Soma is initially quite slow, compared to Juste (HoD) or Nathan (CotM). Gone is the rapid dashing of HoD that sped you through the castle. I guess Konami didn't like the idea that players dashed everywhere all the time. When Soma does get the Gravekeeper soul which allows him to backdash, its a slow, useless affair. Even Skeleton Blaze, which gives the slide ability, is not much good for actually getting you anywhere and seems to be slower than walking. It isn't until Black Panther's endless dash becomes available very late in the game, when combined Hippogryph's high jump, that the player gets rapid, unfettered access to the castle. In fact, many of the long corridors in the game seem to be designed for Black Panther, which also surrounds you with a damaging shield, allowing you to blast through the weaker denizens. There are 4 transformation souls available, of which only Giant Bat is really transportation. Manticore, Curly (should be Kali) and Devil all do essentially the same thing, which is transform Soma into a large sliding beast that sort of runs into everything and kills it. Giant Bat, similar to SotN's Soul of Bat, lets you become a bat and take flight. Combined with the Flame Demon soul, this form can shoot fireballs. There may be other such combinations.

There's no wolf or mist forms in this game, but there are a few recognizable familiars that show up with the Imp and Alastor (sword familiar) souls. They don't gain levels and are pretty ineffective. There are also a couple of pseudo-familiars, which take the form of partial bodies that attach themselves to Soma's back and attack along with him. These include Creaking Skull, Big Golem, Cagnazzo and Shadow Knight. The way the transforms and familiars are handled contribute the feeling of "SotN-lite".

Castlevania's design this time around is clever and very pretty. Not as dark and austere as CotM, not as candy-colored as HoD. Graphics are highly detailed and sport some terrific parallax, though I've wondered how it is that we see the moon in the background of so many levels when we are inside of an eclipse. When you think about that, what does it mean anyway? How can anything be inside of an eclipse? But I really do like the castle graphics. It looks like a really nice SNES game with none of the slowdown. Many creatures consist of creepy rotating parts, really big parts. The bosses are much more interesting than HoD's pushovers, though not a fearsome as CotM. Soma's animations are fluid. The breakable walls are thankfully back after a conspicuous absence in HoD. Some doors don't actually lead to the next room over, but lead to some portion of the castle we wouldn't expect. There is a good deal of underwater adventuring. All said, it's a polished, well balanced adventure.

So are there any misteps? Does the game falter in areas? Yes, two. The big one here, as this is Castlevania after all, is the downright boring soundtrack. The samples are more modern than HoD, but they have none of that game's heart. There is nothing on the level of Juste's Theme from HoD. Is this really the same composer as SotN? It boggles my mind really, how the most poetic and dynamic of game composers could produce the AoS soundtrack. A few tunes are passably forgettable, but many are just down right bad. Bland, boring, ug. Was it an attempt to sound more "modern", as with Uematsu's disastrous FFVII soundtrack? In some ways, that seems to be it. But then again, its not really the instrument choice. The compositions lack any emotional impact. I'll stop, there is really nothing more to say on that subject. The other deficient area really has to do with the storyline, but not so much the story as the characters. The anime look of the characters doesn't really do it for me. They feel generic and out of place. Hammer is terrible. This is our new shopkeeper? Terrible. The rest of the secondary cast are just ehh. As for Soma, he is too much of a child. This is not a grizzled vampire hunter, or a mysterious and debonair Alucard. He's more like Harry Potter. Innocent, goofy, uncompelling. Even a silent stalwart like Simon Belmont is more compelling. I can be interested in Simon, just by the way he dresses. Soma, you just sort of want to smack. It feels as if they really wanted to put Alucard in, but couldn't, so they came up with this guy. Again, SotN-lite.

Is this the best GBA Castlevania game? I don't think so. CotM was much more hardcore. It had the Battle Arena. It had some tough boss fights. It had the DSS system, which I enjoyed more, for some reason. Now, one could mention that SotN was an easy game, but this game is no SotN, so I don't see much of a comparison. CotM had more of its own identity. As for HoD, it was simply too easy. The game was a total walkthrough. There are certainly ways to make it harder. Like don't use weapons… or armor. But this does not change the fact that at its core, HoD is way too easy. I do think that AoS is better than HoD. But, its not the best. That is CotM. I played all 3 games to completion, back to back, so I feel pretty confident of this conclusion. The only downside to that method is that, perhaps by the 3rd game, running around castles was beginning to wear thin.