"Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, or Castlevania: Collecting Tons of Extra Stuff?"

Twenty years ago, a game called ‘Castlevania' was released for the Nintendo Entertainment system. It was a grim game, starring a whip-wielding guy in his quest to put Count Dracula in his place. From there, the series spawned sequel after sequel of whip-slashing, powerup-finding gameplay, loaded with levels of skeletons, bats, ghosts, zombies, and other denizens of evil.

Then, about 9 years ago, the series evolved considerably from basic platforming to incorporating Metroid-like elements into the gameplay. In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, you were thrust into a huge castle with little indication of where to go next, and proceeded by collecting new powerups and weapons, as well as defeating room-sized bosses, and unveiling new and secret areas by overcoming obstacles and hardships.

Today, the series seems to have made it's home on the portable systems, such as the Gameboy Advance, and the Nintendo DS. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is one of many of such games. With almost a half dozen or so of these 'Castleroids' would Portrait of Ruin be able to stand up to the many Castlevania games before it? Would it be better? Would it be the same? Would it hold up it's title of of the 20th anniversary Castlevania game proudly, or would it stumble over itself?

Graphics 8/10: Simply put, the graphics themselves are great. Konami seems to be using the DS' 3-D capabilities well enough by rendering some backgrounds, enemies, and other various effects very nicely, and they incorporate them well with the 2-Dimensional effects of the sprites and rooms. The previous handheld game, Dawn of Sorrow, and Symphony of the Night are the only other games besides Portrait of Ruin that mix these effects seemlessly, and give us a rather interesting visual experience. The game is full of color and life, yet at the same time they've managed to keep a respectable level of the series' gothic, dark overtones and it really works well.

However, as nice and detailed as everything looks, most of the enemies and areas are kind of recycled from previous games. Well, the areas themselves aren't, but as detailed and nice as they look (there are really cool and creepy effects, such as the way rain hits walls in certain areas, or the ghostly-effects of certain rooms) a lot of areas just manage to look too similar. One thing that doesn't really bother me, but it does bother some people and I actually can understand why, is that many of the enemy sprites are just recycles from previous games in the series. There's a difference between Konami tipping their hat to their fans by throwing a few nostalgic enemies in, and just dumping all the enemies in from previous games. It's not really a huge deal, but to some it may seem like like a cheap way to go about things.

Regardless of that, things still look great, and the level of detail is certainly there, though the game doesn't look hugely different from the previous handheld installment.

Story 8/10: In games like this, story doesn't even matter. Castlevania has always been about destroying evil, weapon in hand, and I think most fans of the series would enjoy the game if they were just placed outside of the castle with no indication of story.

Anyway, the game starts in 1944, near the end of World War II, and Dracula's Castle has apparently reappeared. Jonathan Morris (son of the previous wielder of the Vampire Killer whip) and his friend, Charlotte Aulin, set out to discover why the castle has reappeared, despite the fact that Dracula is currently out of commission, so to speak. When they arrive at the castle, they discover that a vampire named Brauner and his two daughters have resurrected Dracula's castle in an attempt to draw out Dracula's powers for themselves and that Brauner is channeling Dracula's power through paintings located in various places through out the castle.

It then becomes your quest to stop Brauner, and destroy the castle, all while hoping to avert the resurrection of the Dark Lord Dracula himself. Through out the course of the game, you'll encounter familiar friends who will aid you on your quest, as well as some old foes who seem to have their own hidden agendas...

This being said, it seems like they could have done a lot more regarding the angle they had taken. The World War II backdrop could have provided many interesting places, enemies, and plot elements, but it's reduced to the typical "Humans are foolish, war loving beings, so they must die!" angle. The whole thing is just kind of an excuse for a plot, when they either could have elaborated on it more, or just omitted it entirely.

Control 8/10: Control itself is fairly easy to grasp. Movement, attacking, etc are all straight to the point, but because of the fact that you can preform special attacks with you partner, and you can issue them lots of commands, it can be slightly confusing at first, especially when some obstacles require quick switching between the two characters, and having them preform a task, then quickly switching back to the other character.

