Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review

So I absolutely LOVE the Golden Sun series and I don't care whether you call me a little kid because they are just awesome!

Truth be told though, I actually felt a bit pissed when I started this game. It feels like Nintendo are going out of their way to make their games playable by 4-year olds. The dumbed down language and the cut-scenes that took 3 and a half times longer to explain a simple concept bored me to tears at some stages. -.- was my face for the first couple hours of this game.

The game mechanics are basically the same as it's predecessors, pysnergy, djinni and summons are all available for the player to fight with. With the addition of some a couple new concepts of course. These new concepts are; weapon masteries (Learn special skills with your weapon) and you get a party member capable of transforming into some ugly she-wolf thing. This party member can cast new pynergy, defend the "pack" and can maul the enemy. Even with these new additions the game is sorely lacking in certain areas.

The arena has been removed, three-quarters of the world map has been removed and half the game length has been removed. It felt like I had to go through the story instead of exploring as you could in the second game. More problems aroused the longer I played; monster encounters have diminished, there wasn't a single boss that I lost to, the story line is completely dumbed down and the "dungeons" are pathetically easy (Just use the latest pysnergy you got).

On a positive note, the graphics have been improved and the visual effects are great (for a DS of course). Melancholy sound tracks are present along with some new sound effects and tracks. New characters are prevalent and those notable from the previous games (Briggs, Eoleo, Kraden etc.)

All in all I still had one hell-of-a time playing this game which has been left open to a sequel. The class change through djinn placement is still amazing and the collectable summons all have sweet cutscenes but the game didn't feel like a worthy successor to Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Story: 6/10
Graphics: 9/10
Audio: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10