Castlevania DS

I've almost finished my fourth hour playing Castlevania DS, and I'm liking this game more and more. I find it also speaks volumes on how good the design for Aria of Sorrow was. The concept of absorbing your enemies' abilities makes for great sequels. You want your character to do something new? Add a monster. Wanna take something away? Remove a monster.



To all the naysayers who thought the extra screen on the DS was just a gimmick, I got news for ya: the top screen isn't just used as a map. You can also switch it to a STATUS SCREEN!! Seriously, it's the kind of small detail that makes the game more immersive. You no longer have to stop the action to double check that you're headed in the right direction. If you want, you can monitor your progress by taking a glance at your XP every time you kill a monster. It's always the little things. The downside is that, if you're not careful, you might end up getting slashed while you're trying to figure out how to cross over to another area of the castle.



Graphically, musically, and gameplay wise, I'd say that this game comes the closest to reproducing the MASTERPIECE that was Symphony of the Night (best overall PS1 game IMO), and that says alot. It's not surprising, seeing as the DS is a portable N64, and that's the console that was competing with the PS1 (or trying to) at the time.

The only negative comment I have is that keeping your stylus ready can sometimes be tricky in a moving vehicle. I've dropped mine more than once while executing the elaborate series' of button presses sometimes required by a platformer.