Konami has already announced that the third in the Nintendo DS iterations of the Castlevania series, Order of Ecclesia, will be hitting all territories later this year and now more screens, new videos and plenty of hot details on the game have been revealed by the company via IGN’s DS channel.

Just as in Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia sticks pretty close to the mold set in the PSone classic Symphony of the Night, and as soon as the game opens players are treated to how the new Glyph system has been implemented into this latest update, with the first one, a sword Glyph called Confodere, being offered up pretty much straight away for players to get the hang of the new technique, which is basically simply like a basic weapon, but far quicker to use thanks to it being possible to equip it to both hands at the same time. In addition, extra powerful attacks can be pulled off as wel by tapping Up and an attack button at the same time.

According to IGN, the beauty of this latest adventure is that whilst you get to go to new locations from the main hub, just as in Portrait of Ruin, this time a whole host of fresh enemies will attack from both sides, and it is this that will catch veteran Castlevania fans off-guard at first, since normally past enemies are regurgitated for each outing and attack patterns are too predictable as a result. This helps to give the game a real air of something new and distances itself from being merely a clone of Symphony of the Night. Magic is also more focused upon this time round, removing the requirement for hearts usage from previous games when throwing certain sub-weapons attained during play. Remembering to dual-equip weapons is a key aspect throughout, since otherwise players will find themselves at a severe disadvantage. There is a touch more versatility than evident in the past, with the magic meter replenishing once a string of attacks has ceased, making play more fun than before.

A new inclusion to proceedings is when players hit the R button, which unleashes a large ring from lead character Shanoa, which draws her towards metal ledges, allowing something similar to Metroid’s wall jumps to occur with the right timing. This feature appears to be quite an important part of the game’s design, with it being used during general gameplay to access different areas, but also during boss battles for tactical purposes (which comes in handy, apparently, whilst facing bosses that stretch to fill most of the screen.

Add to this the fact that the audio and visual side of the game’s presentation are top notch and this is definitely shaping up to be a contender for Nintendo DS Game of the Year 2008!

Below are three of the new videos that have been released from the game, appearing to show off a similar, yet much smoother gameplay experience to that of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on the Nintendo DS:

What are your thoughts on the Castlevania games for the Nintendo DS so far, and are you interested in this third outing after seeing the above details, screens and video footage? Be sure to air your opinion by posting below and stick around for further updates…