Golden Sun returns in an all new fantastic manner!
After finishing the originals, I had no idea how much better it could be, and in this review of Dark Dawn, it might explain a bit more.
The story is the best the series has to offer. Basically, Tyrell breaks the Soarwing so Matthew, Karis, and Tyrell go to get a Roc's feather from the Mountain Roc. They are also trying to get help from Kraden but they were broken up between an enemy named Blados. After they meet back up with Rief, the journey starts. They get side tracked by an awful lot, and there's a point of no return which has a big thing to do with the story but after the end, they save Weyard once again... or did they?
The gameplay is very faithful to the original Golden Sun games. It's the exact same except with brand new visuals and battle animations. The battles are easier, but the puzzles are more fun and challenging which makes up for it. You run around the overworld encountering random battles, but this time it is nowhere near as excessive. You go through plenty of dungeons and will come across plenty of mind boggling puzzles, which funny to say, if you use psynergy for some puzzles a complete guide to the puzzle will be shown which is funny but you wouldn't even think of doing that, now would you? The puzzles are much more challenging, more unique, and more rewarding. The battles like mentioned earlier are easier than the previous games, but it will still test you and it sure as hell is a lot of fun, but the last boss blind sides you because he is one tough guy. br />
I for one LOVE the graphics. It's basically the exact same as the originals but in 3D, it looks really nice. The overworld looks great, the battle animations are terrific and the characters look incredibly well done too! It's not the best you'll find on the DS, but to be faithful to the originals, it can't go for the best, while ironically, the originals looked the best on the GBA in my own opinion. Still looks great, and you have to see it for yourself!
The music is epic, such as the main theme, the final boss, and Kaocho. I think they put a good amount of effort into the music. Tunes are very catchy, and you'll find yourself humming along with it from here and there. Plenty of themes are really memorable, but I can't list all of them off the top of my head.
The game is pretty long, took me around twenty-five to twenty-seven hours just to beat the story, but to get everything could take about a dozen more. The only thing is there are points of no return which can cause you to be unable to collect everything.
There is a lot of replay value in this game, I honestly started replaying the originals just because I wanna replay this game. It's one of those games where you have to play them all just to play this one. You can try out new weapons and collecting everything and several other methods of playing just to come back.
Overall, this is the best DS game EVER. It's very underrated, and critics were far too harsh on it, but it is definitely a worthy sequel to The Lost Age. Games like Dark Dawn is the reason why I still play video games to this day. If you are a fan of RPG games, then you absolutely have to play this game!
Story : 9.7
Gameplay : 10
Graphics : 9.7
Music : 9.4
Lifetime : 9.5
Replay Value : 9.6
Overall : 10