"Konami's vampire hunting side scroller has aged well"

Castlevania is undoubtedly one of the best classic video game series out there, right up there with Mario, Metroid, Mega Man and Zelda. And for a good reason, as some of the games in the series are a few of the best 2D platformers ever made.

However, one has to wonder about the direction the series has recently been taking. 1997's Symphony of the Night was a masterpiece of a video game and one of the best games to grace the PS1, but after that, Castlevania has slowly declined. Since Symphony, there have been two kinds of Castlevania games; A) Mediocre 3D Titles and B) decent games that tried to imitate Symphony, but weren't quite as good.

For a time, it seemed that the blood in Dracula's veins was about to run dry. Adventurers would whip and slash their way through the same castle, fighting the same monsters, and played games that tried to be Symphony of the Night but didn't quite make it over and over again. The only remotely original game since Symphony was Aria of Sorrow, but even then, the series was starting to feel a little stale.

Then comes Portrait of Ruin. While it too uses the RPG elements and Metroid-style environment of Symphony, for the first time in 10 years, Castlevania doesn't feel like a rehash of SOTN or a sub par Devil May Cry ripoff. While PoR has many old elements, PoR is very much its own game.

PoR puts you once again into the shoes of a whip wielding hero, Johnathan Morris Jr., son of Castlevania Bloodlines' John Morris. In addition to being able to use the traditional Vampire Killer whip, Johnathan can also use swords, axes and a variety of other weapons. It's nice to finally have a Castlevania game where you can use both whips AND swords... a little something to make both Belmont and Alucard fans happy.

Johnathan can also use all the classic subweapons, although they are obtained a little differently than usual. Instead of being found inside candles, weapons are now either dropped by enemies or simply found sitting there. Once you obtain a weapon, you keep it permanently, and can switch between them at will. (This is somewhat similar to the Soul system of both "Sorrow" games.) You can also "master" weapons by using them repeatedly.

This is a fairly decent way of doing things, but it isn't perfect. I find it a little awkward to have to open a menu to switch weapons, and the system of mastering weapons can be pretty tedious and asks for a little too much... by the time I had reached the final boss, I hadn't mastered any weapons, and had finish some quests involving said mastering by going through an optional dungeon over and over.

In addition to Johnathan, you can also play as a young mage named Charlotte, who lacks physical strength, but has some potent spells. I didn't find myself playing as her very often... while she isn't terrible, she just seems to be completely outclassed by Johnathan. It's well known that IGA, the producer of Castlevania is sexist, and it shows. Notice how almost all females in Japanese RPGs are physically weak spellcasters. Oh, well.

The main gameplay element is more or less taken from Castlevania III: you can switch between the two characters at will. In addition, you can have one character be controlled by AI and follow you around, much like Tails from the Sonic games, but the second character consumes MP when hit, and often feels like a waste of MP.

Also new is an online mode, which allows players to buy and sell items online, or play through one dumbed down boss rush level. An online mode with one level just sucks... what they should have done was port stages from older games like Rondo of Blood, Super Castlevania IV or Bloodlines and made those co-op. Most of the enemies from the levels already exist in the game. Sadly, the online portions are extremely weak, but the very solid single player mode makes up for it.

Graphically, PoR looks great. Like SOTN and Dawn of Sorrow, a good 90% of the game's sprites are taken directly from older games. A vast majority of the enemy sprites are taken from 1993's Dracula X: Chi no Rondo for the PC Engine, a few are from 1997's Symphony of the Night, 2005's Dawn of Sorrow and even a couple from 1991's Super Castlevania IV. Very few foes in the game are actually new.

Some might balk at the fact that most of the game's graphics are at least 13 years old, but there's a reason why Castlevania games have been using the same sprites over the years... they look good. They also add a good deal of nostalgia factor for older players... when I played through it, I constantly thought to myself "Oh, I remember fighting that guy 10 years ago when I was a kid!" PoR's looks really nice visually, and I hope the old school look is here to stay.

But, what truly sets PoR apart is that the game is, (for the most part) very well thought out. The new environments, such as Egyptian Pyramids and a twisted circus make the game feel fresh, and not like another Symphony of the Night rehash. The boss battles are nothing short of spectacular... PoR's final boss fight is probably the best one in any Castlevania game... ever.

Also, while Symphony of the Night was one of the deepest gaming experiences ever, it was also one of the easiest. That game offered almost no challenge at all. PoR corrects that by giving PoR just the right amount of difficulty. If it's still not hard enough, you can choose to impose a level cap of 50, 25, and for completely insane, level 1. Everyone from newcomers to pros will be happy with this.

In short, while it isn't without flaws, PoR is an excellent mix of new and old elements, which turns out to be an incredibly fun experience. If you have a Nintendo DS and you're a fan of good action games, I'd highly recommend picking this up.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/06