Another great Castlevania game for DS.
Story:
Predictable, but it works fine as a vehicle to play through the numerous areas of the game. It starts off with Shanoa, a member of the Order of Ecclasia, which is a group of people trying to protect mankind against the likes of Dracula, preparing for a ritual that will help her defeat Dracula. However, her long time friend, Albus, suddenly becomes furious. Despite that, Shanoa goes to see Master Barlowe to prepare for the ritual. Barlowe puts a strange tattoo on her back and she is about to absorb a glyph (more on those later) called Dominus, which, when reunited with its other 2 peices, will open a strange container that will make mankind's wishes come true. But Albus comes in and absorbs it before Shanoa and goes mad with power. Shanoa loses her memory and Barlowe sends her out to find the other peices of Dominus and stop Albus. Eventually, she finds him drawing a small amount of blood from a person from a nearby village. The story may sound interesting, but it is fairly predictable, except for maybe 1 or 2 parts. But who plays Castlevania for their storys, right? All it really does is provide an excuse for you to run around to all sorts of whacky locales. 7/ 10
Graphics:
There is 100% less anime in this game and that's a good thing. The previous 2 DS Castlevanias had to much of it for my tastes. Instead, the developers decided to try a more realistic approach for the character faces during talking scenes. They did a really good job of making it look dark, but realistic. Now, for the in game graphics. The sprites are all very well done and exceptionally animated. The monsters look amazing, with some of them being 3d. These monsters do a very fine job of mixing it up a little. The bosses look amazing. They are all very terrifying looking and really make you happy they don't exist. (That last bit was taken from Gamespot.) The environments all look really good, with some having an incredible background. The Somnus Reef (I think) has a very well animated ship in the backround that is being thrown around in a storm. My only real complaint is that many of the "brawler" enemies (ones that are huge and like to punch you) look like they are composed of several different parts. Like, the arm will move, but nothing else will. It looks strange. 9/ 10
Sound:
The music is all good and the sound effects are decent. The music sometimes loops and the greetings for some villagers are annoying. 8/ 10
Gameplay:
The first big difference is that rather than traditional weapons, Shanoa uses Glyphs. Each one has a certain use and strength. Unlike in other games, also, there isn't one all mighty weapon for you to use. Every monster has a type of glyph thy're strong against and weak against, so you will have to experiment. Speaking of which, you can now hold a different weapon in each hand, so you won't always have to do alot of switching. This leads to a combined attack that can be devastating against the right enemy. For instance, you have a lance in one hand and an electricity glyph in the other. When combined, these make a spear that crackles with electricity. Each union uses hearts, though, so be careful. Now, each glyph uses magic every time you use it. This may sound painful, but in this game, your magic refills quickly after a certain amount of time. The only really big flaw in this is the curse status. There are many different status ailments in the game which affect you negativley, but this time around, curse is the worse. It draiins your magic until you have none left, then stays that way for to long. You can see why this would be bad. In this game, no magic = no attacking. Now, anoither thing that separates this from other handheld ones is the difficulty. There is a signifigant difficulty spike after the first boss and this requires you to think carefully. However, espeacially given I'm not a very patient person, it never really frustrates. You never feel like there is an undodgeable attack that a boss throws at you. The enemies aren't really all that hard until the last dungeon, where they can easily butcher you if you're not careful. But that's the thing. Just think for a minute about the problem and the answer will come. This game also makes you really think about using recovery items. The prices are very high, and gold is not as common as in other games. Think twice before using that super potion. There is nothing more frustrating than using your last potion, only to find a heal- all save station around the corner. All around good though. 9/ 10
In conclusion, OoE is a worthy entry to the Castlevania series and should satisfy anyone looking for a good challenge. And Konami finally made the right descision in having EXP carry over in multiple playthroughs. This is a game that any platformer/ action/ RPG fan should find highly enjoyable, given that they don't mind a good challenge. Well done, Konami.