I must admit, I had low expectations. It turned out I was mistaken.
To my enjoyment, i was mistaken.
First the weak points: The story, The lack of anything interesting with the touch screen, The anime characters and Its all familiar territory.
The strong points: The Presentation, The Replay Value, Simple-yet refined, Somewhat unique bosses and an Un-godly amount of depth (to those who want it).
I demerit this game for it's story, because its just weak. The driving ideas behind it are tired and its nothing you haven't heard before. The game has no use of the touch screen hardly at all, and i mean that in good and bad ways; Im glad its not 'all' touch screen, but a little more inventive uses would have been greatly appreciated. The Characters are very childish, they way they look, what they say; its all really juvenile. I understand the DS is more for kids, but, this is a pretty grim and adult game. There is no need to tone it down so much.
The strong points have many aces that should be noted. The presentation is amazing; even something as little as being able to see Soma's breath in the cold areas. Its really fantastic. There are reasonable incentives to replay the game as well; the New game+ and playing as Julius really add to the experience. The simplicity of the game is Definitely a plus; it almost boils down to about 2 or 3 buttons, attack jump and special, but thats all you need, and it works. The whole soul collecting pursuit add an insane amount of depth as well.
Its probably about 15-20 bucks in a bargain bin. Go find it and Buy it.