Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Review

[Zarkon]

Said review is live.  Comment away and enjoy![/url]

[The Grue]

Explain to me again why every DS game has to use the touch screen?  I hate when reviewers use that as a con.  I love my DS and what it can do, but I fully recognize a game on the device can be great without using them.  Castlevania is one of those games.

[Zarkon]

The biggest difference between the GBA and the DS is 1) the touch screen and 2) increased power.  If a game isn't using 2, it should be using 1.  If i'ts not using 1 or 2, why be a DS game?  

Note:  I didn't knock it heavily.  Madagascar and Animaniacs, on the other hand...

[Nth Power]

Great review!  That's pretty much how I feel about the game after sinking a few hours into it.  

It's too bad just because it's a DS game that the touch screen has to be incorporated.  It's convenient having the two screens going at the same time, but the touch functionality feels gimmicky and more of a hassle than anything.  I'd rather just play it without.

[Jumangi]

I don't see the problem with a game getting dinged for those reasons.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Only 90% for the hands-down best game on the system?

[The Grue]

Only 90% for the hands-down best game on the system?

It's because the touch screen implementation sucks.

[Kevin Grey]

The biggest difference between the GBA and the DS is 1) the touch screen and 2) increased power.  If a game isn't using 2, it should be using 1.  If i'ts not using 1 or 2, why be a DS game?  

Note:  I didn't knock it heavily.  Madagascar and Animaniacs, on the other hand...

Castlevania is using 2.  It might still be 2D but it looks much, much nicer than the GBA games.

[rrmorton]

Good review. This plus a handful of other recent games are finally making me itch for a DS. Fortunately, this is an itch I think I can ignore (with a little help from the Xbox 360.)

[Dimmona]

So I finished the game this morning.... talk about a sudden 'WTF?' ending.  I'm assuming I received the worst possible ending (~75% complete, 45% souls) but still I never saw it coming.  You beat what seems like another miniboss then BAM! there's the credits.  

Guess I'll have go do a little more searching in hopes of a better end boss/ending/etc.

[Zarkon]

Best game on the system?  No, not in my opinion.  There's a reason I gave Meteos a 94%.

[Dimmona]

So I finished the game this morning.... talk about a sudden 'WTF?' ending.  I'm assuming I received the worst possible ending (~75% complete, 45% souls) but still I never saw it coming.  You beat what seems like another miniboss then BAM! there's the credits.  

Guess I'll have go do a little more searching in hopes of a better end boss/ending/etc.

Finally figured out what I had missed and after a few kickass boss fights was finally able to get to the 2nd ending... and now that I figured out the 'trick' for the 2nd ending I'm on my way to the final one.  Man, what an awesome game this has turned out to be!  It's giving Meteos a run for the money in my book....

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Meteos gets old fast in a way that Lumines never did.

[Harpua3]

Meteos gets old fast in a way that Lumines never did.

 It`s the other way around for me at least :wink: .

[depward]

Meteos gets old fast in a way that Lumines never did.

 It`s the other way around for me at least :wink: .

Yeah, I didn't like how I had to play Lumines for more than an hour to get a high score.  What's up with that?!

Unloackables up the yang with Meteos as well as a weird "story" thing makes me like that more than I liked Lumines.  Don't get me wrong though - Lumines is a great puzzle game.  I enjoyed it.  I just like Meteos more.

[stiffler]

100% souls!  Ka-ching!  Took me awhile to find my prize, but had a decent idea of the area it would be.  That item is uber!

I thought the final boss was pretty easy.  Now I want to get 100% of the map so it's time to run through the castle with the peeping eye equipped...

[Interloper]

Still playing through this one, I'm about 60% through I'd guess, and wow what a fantastic game.  I love the graphics (I've always been a sucker for good 2d parallax scrollers), love some of the boss battles, the equipment custimization, etc.  I hope this is only a sign of things to come for the DS.

[depward]

100% souls!  Ka-ching!  Took me awhile to find my prize, but had a decent idea of the area it would be.  That item is uber!

I thought the final boss was pretty easy.  Now I want to get 100% of the map so it's time to run through the castle with the peeping eye equipped...

Hey, I know you bought a Nintendo DS JUST for this game.  I'm just hoping you got enough out of it to warrant the handheld system purchase.  Plus hopefully you're an Animal Crossing fan.  My brother and I can then visit your town and bury trash all around your place  

I'm loving this game still.  I'm kind of stuck as to where to go, but hey, I'll figure it out.

[The Grue]

I've done two of the endings, have about 70% souls, one weapon upgraded to where it needs a boss soul, Julius Mode unlocked and I am still loving this game.  I will probably go do the final boss battle for the third ending next and then just go back and 100% all the souls and map.

[stiffler]

Hey, I know you bought a Nintendo DS JUST for this game.  I'm just hoping you got enough out of it to warrant the handheld system purchase.  Plus hopefully you're an Animal Crossing fan.  My brother and I can then visit your town and bury trash all around your place  

I've really enjoyed the game.  I certainly don't regret the DS purchase one bit.  There isn't anything that has grabbed me (other than continuing the Advance Wars saga) but there are a ton of interesting titles coming to the DS that I'll undoubtedly pick up.

I've never played Animal Crossing, but from TML's love of it and the previews I've read (wifi!) I'll definately pick it up.

I almost bought Meteos today but wasn't sure it warrented the $30.

I am still playing Castlevania.  Having unlocked Julius mode I'm curious to see what it is.  Also, I survived boss mode but it took me a loooong time.  All I got was this lousy potion?  For shame!

My current game time is 16:58:09 and I am level 65.

[Gratch]

I'll go ahead and be the lone dissenting voice on Castlevania DS.  While it certainly isn't a bad game by any means, I just don't see what all the ranting and raving is about.  It's a pretty platformer with some very basic level design and a few RPG elements thrown in.  It was fun for a few hours, but I actually thought it got boring pretty quickly.  I don't see what all the hype is about.  Then again, I've never been a big fan of the series.

Meteos is still safe as the top DS game in my book.