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For 20 years, Konami’s Castlevania franchise has been a much loved staple of gaming for players around the world. What started in 1986 as a fun and challenging platformer has been transformed, with the help of series producer Igarashi Koji, into a… fun and challenging platformer with menus and maps.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS follows this tradition of classic gameplay, picking up after the events of the 1994 Sega Genesis title, Castlevania: Bloodlines.

Anybody seen my Cross?

In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, would be demon hunters take up their Nintendo DS handhelds to whip, slash, and cast their way through the labyrinthine halls of the legendary Castle Dracula, in pursuit of the evil vampire painter Brauner and his minions of darkness, with the help of their virtual avatars, Jonathan Morris – son of Castlevania: Bloodlines’ John Morris – and his good friend, spell caster Charlotte Aulin. Players are given a plethora of weaponry, from whips to spears to swords, in their mission to destroy the lord of the castle and restore peace to the land. The real star of the weaponry menu, however, is the new sub weapons equip menu.

Unlike previous Castlevanias where players could only pick up sub weapons through candles scattered through the castle, leaving them stuck with the same lame weapon until they could find another candle, Portrait of Ruin’s sub weapons are selectable from the equip menu, allowing players to collect, pick and choose their sub weapon as the situation warrants. This cuts back on a lot of the normal frustrations of getting stuck with a ricochet rock when all you really want is a nice big axe.

There’s also a much bigger selection of subs to choose from. Joining the normal series staples like knives and holy water, Jonathan can use discuses and grenades to clear his path, as well as less common things like paper airplanes and cream pies.

Unfortunately, the equip menu isn’t all good news. In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow – the previous DS title – players were able to equip two sets of weaponry and switch them at will. This was a very handy feature no longer present in Portrait of Ruin, which is a pity given enemy strengths and weaknesses to certain elements and weapon types. When a player needs to change to a holy equip against an enemy strong against other weaponry, they must pause and scroll through their equips manually, robbing the player of valuable playing time.

The selection itself is also sorely lacking in variety. Jonathan’s weapon list looks impressive at first, but by the end of the game, leaves players asking “Where all the short swords at?” Charlotte fairs even worse, with a total of only nine equippable weapons. Luckily, her strong point is spells, but melee players are still left with very little to hand her.

Touching is bad
 
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin’s main game completely lacks in any kind of touch screen features, which is a lucky omission, as the pause in gameplay to draw a pentagram while hacking away at a boss was Dawn of Sorrow’s biggest let down. This time around, the touching is reserved to an entirely separate mode from the main story, leaving it as an optional annoyance as opposed to a necessary evil.

Double-team those demons!
 
It is the year 2006, and what does this mean? All games must have some manner of online gameplay! Not one to be left behind, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin jumps eagerly onto the online bandwagon with its very own option for wireless multiplayer. Offering a wireless shop mode for players in need of an item or some quick gold, there’s no need to restart your game if you accidentally sell that one vital quest item. Now you can jump on your Wi-Fi connection and seek out the shops of friends or strangers and buy it again.
 
But the wireless isn’t just there to cost you money. Ever wanted to play Boss Rush with your friends? Well, here’s your chance. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin  also offers you the chance to run side-by-side with other demon hunters using your current save file in an online boss rush mode. However, players beware: Boss Rush is the only mode available for online play, and once you’ve played that a few times and gotten the lowest time possible, it starts to lose its appeal. At higher levels of play, this happens very quickly.

The online co-op experience is also heavily dependent on your partner in crime, as the game gives you one life bar and magic bar. When the person you’re paired with doesn’t know how to play the game, you’d be better off playing offline Boss Rush by yourself. All in all, Konami really needed to spend more time on this mode before releasing it to the public. It stands now as a half-assed attempt at what could have been a very fun two-player shot at the gauntlet of game bosses.

One is the loneliest number.
 
The biggest addition to Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is the addition of a new and very much improved partner system. Jonathan and Charlotte can switch off mid-battle, battle together, call each other for a little extra casting power, and team-up for enemy-leveling attacks of doom. Furthermore, some enemies respond differently to the differently gendered heroes. A male enemy that will slaughter Jonathan on sight will confess his undying love to beautiful Charlotte. A manipulative female can entice dear Jonathan, but is powerless against the unswayable Charlotte.

Twentieth verse, same as the first…
 
Prior to the 1997 release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, it had been years since the Castlevania series saw any major innovation in terms of gameplay. Unfortunately, the same trend continues even after the hit Playstation title. Almost ten years later, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin isn’t much a different game than what IGA first gave us. For hardcore fans of the series, this is fine. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin delivers a solid, exciting trip back into the walls of Dracula’s Castle without too many new systems to learn first. However, for the casual fan, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin delivers little more than its handheld predecessors. A fun experience, certainly, but the same experience they’ve had before.

Article by: Elisa Moses
Video produced by: Eric Acasio