This game is the main reason I bought the DS, and I don't ever regret doing so just for this game.
Anyways, when talking about character design, Konami brought in this crappy anime-styled design. Characters look lame, un-gothic, which therefore is unmatching to the theme and overall feel you get from the game. Minus Genya Arikado/Alucard-o, his dark and cold character is still pretty fitting.
Another theme-based criticism, the soundtrack ROCKS. It's not the dark and rock stuff that I also loved from SotN, but it's very good. The songs are really addicting, and fitting. They're quite catchy, and I love them.
Alright, onto the game itself.
The graphics are very smooth, even compared to its follow-up, the 'BLAH' PoR. You get hot-swappable weapons, just pressing a single button and whatnot, I love IT. It's really helpful when two separate weapons are needed for the weaknesses of different monsters + boss rush mode. That said, the weapons are all pretty cool, too. Death's Scythe, and etc. It's quite amazing how large the selection is. Every weapon now gets a 'special' attack. i.e. pressing special attack with Death's Scythe sends a huge skull forward, massive dmg ftw.
The gameplay is hardly any different, just a bit smoother, DUH, DS.
ONTO Julius mode. This game has a STORYLINE to it. If you make Soma become the next Dracula (like the last game), you get to play as the three main supporting cast (though Arikado takes his true form of Alucard). You start off with Julius, later get Yoko, then Alucard. Oh, btw, it is HARD. Since you can't massively level or use healing potions, there are really hard bosses in there. But this is just awesome because it gives a real storyline behind it. You kill Soma. A completely separate boss (Julius mode in Aria is just a playthrough of the original game but with Julius). And Soma turns into a monster, like Draccy does in his second form, and Soma's first form is the same as all Draculas (and Graham from Aria).
I love this game, just not as much as the first, due to the crappy correlation between the theme of the game and the overall feel. Honestly, apart from that, I really have NOTHING to complain about. I'd give it a 10 if it kept its artwork.