Tom's Hardware | Tom's Guide | Tom's Games  

• PC
• PS2
• PS3
• PSP
• Xbox
• X360
• GC
• WII
• DS

• Reviews

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a 2D action / adventure game released on Game Boy Advance in 2003, developed and published by Konami. This is the third opus of the series to have emerged for Game Boy Advance, after Castlevania: Circle of Moon and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. For its elaboration there was Koji Igarashi for the screenplay, Ayami Kojima at the Charac design and Michiru Yamane for the composition of the soundtrack.

The history of this episode takes place in the future in the year 2035. We embody Sôma Cruz, a young student who made a school exchange trip to Japan. While he was going to the Hakuba temple with his friend Mina Hakuba to witness a total sun eclipse, Sôma passed out. When he woke up, a strange character named Genya Arikado told to him that he and Mina are located inside the eclipse, in Dracula Castle. Attacked in front of the entrance of the castle by skeletons, Sôma discovered that he possesses strange powers. Arikado, remained elusive and mysterious, announced to Sôma that in order to face his destiny and leave the castle, he must go to the throne room. Thus begins the adventure of Sôma through the famous castle of the lord of darkness, in search of the terrible truth about his powers.

As in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night the player did not embody a member of the Belmont family that possesses the "vampire killer" whip. To defend himself and eliminate the creatures haunting the corridors of the castle, Sôma may use weapons ranging from knives to claymores, like Alucard in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. There is also a system of evolution of the character like in RPGs.

Sometimes, when he kills a monster Sôma absorbs its soul. It then gives a magical power to Sôma and he can use it in combat. Each type of monster has a different soul granting a special power. The bosses, once defeated, leave a particular soul giving special ability to the hero, allowing access to unexplored areas.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the most beautiful episode on Game Boy advance, with an animation worthy to the Playstation episode. With its game system based on the collection of monsters' soul and its different endings, Castlevania : Aria of Sorrow proposed an exhilarating adventure.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow reviews