Great + Awesome = Spectacular Deal.
Gameplay: This game is more like the old school Castlevania's than Aria of Sorrow is. You get an upgradeable whip, and you explore the castle defeating enemies.You also get another weapon that uses hearts. The gameplay is simple, but the different ability bestowing items you get are very cool.
Graphics: The graphics and animations are all very well done and smooth. They are simple, but get the job done. The enemy designs are also very interesting, and are pretty cool.
Sound: The music is very suiting for each stage. All of the music seems to fit. There are no voice-overs, but the character sound effects are nice.
Story: The Castlevania series storyline usually speaks for itself, you try to defeat Dracula, or someone similar. Nothing special here.
Controls: Again, pretty straight forward. You don't really notice the controls after a while, and they seem pretty natural. The only thing that gets annoying is that when you jump, you can't control your jump in midair, causing you to jump too far, or into enemies.
Parents: Blood is present, but nothing to gory. For the Christian, there are occult themes.
Next is the second game in the pack, my personal favorite, Aria of Sorrow.
Gameplay: This game has much more addicting gameplay in my opinion. The most addicting aspect is collecting souls, which are randomly expelled from an enemy that you kill. Each enemy has a unique soul. There are three different soul types that you can have equipped. Bullet, Guardian, and Enchant. The one way this game is different from the other Castlevania's is that you aren't limited to just your whip. There are tons of different weapons you can have in your inventory. It's truly very addicting.
Graphics: To me, this game looks better than Harmony of Dissonance. I like the overall feel of this game, over HoD. The enemies look great, and so does Soma, the character that you control.
Sound: The music also sounds better than Harmony of Dissonance in my opinion. Again, there are no voice-overs, but the character, weapon, and enemy sound effects are great.
Story: This story is deeper than the other Castlevania's, and includes twists and turns along the way. The main character is Soma, and he has the dark power to collect his enemy's soul. Graham is the main villain, who appears nice at the beginning, but then reveals his true intentions.
Controls: Just like Harmony of Dissonance, except you can control Soma mid-jump!
Parents: Blood sprays when you hit an enemy, and more occult themes are still present. Also, some of the female enemies are naked, like the Durga and Succubus. This really isn't a problem because of the GBA's limited graphics.