the forging process. Being able to upgrade souls themselves by obtaining multiple copies is of minor consequence, but if you find a soul you really like, it's nice to have the option of making it more potent. The main problem with both of these features is that souls are just too hard to find. Even if you find a way to earn crazy money (and there are some useful tricks…) for the Soul Eater Ring, which increases the chances of finding enemy souls, many enemies are still maddeningly stubborn in this regard. If you're looking for a particular soul and it happens to be rare, you may have to spend several minutes of "grinding" to get it, which just isn't much fun.

Another new feature lets you create two separate equipment and soul profiles and switch between them at the touch of a button, which keeps you from having to constantly search the menu for souls to get past special barriers. The touch screen is used to break small ice blocks once you gain a special ability. The ice blocks are only found in a few rooms, and the cleverness of their placement varies widely. All in all, it's a forgettable feature. What you're much more likely to remember is the Magic Seal system, which requires you to draw mystical symbols on the touch screen to lock away boss enemies after depleting their hit points. The task is really not very difficult, but you don't have much time to input the symbol, so it still adds an extra layer of panic to the already challenging boss battles. That's the only thing keeping Magic Seals from feeling like a cheap gimmick, but it's enough for me. You'll definitely have to remember to pull out the stylus and have it ready for bosses, though, which is annoying when the game otherwise uses the D-pad and buttons exclusively.

The core gameplay in Dawn of Sorrow is exactly the same as in its predecessor, and in fact little has changed in any of these games since Symphony of the Night revolutionized the series. Dawn of Sorrow offers a brand new, huge castle to explore, with many new enemy types and thus new soul abilities for Soma. He starts out with a few moves that had to be earned in Aria of Sorrow, such as slide and back-dash, so this game feels more playable right from the start. The enemies and bosses in Dawn of Sorrow are a bit more challenging, but the liberally placed save and warp points keep frustration at bay, even when an especially nasty boss kicks your ass for the third time in a row. As long as you keep a full supply of healing potions, which isn't too hard since money is generally in abundance, you can make it through the tough parts by just keeping a close eye on the life gauge.

My only enduring complaint against the "Metroidvania" games (so named because they combine gothic Castlevania gameplay with Super Metroid-inspired exploration) is that they are just too short. They all have ways of diminishing the problem, either by including a mirrored castle or some kind of replay mode with a different character. Dawn of Sorrow takes the latter route, and in fact, its replay mode is unbelievably cool and even quite challenging. But I still wish the main quest was longer. You can spend countless hours trying to find every single soul, but the castle itself is no bigger or more complex than any of the others, so devoted fans of this series (like myself) will be able to blaze through pretty quickly. You can get to the end of Dawn of Sorrow in eight or ten hours, and it'll take more like fifteen to get 100% exploration and most or all of the souls. The replay mode adds another few hours. Twenty hours of total gameplay is great for your average handheld game, but Dawn of Sorrow feels so epic and is so addictive that you'll still wish it offered more.

Though the gameplay is familiar territory, Dawn of Sorrow makes huge leaps forward in terms of technology and art. The 2D graphics are simply gorgeous, with strikingly animated characters, huge multi-jointed bosses, and special effects so wild that they can be occasionally distracting. Most areas use several layers of parallax scrolling to give depth to the castle's architecture, and the effect is even more striking than in the last game. The use of polygons is so subtle and well done that you may not even notice their presence. All of this is run with perfect fluidity for a true visual feast on your DS. My only nitpick, and one of the very few things Symphony of the Night still holds over the handheld games, is that Soma's appearance never changes as you equip new items.

The sound is equally lush, with remarkable quality coming through the DS audio hardware. The game sounds great through the system speakers, but it'll make love to your ears through a pair of headphones. The music is perfectly suited to the game, with many original tracks and some irresistible remixes of classic songs (including one awesome remake only available in the replay mode). I might complain about the lack of full voice acting if the story were more important to the game's appeal. There are a few very brief voice samples for cut-scenes, and they sound fine.

There's no denying that Dawn of Sorrow is more of the same. It plays almost exactly like Aria of Sorrow, since most of the new features are pretty minor. But Konami's newest Castlevania is nonetheless a slightly more satisfying, challenging sequel to an already near-perfect game design. It has more replay value, and the production values have skyrocketed. Whether you got the best ending in Aria of Sorrow or this is your first "Metroidvania", Dawn of Sorrow is an impeccable adventure game that every DS owner should own and cherish.

Pros:
# Excellent, though familiar, gameplay
# Fan-service replay mode is the best yet
# Stunning graphics and sound truly rival those of SotN
# Ridiculous, disgusting, difficult final boss

Cons:
# Rare souls are too rare
# Does little to advance this aging game design

Sept. 21, 2005

Nintendo News

New DS Colors and Popular Pups Create a Holiday Bundle of Joy

You'll never find a cuter, more attractive bundle. Starting on Oct. 24,
Nintendo will offer a limited-edition bundle featuring a specially colored
Nintendo DS(TM) system and a "Best Friends" edition of the best-selling
Nintendogs(TM). The special bundle-only version of Nintendogs will let owners
start with the six most popular breeds chosen from the three Nintendogs
editions.

Shoppers will get to choose between a Pearl Pink color DS or a Teal color
DS, available only in the special bundle, which will sell at an MSRP of
$149.99. The special fourth edition of Nintendogs packed in this bundle
includes the following starter breeds: Labrador retriever, golden retriever,
German shepherd, beagle, Yorkshire terrier and miniature dachshund. As with
the other editions, all 18 breeds are unlockable as owners progress. The
bundle also includes a Nintendogs-branded Nintendo DS skin and a bone-shaped
screen cleaner.

Consumers will have to act fast, as supplies are limited. Nintendogs
broke sales records when it launched Aug. 22 in the United States. Created
exclusively for Nintendo DS, Nintendogs instantly became the hottest video
game product on the market. To date, Nintendogs has sold nearly 1.5 million
copies in Japan and North America.