Castlevania Lite
Story is nothing to really talk about, it's pritty generic despite familar. But that's probably an advantage because it shows it's not trying to outdo "Castlevania" or be more than what it is.
The graphics I think are great, it does push the boundaries of the DSi ware becasue this game looks like a game for the Advance or DS. The levels are well designed and have a gothic tone, even the characters. Music is decent, this game doesn't really have any memorable scores to write home about.
Now I now what your thinking what makes this game worth it, that is for the gameplay alone which I think is very good. I like the weapons you have, one is a fire sword and another is an ice spear, your able to upgrade their abilities whenever you want.
But there are three things that make the game unique, one is the fact at some points of the game you have metamorphic powers, your able to change into any of the monsters depending on the sittuation. Like a pirana for underwater, or even water (not kidding) to walk on water and use your gyser power to get up high places.
There are these special tents which give you a selection on which kind of crystals you can get, depending on which color you take a snap shot of. That I though was cool.
And finally the action, I felt was very good depite this game haveing the same action RPG element like "Castlevania" this game was actually more arcade action. This is due to it's linar style, your typical point A to B but there is a little non linar elements your typical unventured pathways and secret passsages jus tto keep the game from feeling dry. But I really like the edittion of moving levels, my favorate was when you fly and control some bird, I just though it was fun because I'm a fan of shooters and it was just a cool concept that showed moving levels in a "Castlevania" game can work.
Yeah it's true this game is a weekend rental game, which I'm fine with. If your impatient for the next "Castlevaina" game this game is a good hold over. Soul of Darkness has a light soul.