"Quite possibly the best Castlevania for a handheld system."

It's been 20 years since we've seen Castlevania games come and go on all types of gaming platforms. But the series's turning point had to be when Symphony of the Night was released and invented the "Castleroid" style that we've become so familiar with. Portrait of Ruin follows Symphony of the Night's footsteps with that exact type of gameplay. And of course there's nothing wrong with it, which is why Symphony of the Night was so successful. Portrait of Ruin not only does better than it's predecessor Dawn of Sorrow, but it introduces new gameplay material that we may see in future Castlevania games.

Story (7/10):

The game is set in the midst of World War II. Dracula's castle has been revived because of the immense amount of chaos present in the world. A vampire by the name of Brauner and his two daughters want to use Dracula's power to wipe out humanity. Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin are sent to deal with the evil vampire. They are both related to the Belmont and Belnadez clans, respectively. Jonathan is the son of John Morris, one of the two main characters in Castlevania: Bloodlines. However, Jonathan can't use the famous Vampire Killer because he's not a Belmont and his father never taught him how to unlock the power. For this he hates his father. Two characters by the name of Vincent and Wind help you during the adventure. Vincent is a monk and he's the shopkeeper of this game. Wind gives you quests that you must complete in order to receive some rare and powerful items.

Unfortunately, the story is probably one of the weaker points of the game. We get no indication whatsoever that the game is set in World War II. They could have put some Nazi zombies here and there. But without the intro telling you the game's set in World War II you could easily pass this off as being set in any part of the 20th century. The closest thing we get as a reference to the Second World War is one of the portraits, called the Nation of Fools. It might be a reference to Nazi Germany, but the average gamer can't figure that out without analyzing it. However we do get some character development in the game, and that's a major plus. Also aside from the World War II flop the actual plot is pretty interesting. However, as is with most Castlevania games, the ending is rather bland. You see Castlevania get destroyed from afar and the characters talk, and the end. This is one part of the game they could have definitely improved on, but didn't. But I won't give this part of the review a lower score because Castlevania games aren't known for their great stories, but their great gameplay, which is what we'll talk about next.

Gameplay (9/10):

Man, at first I thought the dual character system was going to be an immense failure. Boy was I wrong. Each character has his or her own pros and cons, as you might expect. But, both characters are very unique, and the game almost forces you not to stick with just one character, which is great in my opinion. Charlotte does some very powerful magic spells, and Jonathan has subweapons such as the cross and holy water. Jonathan can use whips and swords, while Charlotte uses a book of spells. A major plus is that each character has his or her own set of items. Also, Konami made this system even more fun with some ways you can make both partners cooperate. For instance, you can acquire special moves that can only be performed together by both Jonathan and Charlotte. As you might expect these moves are much more powerful than the individual subweapons and spells that the characters use. You can also call the inactive character to help you by pressing the R button, in which he or she will use his subweapon or her spell. You can also use the stylus to control the inactive character and tell him or her to go to a certain place or attack a certain enemy. The inactive character will also attack with you if you're fighting a monster. You can send the inactive character away if you don't want them to help you. The ability to interact with the inactive character is a great boost in gameplay.

Unlike previous Castlevania games, the actual castle is pretty small when compared to the castles of previous games. However, don't worry. Instead of going throughout Castlevania throughout the whole game, you go inside portraits (hence the name Portrait of Ruin) which have a map of their own. You must defeat the boss in the portrait to weaken the power of Dracula. When you combine the map area of all of the portraits and the map area of Castlevania, it'll be just as big as the previous games. The portraits themselves each have an individual theme and enemies not found in the castle. There's even a secret Colosseum type portrait, akin to Circle of the Moon, towards the end of the game. This was a great addition to the game.

The boss fights are also pretty awesome. They not only challenge you but each boss fight is unique. Another great addition is the quests Wind gives you. If you complete them he'll give you some very nifty items. It's just another great addition to the game. There's also the Sisters, Richter, and Old Axe Armor mode that allow you to replay the game in a whole new way.