Other than that, the game is easy to navigate. Maps and menu interfaces are easy to use, and everything is pretty friendly and to the point. The Dual screen doesn't serve much function. It just conveniently displays the current area map, and you can switch it out to view enemy data, which is helpful, but like many DS games it just seems like it's there for the sake of being there, rather than absolutely needing to be there.

Gameplay 8/10: The game is really exactly what we've come to expect from these 2-D 'Castleroids.' Your main objective is to traverse the castle and other areas, searching for items that will aid you in your quest, be they weapons or relics that allow you to advance further in the castle. The game does something rather surprising, by offering a full 1000% worth of map coverage to explore, and dozens of items and abilities to find. This is vastly more than any of the other map-based Castlevanias, yet for some reason, it really doesn't feel like that much more. Instead of offering one or two huge castles to explore, we're given about 10 smaller areas, and almost half of them are the same area, just flipped horizontally. Not only that, but having so many areas, means that in the end, they feel somewhat tiny, and unresolved. There are a number of really cool individual rooms, but adding them up to their individual areas, you notice that they really aren't very big on their own. Personally, I prefer a couple larger areas, with seemingly countless rooms, as opposed to several smaller areas, with a modest number of rooms.

Regardless of that, there still are a good deal of things to do and find, including breakable walls that lead to hidden rooms or items, and several weapons, items, and enemies for you to collect and find.

As for the actual way the characters control, it functions almost like Castlevania III, or Dawn of Sorrow, where you can switch from one character to the next as you wish, or if the need arises. There are some puzzles that you'll need to solve by using both characters at once to throw switches, or move objects, or what have you. Similarly, during battle you can summon your ally to aid you in battle by offering support, and you can execute a Duo attack using both characters, causing massive damage.

Beyond that, the Soul System from the previous two games was removed in favor of the rather typical equipment and skill system, which just has you obtaining new weapons and skills by finding, buying, or getting them as drops from enemies. I suppose the two-person, team system sort of replaces that, but it doesn't feel overly complicated, or nearly as involved as the soul system.

Like previous Castlevanias (and as I've already mentioned) your advancement through the game depends on your ability to locate various relic items, which give you new abilities to reach new heights, or move certain objects. As you proceed, you'll find the various paintings located throughout Dracula's Castle, and by entering them, you'll discover new areas to clear. There are a few interesting ideas for areas, such as abandon cities, a desert, and a few other places. However, the central castle is the biggest area in the game, and each area within the paintings are all fairly small, and feel a bit uninspired, as I've previously described. However, the game has lots of other things going on for it. The exploration, and things to collect, as well as hidden areas and items add extra elements that keep you wanting to play more, so it's solid in that respect.

Music 9/10: Simply put, I think the music is one of the most outstanding areas in the game. Most of the time, when I entered a new area, I found myself enjoying the themes quite a bit, and I would certainly say the game has probably the strongest soundtrack since Symphony of the Night.

Replay 10/10: Like a lot of the recent Castlevanias, there is a lot to do in this game. In the game's normal mode, there is much to see and do, as I've already illustrated, but beyond that there are higher difficulties to play on, boss rush modes, and several secret areas. Also, there are three or four extra modes that allow you to play as some surprising hidden characters, which offers new challenges and means of going about making your way through the castle. The game also supports Wifi, and you can play co-op with other players online, as well as sell and buy items from other players to complete your collection lists.

Overall 8/10: Overall, this is a solid title. There is much to do, see, and collect, which is kind of what we've come to expect of these types of games over the years. It feels very similar to the other map based Castlevanias, which is is kind of it's making and breaking point. Players will feel comfortable with the familiarity, but at the same time, Konami doesn't really do much to make the game stand out too far beyond the other recent installments, beyond making the game somewhat larger. It's certainly worth the buy if you're fan of Castlevania, or any of these map-based exploration games, and offers many, many things to keep the player occupied and content.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/06