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CommunityCastlevania: Portrait of Ruin
About this Game
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Nintendo DS)
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Action
Players: 2
C3 Score
9
Reader Score (11 Votes)
7
Rate
9
7
Rate
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Posted on 21.11.2006
Posted by Adam Riley (jesusraz)
Tags:
Castlevania:, Portrait, of, Ruin, Nintendo DS
Posted by Adam Riley (jesusraz) Tags:
Castlevania:, Portrait, of, Ruin, Nintendo DS The Castlevania series may have appeared on many other systems, but the majority of its strongest outings have been released on Nintendo systems, such as three classics on the Game Boy Advance. When moving over to the Nintendo DS for the first next-generation 2D game in the series there were doubts about how well it would end up, but thankfully it was a massive success both at retail and amongst critics. Now the team has been made bigger, the budget seems to have been expanded and it is definitely back with a bang in the form of Portrait of Ruin. Can a game as strong as Dawn of the Sorrow really be beaten by such a margin, though? You bet it can!
The premise of the game is that a crazy artist called Brauner is on the rampage in wartime 1944 and desperately wants to resurrect Dracula himself along with the help of his two daughters, Stella and Loretta, and it is the job of two poor souls 
But not only has the graphical prowess been sufficiently toned up, so has the soundtrack. Whilst the GBA has oft been criticised for its weak audio capacity, the DS has already shown that it can strut its stuff with the big boys, churning out gorgeous soundtracks for the likes of Children of Mana and Final Fantasy III (to state two more recent examples). Dawn of Sorrow's music was indeed wonderful, but Portrait of Ruin again seems to take things a step further (maybe more than one step, actually). The rich music that pours from the forth from the DS speakers is haunting, rousing and chilling in the right places, with little spurts of voice acting here and there (yes, even in a hidden English mode, thanks to the game basically being developed alongside its American edition). In fact, right now I have one of the main themes running through my head, so is the addictive quality of the tunes within. Sadly you have to unlock a sound test mode, because it would have been great to have something like that right from the start....but hey, you cannot have it all!
Metroid is a series that is normally mentioned alongside Castlevania nowadays. Sure, it is not exactly the same, but since it includes deep exploration of a large hub-like castle that leads off into different areas and is jam-packed full of secret passages to uncover and bosses stowed away around the grid-like map, to the passer-by it is not hard to see where the comparative comments come from. You find the main map is on the top screen, which is extremely handy since non-DS versions require you to go into menu screens to see where you are actually going. The map is an essential piece of kit or else you will either get extremely lost or miss out on vital aspects of the game and end up having to track back unnecessarily, which can be costly if you are low on health points at the time.
Anyway, this time round there can be one or two players on the screen at any one time, depending on your choice
On top of this, though, is another new addition
Gameplay 9
9
The newly implemented dual-character aspect works a treat, and the inclusion of quests is marvellous. As for the usual gameplay, it is as much of a joy to play as ever before.
Graphics 9
9
The fluidity of animation, wonderful use of 3D for backgrounds, sheer variety of enemies and great character flowing through PoR makes this a wonder to behold.
Sound 10
10
Dragging the composer from Symphony of the Night onto this project really has paid off as it is definitely one of the strongest soundtracks in Castlevania's history.
Value 8
8
Okay, so the actual difficulty in the game is not too hard, but Igarashi-san and the team have thrown in enough extras and new elements to at least make this one of the most worthwhile outings so far!
9
C3 Score When Dawn of Sorrow was released early on in the lifespan of the Nintendo DS many thought it would appear rushed. However, it turned out to be one of the best games on the system. Now, though, it has been well and truly surpassed by Portrait of Ruin /10
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