The only reason I gave this a 9 instead of a 10 was because of the laziness towards the end of the game. The last 4 portraits are basically just darker versions of the first 4 portraits. Don't get me wrong, they're still good, but I wanted to see some fresh new environments but instead I get the same thing all over again. I would have also liked to see more use of the stylus, but that's no biggie. With that out of the way, let me just say that I hope they implement the dual character system in future Castlevania games.

Graphics (9/10):

Can't go wrong here. Even though they've reused the same sprites from Symphony of the Night, Rondo of Blood and Dawn of Sorrow they still look as great. There's nothing wrong with using those sprites because there's nothing wrong with the sprites themselves. They are almost perfect, needless to say. Konami's artists knew what they were doing when they were making those sprites all the way back in 1993 and 1997. It's fun to see familiar faces like Frankenstein and the Mummy Man back in a Castlevania game again. However the game lost one point because I simply hate the new anime style they've had since Dawn of Sorrow. That does NOT belong in Castlevania. It doesn't affect the actual in-game sprites but it does affect the artwork in the game, such as when you are talking to someone. I prefer the old style found in Symphony of the Night. Don't get me wrong, I love watching anime, but it doesn't belong anywhere near Castlevania.

Sound (10/10):

Wow. This has got to be the best part of the game aside from the gameplay. The music has improved tremendously from Dawn of Sorrow. And they didn't even have to reuse any of the old music, except maybe 1 or 2 tracks. The music actually feels like Castlevania music unlike some of the tracks in Dawn of Sorrow. Each and every track in the game is memorable. Heck the final boss fight music is almost as good as the Dance of Illusions from the beginning of Symphony of the Night and the end of Rondo of Blood. Sometimes I measure how good a Castlevania game is based on how many of its tracks are used in future games. You can bet a lot of these tracks will be heard again.

The voiceovers are also very nice. I have to say this has to be the best use of voices ever since Symphony of the Night. Even though the characters don't talk when actually talking, they do talk at other times. For example, if you switch between Charlotte and Jonathan they'll shout eachother's names. Also not only do the characters have nifty voiceovers but a lot of the enemies do as well. It's nice hearing Medusa or Death talk to you during battle.

Control (9/10):

These controls are great, as to be expected. The movement is fluid and there's no difficulty in using the characters. However I just wish they implemented more of the stylus's abilities.

Multiplayer (8/10):

A great add, since I was disappointed with Dawn of Sorrow's lack of mulitplayer. Even though it's not as fun as it could have been, in multiplayer you can do one of two things. You can either buy or sell items through an online shop for items you just can't seem to find. Or you can play co-op with someone to battle through boss rush type of course. However, there's no co-op in the actual castle to play out the actual story, which is what I wanted there to be. Maybe the next one will have this.

Replayability (10/10):

Wow, this game is really replayable, perhaps more so than any other Castlevania ever before. The game tracks the percentage of items collected, skills mastered, quests completed, and enemies defeated, and almost compels you to get 100% for each of these sections by doing this. Not to mention the fact that when you complete all of the maps, you get 1000%. (Yes, 1000) There's also a Colosseum type portrait near the end of the game mentioned before, called the Nest of Evil. You fight enemies never encountered before and bosses from Dawn of Sorrow. It's a great place to level up to 99.

Besides completing the things above, you can also play a vast array of modes that let you play the game in a whole new different way. You can play the Sisters mode, in which you control the daughters of the vampire Brauner. It actually has a story, which is a first for extra modes in a Castlevania game. This mode makes superb use of the stylus, which is great. There's also an Old Axe Armor mode, in which you control, you guessed it, an Old Axe Armor. It's very humorous, but also very difficult because of the fact that you don't have a partner and the armor itself is hard to control. Lastly, there's Richter mode. You control Richter and his sister Maria. They used Maria's sprite from Rondo of Blood and not Symphony of the Night, so American players might wonder who the little girl is. You'll see why you control Richter and not any other Belmont once you've played the game. As you can see by the immense amount of things to do I've typed above, this game is very replayable.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately we haven't seen a Castlevania game yet that's as good as Symphony of the Night, including this one. However, I can say that this game is definitely the best Castlevania game on any handheld system to date. Hopefully the success of this great game will get Konami to churn out even more great Castlevania games for the Nintendo DS. Happy 20th Anniversary Castlevania!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07