Metareview: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Nintendo DS)

By Vladimir Cole

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow has been released for the Nintendo DS and despite some exhortations that it's "amazing" the overall sense is that it's merely a very solid game. An overall Metacritic review score of 89 and a GameRankings score of 93 indicate that it's no insta-classic that we'll be talking about years hence,
but not every game needs to be a classic to be enjoyable and a worthy purchase.

Here are some choice quotes.

  • GameSpy:
    90/100     "I like the lay of Dawn of Sorrow's land, and the soul mechanic is great; however, with the inferior character design and ho-hum touch-screen features, this isn't the be-all end-all of portable Castlevania."

  • IGN: 93/100
    "Clearly one of the best Castlevania games in the series, and an absolutely top-notch, beautiful, and most importantly, fun DS game that doesn't try to push a lot of unnecessary touch-screen 'gimmicks.'"

  • 80/100 "It is clear that Dawn of Sorrow originally started out as a GBA title. It plays more like an advanced GBA game instead of a full fledged DS title.... It's another entertaining cousin of Symphony of the Night that is bound to keep you busy for about ten hours."

  • Edge Magazine: 70/100 "... the game mostly sidesteps meaningful use of the DS's unique capabilities.... touchscreen features are rudimentary, awkwardly bolted on to Castlevania mechanics despite attempts to paper over the joints."

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