"Go ahead and frame it"

Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula began as a trashy serial. Today, it's humble beginnings have been forgotten and it is hailed as one of the greatest works of fiction of all time. Written in the form of letters and journal entries, it manages to be engrossing, frightening, and an all-around good book. In fact, it's been so popular that countless other media forms have been directly influences by the book. Think back to all the Dracula movies that you've seen. And think about one of gaming's most hallowed franchises: Castlevania.

While the genre has wobbled back and forth between 2D and 3D, it's generally accepted among true fans of the series that the former tend to be better games. Such titles as Symphony of the Night represent the epitome of Castlevania gaming, although that game was nearly matched by Konami's first Castlevania outing on the Nintendo DS, subtitled Dawn of Sorrow. And now, the company's second attempt at Castlevania perfection on the DS comes mightily close to the quality of the first.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin chronicles the adventures of two young friends, Jonathon Morris and Charlotte Aulin and their attempts to unravel the mystery of the reappearance of Dracula's Castle during the catastrophic events of World War II. But this time, Dracula is not alone. As always, his servant Death is present to do his will, but Portrait of Ruin brings into the picture (pun very much intended) a new vampire named Brauner and his two “daughters” Stella and Loretta. Brauner has his own motivations, however, and they do not necessarily align will the will of Dracula. The diversification of the vampire “race”, if you will, provides an interesting plot aspect to the title. The game's script is very well-written, as are all of the characters. The plot is surprisingly deep for such a seemingly-straightforward action game, but there are in fact plenty of twists and turns, which are sure to keep you enjoying the game.

But of course, what Castlevania fans really love about the series is the gameplay. There are countless aspects to the game's real play mechanic, but it's best to begin simply. Portrait of Ruin is essentially an action game. Yes, I know that fans of the game would love to beat me over the head with a stick right now, because it's so much more than that. Yes, I know. Because in addition to being an action game, there are also some strong platforming elements present in the title, as well as quite a few role-playing conventions. There's a huge emphasis on exploration in this title, and the game is very non-linear. There's no real direction in this game; you're apparently free to do what you will. But there are a number of sills that you acquire throughout the course of the game (some examples: double jumping, being able to push heavier items). So, where you can access in the castle is really dictated by what skills you've already found. Still, it's a lot of fun exploring the castle, coming upon dead ends, and finally figuring out where you can make some progress.

As I already mentioned, there are some very obvious RPG elements present in Portrait of Ruin. The last game in the series, Dawn of Sorrow, featured a soul-collecting system, where you had to kill a certain enemy a certain number of times in order to acquire that enemy's soul, and thereby gain its ability. That mechanic is shot in Portrait of Ruin, and replaced by a more traditional role-playing experience-collecting system. Every time you defeat an enemy, you gain a set amount of experience; once reaching an experience milestone, you'll level up, and your stats will increase. There is also tons of different equipment to find/buy and use, ranging from weapons and headgear to shoes and accessories. The sheer variety is mind-blowing, and it's actually quite a bit of fun to outfit your characters as you see best fit. It may not be anything groundbreaking, but it sure is a lot of fun.

The plot, detailed above, features two characters, and both of them are woven heavily into the core gameplay mechanic of Portrait of Ruin. Jonathon excels in physical attacks, while Charlotte has mastery of magical attacks. Throughout the game, you'll find certain items, tomes, or weapons that can only be wielded by one character. The character system is, sadly, where Portrait of Ruin runs into a small spot of trouble. Optimally, use of Charlotte and Jonathon would be about equally split. However, the times when one really NEEDS Charlotte are few and far between; most of the entire game can be played perfectly fine with Jonathon, who tends to have more powerful attacks anyway. It would have been really great to see the differences between these two characters really stressed and their abilities better implemented into the game. Yes, there are times when one particular character is needed, or when you need to employ both at once, but these times don't occur all that often.

