A great sequel to a game many missed out on.
You play as 2 characters. Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin can be used at the same time as a team, or you can just use one at a time. This option is totally left up to you and can be changed anytime you want. The thing that makes this system good is that they both play different roles.
Jonathan is more of a classic Castlevania character who just uses weapons and up front combat, while Charlotte relies more on magic spells than her weapons, which are significantly weaker than her magic attacks. When you use both at the same time the secondary characters damage taken comes out of you MP instead of both of them losing HP. If you have no MP left, the second character just leaves the screen until you have more MP and summon them back.
The main part of the story is basically a follow up to the story from Castlevania: Bloodlines on the Sega Genesis. Alot of fans missed that game but if ya haven't played it before you won't really be lost or anything if ya jump right into this one. You still run through the castle but this time you enter paintings of areas that have guardians that hold a portion of the castle's power. These paintings were made by a vampire named Brauner. So, of course, you are out tryin to stop him.
There is a ton of replay value to this game because if you beat it and accomplish certain tasks, you can unlock new characters to play the game as. There are sets of teams to unlock and one solo character also. There's also the standard Hard mode and Boss rush modes, each with their own rewards for how well you can do at each one.
The music is good. The difficulty is not very hard to get used to, especially when compared to the rest of the series. The graphics are pretty good for the DS. This game also has tons of things to keep you playing for weeks without finishing everything available in it.
Overall, this game is very good and definitely something any Castlevania fan should have in their collection. If ya aren't already a fan of the series, but you have a DS and wanna try an action platforming RPG, this is definitely something that is worth at least a rent.