'Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow' is hack-'em-up fun in 2-D glory

Those of us who have been playing video games long enough will surely remember the "Castlevania" series. If you are familiar, or looking for a place to jump into the series, then "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow" should be your next stop.

The story picks up where "Aria of Sorrow" (the prequel to "Dawn of Sorrow") left off. For those who haven't played "Aria," Soma, the white-haired character from "Aria," is really the reincarnation of Dracula.

As it turns out, he didn't really want to be the leader of the vampire underworld. "Dawn of Sorrow" follows these events a year later, as Soma is approached by an evil cult seeking the dramatic rebirth of Dracula. Because Soma is not keen on the idea of living out his legacy, the only way Dracula can return is if someone kills him and takes his place.

Soma does have the powers of his former self and sets out for the Cults Headquarters to prevent his death. Here comes the excitement.

The game play in "Dawn of Sorrow" will be easy for anyone who's played any of the "Castlevania" games and anyone else new to the series.

You'll start at the gates of an incredibly huge castle, just like in the previous games. Once in the castle, you must explore dozens and dozens of rooms, fighting off zombies and many other creatures you will surely recognize from horror movies. As you fight more creatures, you'll gain experience and continuously level up, increasing your ability to take more damage, fight harder and do more damage to your opponents.

You'll have a huge arsenal of weapons to choose from to fight the spooky baddies. The weapons each have their own unique strength based on aspects such as speed and range, so you must choose what weapon is right for each enemy. Those of you familiar to the "Highlander" movie series will notice Soma's katana looks very similar to the famous katana Christopher Lambert used.

Game controls are pretty good, but you must consider this is only a 2-D game, so the frequent button combinations from most 3-D games don't exist. However, the stylus in the DS offers a cool "soul stealer" option. You see, every character has a soul, and they're yours for the taking. Once you have a character's "soul," you temporarily gain their powers.

I guess the only problem is the lack of combinations, but to some gamers this could be a blessing.

There are no slow-moving pixels or spotty graphics here, as this is perhaps the best-looking DS game yet. The anime-type graphics are so smooth that when combined with the bold sound effects, you'll think you're controlling a true anime cartoon.

The biggest disappointment is that this game is not on any of the major consoles. But don't let that bother you -- in fact, if you've been looking for a reason to pick up the DS, here is your chance.

If you like classic horror movies or even new ones such as "Van Helsing," this is your game, and with Halloween around the corner, what better way to get in the mood than by killing hordes of zombies and vampires?