Still, though, the puzzles in which both Jonathon and Charlotte are present are brilliantly imagined and perfectly executed. Puzzles are present throughout the entire game, but aren't as plentiful as I'd have liked them to be. The ones that the game has created, though, are surprisingly challenging and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, though, the only ones that really are “good” are the ones that require you to take advantage of the abilities of both Jonathon and Charlotte. Unfortunately, though, these aren't that common; such puzzles occur all too infrequently throughout the game.

Boss fights, on the other hand, are one of the few venues of the entire game that really require you to strategize in terms of who you choose. There are certain fights that might be completed with a specific character; for example, one boss-ess casts a charm spell that will ally Jonathon with herself and viscously attack Charlotte, thus forcing you to fight her with Charlotte. Many others require you to well-implement both characters and multi-task, focusing on one aspect of the boss with one character while working towards another end with the other. For example, one boss resides in a huge cast-iron pot, and can only be awakened through repeated striking of said pot. So, you deploy one character next to the pot, then climb the platforms and begin striking the huge monster's head once he leaves his lair. Additionally, there's tons of variety with the boss fights, and none of them ever feel the same.

I've left out one of the most important aspects of Portrait of Ruin until now (Why? Because it's going to transition nicely to my next point), but it remains one of the biggest reasons that Portrait of Ruin is really a fun game. The game earns its title from a number of Brauner's paintings that are scattered throughout the castle. Each painting will warp you to a different area completely unrelated to the castle. These different areas range from a desert to a twisted carnival to a very European-looking city. These paintings really do imbue the game with what the previous title sorely lacked: variety. Simply exploring the castle itself, while fun, eventually becomes somewhat monotonous, just because of the lack of different scenery and new enemies. The whole portrait system, however, constantly has the background and enemies changing, which really serves for a more exciting and enjoyable gameplay experience.

Another huge plus of the portrait mechanic of this Castlevania title is that it really gives the developers a chance to show off one of the strongest aspects of any 2D Castlevania title: the beautiful graphics. The visuals in Portrait of Ruin are all hand-done, and are absolutely beautiful. They're not of the same brand of, say, Final Fantasy III or Metroid Prime Hunters. Instead, they have a more artistic appeal, and a case could be made for Portrait of Ruin having the best visuals of any DS title. The different environs in the game really allowed the graphic designers to let lose their creativity in designing this game; everything is just so vibrant and atmospheric.

Similarly, the sound of this game is fantastically created. I'm a fan of music and sound effects that really contribute to the overall quality of a title, and for the most part, Portrait of Ruin manages to achieve that. The music is incredibly atmospheric and generally fun to listen to. One somewhat noticeable problem is that every time you switch characters, you'll hear the switchee's name being shouted. Yeah, it's kind of cool at first, but once you hear it 500 times, it may start to get a bit annoying. It's disappointing, really, because I'm afraid such an annoyance would edge people toward turning off the volume; doing so would cause you to miss out on some of the best videogame music I've heard in quite a while.

Sadly, Portrait of Ruin is a good bit shorter than I would have liked. It will probably take around 10 hours to complete, and there's not much reason to play again. There are a number of side quests that can net you some new skills for Jonathon or Charlotte or new items, weapons, and equipment. Still, this “bonus content” is trivial, and will likely be ignored by all but the game completionists out there and the huge Castlevania fans that will no doubt purchase this game. However, there is some more content aside from these side quests that will have you spending more time with the game. There are two different endings, and unlocking the clearly better one will allow you to play through the game as different characters. This is a relatively easy feature to unlock, and it's one that you probably will take advantage of, easily doubling the life of this game.

So, should you purchase Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin? Absolutely. It's got some problems, yes. But opting out of this game would cause you to miss what's probably one of the top 20 games on the Nintendo DS. It really does have everything a game needs to be truly great: an intriguing plot, a varied, complex storyline, a good amount of replay value, and brilliant graphics and music. If you haven't already, scrounge around online and try and pick up a copy of this very solid Nintendo DS title. Trust me, you'll be doing yourself a favor.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/07

Game Release: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (US, 12/05/06)