I've been snowed in, again, so I thought it be good to review a few more games today.
Story:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVx_Zs4HHkI"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]
The year is 2036, one year has passed since the solar eclipse and Soma Cruz
discovering that the evil soul of Dracula is inside his body, now a cult headed by
Celia Fortner is seeking the revival of the lord of darkness and is determined to
have Soma eliminated.
Soma, seeking answers, immediately heads to the cult base to stop their evil plots.
There he encounters close friends, Yoko Belnades, a witch who works for the
church, and Julius Belmont, the current wielder of the vampire hunter whip.
Along the way Soma discovers Celia is using dark lord candiates, people born on
the same day of Dracula's death giving them paranormal powers, to stop Soma in
his tracks.
Gameplay:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7lqtPjE0k4&feature=related"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame]
In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, the subweapons and spells the series is known
for are gone and are replaced with three types of souls Soma can acquire: Bullet,
Guardian, and Enchant. Each appear randomly from slayed enemies.
Bullet Souls are essentially the subweapons, various enemy souls such as the
Warg's and Axe Armour's will grant Soma a ranged attack by pressing up and
attack.
Guardian Souls replace the spells and familars of Symphony of the Night, souls
such as the Bat or Final Guard will give Soma a defensive type soul which is used
via the shoulder button.
Finally, Enchant Souls are always active giving either Soma boosts in his stats or
other special abilities such as immunity to poison or regenerating health.
Thanks to this system, players are given a massive amount of customization choices
on how they use the souls they acquire and collecting multiples further their
strength.
Returning from Aria of Sorrow is the weapon's system. Instead of being limited to
a whip or sword, Soma is able to equip a massive aray of weaponry such as Axes,
Great Swords, Lances and even Guns to further gameplay.
Soma's friend, Yoko, uses her magic for weapon synthesis, which uses the souls
Soma acquires to further improve his arsonal.
There's only two complaints I have about the gameplay, one is acquiring the souls
because it often is unnecessarily tedious to obtain them (especially the 1 star souls)
Tip: A great way to increase you change of collecting souls is by increasing your
luck, Ghost Dancer souls increase your luck by 2 per soul, making it much easier.
The other complaint is the new Magical Seals, when you defeat a boss you must
trace a Seal or you woun't be able to defeat it. It can be very fustrating to screw up
a Magic Seal and continue the boss fight.
After you complete the game, Julius Mode is unlocked which is a complete play
through of Dawn of Sorrow only with Castlevania III type gameplay, with Julius,
Yoko, and Alucard all playable. (Hammer was also going to be playable like Grant
but development time had to cut it out.)
Graphics:
While the environments are pleasing to the eye, the new change is the portraits for
the characters. It was changed from the classic gothic style the series is known for
to an anime look not seen since Rondo no Blood:
(Aria of Sorrow on top, Down of Sorrow on the bottom)
Sound:
While the soundtrack of Dawn of Sorrow isn't as good as Symphony of the Night
or Circle of the Moon, it still has some nice songs to keep the player going.
Lost Village:
Wizardry Lab:
Vampire Killer:
Challenge:
(Or lack there of) Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is incredibly easy for a
Castlevania title, and is can easily be completed in five to six hours.
Overall:
Dawn of Sorrow may have some flaws, but it bring new gameplay departures from
previous titles in the series which are both simple and in depth.
4.5/5
Linear Mode
