Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a game for the Nintendo DS, and is part of Konami's popular Castlevania franchise. The game was first released in August 2005 in Japan, which is known as Demon Castle Dracula: Cross of the Blue/Pale Moon. The subtitle is also based on "Aria of Sorrow", known as "Minuet of Dawn" in Japan.

Plot
The game is a direct sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, with Soma Cruz as its protagonist. It takes place one year after Aria of Sorrow and deals with an enigmatic cult who seeks to kill Soma and revive the dark power of Dracula sleeping inside him.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It is the sequel of the critically acclaimed Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.
 * 2) Collect new equipment and skills by exploring the game's castle setting and fight more powerful enemies and bosses.
 * 3) Multiple endings depending of your actions.
 * 4) The Tactical Soul System, with much more souls to collect and new abilities to master.
 * 5) This time Soma can upgrade most abilities by acquiring multiple copies of the same soul.
 * 6) The game features a new Magic Seal system which makes use of the touchscreen: using a finger or stylus, the player must draw an intricate symbol or "seal" on the touch screen to trap defeated boss enemies.
 * 7) The touch screen can also be used to break certain blocks, navigate menus, and control certain familiars.
 * 8) Much more redefined gameplay than the first game.
 * 9) You can fast travel and save at anytime once you find them in the castle you can also fully heal at these spots as well so you won't have to worry about facing enemies with dangerously low health.
 * 10) Lots of extra content.
 * 11) Great animation.
 * 12) Really good audio effects thanks to technology of the DS at the time.
 * 13) A wide variety of challenging bossess and enemies.
 * 14) The background design and atmosphere is great.
 * 15) Once you beat the game you can be able to play as Julius Belmont, Alucard and Yoko each with their own play-styles.
 * 16) Improved graphics and soundtrack that exploits the Nintendo DS capabilities.
 * 17) Unlockable boss rush mode and various game modes.
 * 18) The game also features a multiplayer vs. mode, where one player creates a section of the castle, complete with enemies, and both players race to defeat the enemies and reach the end of the level.
 * 19) The anime artstyle was good and the opening anime scene as well was nicely animated.
 * 20) The castle is split up into several interconnected areas, each with a different theme. You'll explore a clock tower, a garden, a chapel, an underground cavern, and more. If you've played previous Castlevania games, you won't find many surprises in the level design here. The game is fairly linear, since certain abilities are required to access certain areas.
 * 21) You'll have to figure out the path for yourself, and other than the frequent dead ends, there are no clues to point you in the right direction. You'll rely on the map (conveniently displayed on the top screen) to tell you where you need to go, but even with that you'll spend a lot of time aimlessly roaming the halls trying to figure out where to go to move the game along. The enemies reappear every time you enter a room, so even when you're just wandering around, you still have plenty of monsters to keep you busy. You'll grow stronger as you continue to defeat the monsters.
 * 22) Soma has a lot more depth in this game then previous Castlevania protaganists.
 * 23) It's a lot more focused on supporting characters in comparison to previous games.
 * 24) Unlike a handful of other games in the series, it doesn't rehash the Castle A/Castle B scenario from Symphony of the Night.
 * 25) It's easier to figure out how to get the good ending than in Aria of Sorrow.
 * 26) There's a level that acts as an ode to the very first level in the very first Castlevania game.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Those annoying magic seals which were thankfully removed in future 2D titles. Not helping is the time limit as well when you nearly kill an enemy.
 * 2) The other sections with using the touch screen were trivial.
 * 3) Reused assets from Aria of Sorrow and Symphony of the Night can be noticeable.
 * 4) Alucard as Genya Arikadio he fell more into a stereotypical government agent role in comparison to the misanthropic cynical half vampire role in Symphony of the Night.

Trivia

 * The reason why Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow uses the anime style is because it was meant to appeal to younger audiences.

Videos
Pozzn6lILrs