Finally, a Castlevania that drops the generic anime-style for a more elegant and hauntingly graceful demeanor.
If you have been a devout player and follower of the Castlevania chronology and story (or a semi-devout player like me!), this would mark the first time in Castlevania history that neither Alucard nor any member of the Belmont family have been directly involved in the unfolding of events within the game.
Controlled by the hands of fate, you are Shanoa, the last hope of humanity and saviour of the world, called out to stop Dracula (yet again!). Your superior sends you out to various location to aid you in your quest to rid world of Dracula. Along the way, you come upon a deserted village, save the town elder, who pleads for you to rescue kidnapped villagers, only to realize that a web of deceit have been spun during your absence.
An interesting story, although I would say certain parts of the plot was pretty much to be expected. All in all, I still feel that the story arc of Sorrow series is still the strongest amongst all the hand-held console versions of Castlevania.
Graphics: 9/10
You guys can't possibly imagine how happy I am that a platformer Castlevania has finally been released with a much needed face-lift. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against anime, but the art style developed for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has absolutely captured the very essence and atmosphere of Castlevania and I am indeed very very VERY pleased that they have reverted back to this form.
Graphics-wise for the sprites, Shanoa is very well animated and fluid, don't be surprised if you end up holding the up button on the D-pad for more than the required seconds just to see the motion of Shanoa's hair swirl as she absorbs gylphs.
Boss sprites are simply excellent. Not only are they huge and imposing, but they are very detailed to begin with. The same can't be said for enemy sprites, unfortunately. You will definitely see new enemies, mark my words, but some sprites have been reused from previous Castlevania titles, which slightly bugs me, but hey, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.
Game-play: 8/10
Some advice before playing this game: Save often, and be prepared to die... A LOT. Castlevania has been known for their rather formidable boss fights and areas, but trust me on this, you'll be dying a lot... partly because of a new fighting system.
The whole fighting system is more or less revamped, although whether for good or for worse, I can't quite say. You now have 3 gauges instead of 2 - an HP bar, an MP bar and a Heart gauge.
Unlike previous hand-held Castlevania, special attacks now use up Hearts instead of MP and normal attacks now use MP. The upside is that your MP regenerates very quickly if you're resting, but the downside is that heart no longer replenish your MP, but rather replenish your Heart gauge (duh).
To be honest, I'm a little mixed with the whole new glyph system. On one hand, I like the fact that you can use 2 different glyphs to perform various combination of attacks, but on the other hand, there aren't terribly a lot of different combination. The portion that possibly bugs me the most is that the glyph system complete takes over the weapon system implemented in previous games. Fighting is skill awesome, but it breaks momentum when every swipe or stab or swing you make take up MP, and it's downright dangerous in boss fights (heck, it's even dangerous in a crowded room)!
Somehow, I feel that the developers' choice to combine the aspect of traditional weapon hunting and Sorrow's Soul system into one wasn't very well thought out. I know some people would disagree with me here, but when you start playing the game, you would just feel that using glyphs for weapon system just doesn't feel the same as using the Vampire Hunter.
Sound: 8/10
I'm very surprised they actually allowed you to choose either English or Japanese as the spoken dialogue for the game. The voice-acting for both versions are very well done, but if you're a purist at heart, you'll probably go for the Japanese dialogue (some spoken dialogue just sounds better in ***).
The music for majority of the areas are also very fitting of the atmosphere, especially the main entrance music in Dracula's Castle. Sad to say though, the music isn't all that memorable. They're great, but rather forgettable.
Overall: 8.5/10
A Castlevania that does justice to the series, do get this, whether you be a hardcore Castlevania devotee or just a casual gamer. This is pretty much a game that you shouldn't be missing out on.