Best Castlevania since Circle of the Moon
User Rating: 9.7 | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin DS
Castlevania celebrates its 20th anniversary by releasing Portrait of Ruin and it does not disappoint in any way. The game is awesome from the second you turn it on. The main menu alone looks really cool. The game's graphics are extremely well done and are definitely great to look at. The level design is thought out very well like in all the other Castlevania games giving it an eerie theme. The sound department is impressive. This is by far, the best sounding DS game to date. The music is top-notch and the quality is amazing. It sounds clear and crisp like an audio CD. There is some voiceover in this one but too little of it. Hopefully the next Castlevania will be full voiceovers. Gameplay remains true to the Castlevania series and improves over Dawn of Sorrow. While Dawn of Sorrow was a great game, the one thing that really bogged it down was the touch screen controls for sealing a boss away (the only way to finish a boss battle). For those who don't know what i'm talking about, it was this seal on the screen where you had to draw lines to form a seal while the boss is weakened and if you messed up, you had to fight the boss again. Extremely unnecessary and thankfully removed. The storyline in Castlevania games have always been intriguing and this one is no exception. For those who have played Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Sega Genesis (if not, download it for the computer right now), its a direct sequel. Familiar faces will appear throughout the adventure making it way cooler. The replay value in the game is also very high. With multiple endings, multiple game modes after getting the good ending, and online mode, this is a game that is surely to stay in your DS for awhile. This is by far the best DS game of the year, or ever, and if there's one game you get this holiday season, this is it. 
