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Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

July 17, 2008 - -

Castlevania: Portrait of RuinI've always considered myself a fan of the Castlevania series despite not really liking the original Castlevania or Simon's Quest so much. The first game in the series that really hooked me was Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse on the NES. It was a fantastic game, and I ranked it 35th when I listed my favorite games of all time. Later, when I got my first Playstation, I picked up Symphony of the Night, which is in my opinion the best Castlevania game ever made. I ranked that one 14th. But recently, when I picked up Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS, I found the third Castlevania game ever that I've loved.

Granted, a lot of what it has going for it comes because it's imitating Symphony of the Night. It's got lots of RPG elements, enemies with specific weaknesses, (fire/ice/light/blunt/edged/whip/et cetera) and some Street Fighter-esque moves. It's even got a couple of the same bosses, including Symphony of the Night's "Legion", a crazy giant sphere of zombie corpses.

Castlevania: Portrait of RuinIt also borrows some elements from Dracula's Curse, namely multiple characters and magic spells. Sadly, you don't have a choice of three companions as you did in Dracula's Curse, but your single companion does have magic spells, as Syfa did. And there are some cool spells: flames, healing, summoning, protection, transformation, and more.

The various subweapons include the classic axe, cross, holy water, and knife, but there are a couple dozen, and once you find one you can switch at will. And as you kill enemies with each weapon, that weapon levels up. And when it maxxes out, the graphic for the weapon actually changes. In reality, I found very few of the weapons to be really useful - I stuck primarily to the good old axe, which has a great arc and can hot a lot of enemies. And for raw damage, they're never as good as the spells. Acid bubbles, Ice Needle, and Raging Fire are staples for taking down big baddies.

So it's not as good as Symphony of the Night, but it's the best handheld Castlevania ever. I'm having a ton of fun with it.

Comments on Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
 
Comment Thu, July 17 - 4:32 PM by Frank
I haven't played a Castlevania game since Circle of the Moon for GBA, even though it was a very fun (and difficult) game. I'm thinking of having my daughter try Order of Ecclesia when it's released later this year, I think she's ready for the side-scrolling goodness.
 
Comment Thu, July 17 - 4:37 PM by Greg
I think I got stuck and never finished Circle of Moon. I hope Order of Ecclesia is as good as Portrait of Ruin. Keep checking GameRankings.com and MetaCritic!
 
Comment Thu, July 17 - 4:58 PM by Michael Abbott
Sort of an obvious point, but it's a terrific game AND it's portable. As a big fan of the series this is a major deal to me. The very idea that I can get my Castlevania fix on the road, pause the game, stick it in my pocket and resume later remains an impressive feat I'm my book. Castlevania game don't lend themselves well to stopping just anywhere, so this simple little thing is a very big deal.