October 28, 2005 - As much as we'd like it, we know that everyone on the planet can't show up on IGN's Nintendo DS channel on a daily basis. So for those people that can't get here regularly, we certainly sympathize when you're suddenly assaulted on all sides by a massive flood of games during the interim between the last time you showed up here. It makes it difficult to tell just what's the cream of the crop, especially when you're trying to budget for that one or two titles every month. Nintendo DS games aren't expensive...and too many games can just take up way too much room in one's pocket.

We're here to help. At the end of every month, we'll offer our choice for the Game of the Month for the Nintendo DS system. Sure, you can certainly look through our review scores and read up on all the great games released on the system, but like many readers, maybe you're curious which one we'd choose over the other...even if one received a higher score. We've received hundreds upon hundreds of emails asking questions like, "If you only had the money for one game, which one would it be?" This is our way of answering this question.

After we've finished evaluating every game to come down the pipeline, we put our heads together and decide on a single "best of" winner that's worthy of the title "IGN Game of the Month". Pretty simple, don't you think?

Now that we have the guidelines out of the way, let's move on and congratulate this month's winner...

BERJAYA

Why We Picked It: The past few months have been tough to decide on for the Game of the Month. But in this month's case, it's a freakin' no brainer: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is not only one of the best games in the Konami series, it's easily one of the top games in the Nintendo DS library this year. The game isn't a technological powerhouse, using a huge, elaborate 3D engine for its gameplay and environments. Instead, it builds off the foundation of the games on the GBA system and updates it with tighter gameplay, better visual effects, and some cool gameplay elements that are only possible through the touch screen. And it's pretty cool to have the map displayed at all times, too.

Reader's Game of the Month: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: October 4, 2005

Reader Review quote: It's worth buying unless you hate good games.
read the full review

-- submitted by politiqs

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