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 If there's one thing that disappoints visually, it's that the game's artwork has been dumbed down significantly from previous Castlevania games. The character art now resembles garden-variety Japanese animes, instead of the intricately drawn stuff that usually accompanied the recent 'Vanias. Aurally, Dawn of Sorrow is unmatched on the DS. There's some truly impressive work here, with quality sound effects for every single action in the game, and an excellent soundtrack that serves as a perfect backdrop to the adventure.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow also has ridiculous replay value; if the soul-hunting and castle-exploring for 100% completion doesn't have you playing for hours on end, the wireless soul trading and multiplayer functionality might do the trick. Soul trading is self-explanatory and a holdover from Aria, but the multiplayer game is new to Castlevania altogether. 2 players can race wirelessly against each other in a custom castle that they edit the layout of themselves - a pretty novel function. If the wireless play wasn't enough, there are multiple unlockable endings and play modes, as well as new characters to play through the game with for new twists on the adventure.
Given the series' pedigree status, that's part for the course -- it's not at all suprising that Dawn of Sorrow is an excellent game. With the tremendous gameplay that is the franchise's hallmark, beautiful graphics and animation, a fantastic soundtrack, and the kind of replay value that makes the phrase "bang for your buck" even more cliché than it already is, it's not even a stretch to consider it one of, if not the best game overall for the Nintendo DS. The real surprise, in fact, is how it ended up on the DS. You don't need a ton of gameplay gimmicks shoehorned into a title to make it stand out - and Dawn of Sorrow proves it in spades.
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