| Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow review |
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Although he currently occupies one of the most coveted positions within Konami, you can’t help but feel a little sorry for Castlevania producer Koji 'Iga' Igarashi. One of the more recent complaints raised by fans of the legendary series is the (perceived) over-reliance on the free-roaming ‘Super Metroid’ style gameplay that was premiered in the excellent Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. All three GBA outings have followed this blueprint, and were met with almost equal amounts of praise and derision. The critics focused mainly on the slavish commitment to the free-roaming structure, and moaned that Igarashi was simply running out of ideas for the series he had done so much to revitalise. Ironically, as soon as Igarashi attempted to take a different route, as seen in the full-3D PlayStation 2 title Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, most fans lambasted him for turning his back on the 2D roots of the franchise and failing to recreate the sublime gameplay of Symphony of the Night. The poor chap simply cannot win. Such is the price you pay when you resurrect an established videogame series that just happens to attract the most anal of fans.
Those fans who harbour a grievance against Igarashi will almost certainly be displeased to hear that the latest Castlevania adventure, Dawn of Sorrow, once again sticks to the trusty ‘Super Metroid’ blueprint. Following on from Aria of Sorrow/Minuet of Dawn on the GBA, the game's central character is Soma Cruz, a high school student who happens to find himself caught up with the plans of a sinister cult who intend to resurrect Dracula. After the events of the first game (which won’t be divulged here as it would ruin the plot for anyone who has yet to play it) Soma finds himself in the firing line of the cult as they attempt to channel Dracula’s soul into a new host.
When the game was announced there were questions raised regarding how the new technological features of the DS would be incorporated into a game structure that has been built around the traditional 'pad and buttons' control system. Konami have discovered, as several other developers have done before them, that it’s hard to convincingly include the touch screen into already ‘established’ games. In Dawn of Sorrow, the stylus is used in a variety of ways, and none of them turn out to be particularly successful. For example, once the correct ability has been acquired the player is able to ‘tap’ blocks onscreen to break them, thus allowing access to certain areas. To be brutally honest this feels somewhat contrived, and rather than provide a fresh approach to tackling puzzles it ends up being simply bothersome. A more effective use of the touch screen is the drawing of special patterns that magically ‘seal’ bosses after they have been defeated. The player is shown a pattern that must be copied once the final blow has been dealt - failure to draw the correct symbol within the time limit results in the boss regaining a fraction of their energy and continuing the fight. Although this is fairly gimmicky, it’s an altogether more enjoyable and rewarding utilisation of the touch-screen technology and brings to mind the excellent character-based spell system found in Lionhead’s PC epic Black and White. However, in the long run the use of the stylus is more of a hindrance than a bonus. Castlevania has a very traditional ‘pad and buttons’ control method and having to pick up the stylus everytime you come across a touch-screen feature quickly becomes tiresome. The final nail in the coffin is the fact that a trusty digit is just as effective, and after a few annoyed fumbles for the stylus during a hectic boss encounter, most players will find themselves relying on their fingers and leaving the pointing device firmly secured in its dock.
Thankfully the other main feature of the DS is used to excellent effect and turns out to be a real blessing. Anyone who has got lost in any of the previous ‘Metroid’ Castlevanias will be glad to hear that you no longer have to reach for the ‘Select’ button every time you wish to ascertain your whereabouts. The top screen of the DS can be used to display a map of the castle, meaning a quick glance upwards is all that is required to pinpoint your location. This is possibly one of the most convincing uses of the twin screens yet seen. It may seem like a very basic idea but in practice it saves the player lost seconds and prevents the gameplay from being broken up by accessing the map screen via a separate button-press. However, the new system does have one unfortunate drawback – enemy data is now displayed there too, rather than on the main screen. While this results in a clutter-free main screen, it means you have to press select to toggle between the ‘status’ and map screens. Still, it’s an improvement over the previous system found in the GBA titles.
