Few series have managed to garner more adoration from fans and critics alike as Konami’s Castlevania franchise. The games have changed dramatically since the original was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System around twenty some odd years ago, going from strictly action based platform game play, to adding RPG elements along with item specific restrictive locations.

The latest addition to this series, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS carries on this same tried and true design coupled with a few new additions. Will the new aspects be enough to make this game as memorable as past efforts, or is Castlevania ultimately destined for mediocrity? Read on to find out.

Facts and Features:

• Team up with Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin as you use both characters to fight the evil undead.
  
• Explore castle Dracula to find new weapons, items and spells to wage war on the evil that never sleeps with its walls.
  
• Make extra money by opening a store online to sell precious and hard to find items.
  
• Compete wirelessly or online in co-op and Boss Rush modes.
  

The Sun is Setting
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is the seconding outing for the series on the Nintendo DS. Portrait of Ruin takes place before the events in Dawn of Sorrow, and after the chronicles of legendary vampire slayer Simon Belmont. This particular Casltevania actually takes place during WWII; it seems that the sheer amount of human suffering and death has awakened an innate power inside castle Dracula. Locales talk of a man named Brauner being seen lurking about Dracula’s castle. Could he be behind this reawakening? Or could it be the count himself, maybe something even far more sinister? At this, the darkest hour two young vampire hunters emerge to vanquish this threat to humanity: Jonathan Morris, and Charlotte Aulin.

Now a fan of the various iterations of Castlevania may remember another vampire hunter in a previous Castlevania with the last name of Morris. That character was John Morris from Castlevania: Bloodlines, and he is in fact the father of Jonathan Morris who is one of the key protagonists in Portrait of Ruin. After his father’s passing, the ancient whip know as the ‘vampire slayer’ was inherited by Jonathan and with it the responsibility of saving the world from evil.

If you count yourself as one of the few that is unfamiliar with the current design of the series, here is the basic premise. You begin the game with very basic accouterments. You fight creatures that permeate throughout the castle to level up your stats. Players will need to search every nook and cranny of the castle to find better weapons, armor, and items. You will also find areas that can only be explored when you have certain items, or abilities. For example, you may need to slide underneath some narrow spaces to reach certain rooms. You cannot do this without a specialized item known as a relic in Portrait of Ruin, called a Lizard’s tail. Once acquired, this will grant you access to certain areas of the castle. This design keeps the player on a relatively set path, and creates an interesting game dynamic.

For the most part almost every Castlevania game since Symphony of the Night has used this same design and Portrait of Ruin is no different. However, Portrait of Ruin does offer some vast changes. For starters, this is no longer a lone adventure. This is now a team effort; our token vampire slayer Jonathan has a magic user counterpart named Charlotte Aulin. Instead of using weapons, she equips books. I am not kidding here; she can attack enemies with books physically. As you may have guessed, this isn’t half as effective as her magic casting abilities are. She can summon monsters, and cast offensive and defensive magic.


Hi, I am the protagonist!.

Jonathan Morris, the other side to this duo is what you would consider the more traditional Castlevania character, in other words he is far more action specific. He uses whips, spears, and the like along with magical weapons to dispose of the undead. His attributes and stats reflect his disposition nicely.

Right from the onset of the game players have control over both Jonathan Morris, and Charlotte Aulin. Players can switch control between the two characters by simply pressing the X button. Furthermore at anytime you can call the other character to fight alongside of you by pressing the A button. The computer controlled character will not take damage, but if hit by an enemy your main character will lose magic points. There are also dual attacks that can be performed that do massive amounts of damage as well.

Since Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin focuses on Jonathan, and Charlotte fighting against a unspeakable evil together, it is no surprise that the designers included puzzles that rely on both characters to solve. They are peppered throughout the game, and usually rely on simple switch mechanics. Though they are somewhat odd in nature, we honestly enjoyed every puzzle and honestly wish they had taken this little addition more seriously.