Graphically the game is about as close to SotN as you’re likely to get. Character sprites have increased in size and have more animation, and there's a wide variety of enemies to despatch - although many will look a little too familiar to anyone who has played previous installments (some of these sprites are lifted directly from Dracula X: Rondo of Blood on the PC Engine, which makes them over a decade old). There are several nice little graphical touches (certain enemies’ death animations differ depending on what weapon they succumb to, for example) and everything has a bit more sheen when compared to the GBA titles. The 3D backgrounds seen in SotN make a return – the opening snow village level is an impressive sight. The game features anime-style artwork reminiscent of Dracula X on the PC Engine. This is of a very high quality but one can’t help but yearn for the sumptuous art of Ayami Kojima, whose work has been a mainstay of the series since Symphony of the Night. The official line from Konami is that Kojima is hard at work on the upcoming Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and looking at the amazing detail of her painted works, one can only imagine how long it must take her to craft such masterpieces. Her absence is unfortunate and the maturity and beauty of the work she produces adds greatly to any game it is featured in, but as previously mentioned the anime art introduced for this title is still as good, if not better than that found in any other game out there. A rather neat (if a little washed out) anime introduction tops things off as far as presentation go.
In terms of gameplay, not a great deal has changed since AoS. The soul system has been tweaked slightly, meaning the more souls you collect of a certain type the more powerful that particular soul’s ability becomes. The soul collection system was one of the most impressive features of AoS, so it’s good to see it here in an improved form. The ‘gotta catch 'em all’ aspect is back, and the fact that you can increase the power by harvesting more souls of the same type adds even more replay value. Souls can be traded with other players by using the wireless link of the DS, but to perfectly honest this robs the game of one of its most enduring challenges. Souls can also be 'fused' with weapons to create more powerful variants. As was the case in previous games, there are also additional playable characters that are unlocked when the game is completed. Thankfully this time the extra quests have been fleshed out slightly. The main game can be completed fairly quickly, so all this extra replayability is welcome.
Although DoS comes close to matching the brilliance of SotN, it doesn’t quite make it. One of the main reasons is the level design. After the wonderfully inventive first level, some of the levels border on the downright bland, whereas others feel a little too much like those seen in previous games. Although it never quite reaches the depths of the first two GBA games, Dracula’s castle is a strikingly uninteresting place at times. The areas that do stand out usually do so for entirely the wrong reasons - take the Demon Guest House for example, which comes complete with 'Killer Clowns' and a nursery! Matters aren’t helped by some very average background music. Whereas SotN’s music was a joy to behold, the tunes here are merely passable and never threaten to reach the glorious heights so synonymous with the series. The audio does benefit greatly from the improved capabilities of the DS, but musically the game is something of a disappointment. Thankfully, the rest of the sonic package is of a high standard, with a small amount of crisp sampled speech and some nice clear sound effects.
If you’re a fan of the ‘Metroid’ Castlevanias then chances are you’ve already bought this game. If you found them dull or boring there’s little here that will radically alter your perception. Although the game benefits from the additional graphical power of the DS, the use of the touch screen and wireless capabilities is ill-judged, and the extra screen is the only feature that is utilised with any degree of success. However, forgetting these shortfalls for a moment, the game remains an entertaining action-RPG romp with tight and enjoyable gameplay. It also succeeds in offering a fair degree of challenge when it comes to collecting all the souls, finding all the items and exploring every last inch of the castle. The drip-feed of abilities (double jump, bat transformation, etc) is nicely gauged too. In a nod to Capcom's Devil May Cry 3, there's a new soul ability that allows the player to hot-swap between two different sets of souls and equipment - an excellent feature that manages to lesson the tedium of switching your items and abilities around when you encounter different obstacles. As with all the 'Metroid' Castlevanias, there's a certain degree of backtracking required, but the sheer number of different enemies and the chance of building experience and gaining new souls along the way means it never becomes tiresome.
In summary, Dawn of Sorrow serves as another worthy addition to the rapidly expanding Castlevania universe. As an exercise in updating the series to revolutionary new hardware, its success is limited. However there's still more than enough enjoyable old-fashioned gameplay here. This is about as close to SotN as Konami are likely to get, and Igarashi has already expressed his doubts about making another 2D Castlevania so it may be Konami’s last try at replicating the 32-bit classic. Perhaps it is time for the series to evolve again rather than looking inward, just as it did nearly a decade ago when SotN was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. |
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System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Players: 1-2
Version: Japan
Reviewed: Oct 2005
Writer: Damien McFerran
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Pros:
- Improved graphics
- Classic Castlevania gameplay
- Soul collection is addictive and enjoyable
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Cons:
- Use of DS features feels like an afterthought
- Forgettable soundtrack
- Level design is lacking in places
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Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Video: 9.8MB
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