The second Casltevania on the DS....has it changed since Dawn of Sorrow?
User Rating: 8.8 | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin DS
The answer is no that it hasn't really changed then Dawn of Sorrow. That's not a bad thing but in Portrait of Ruin there is some many new ideal factors and elements added that make this game compelling to play and completely fresh. I'm talking about both the online stuff and the switching characters. Those are one of the new things in the series that make this game even better than Dawn of Sorrow and here's my review for this Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Gameplay - The gameplay might be the same as other previous Castle Games but switching characters and online makes it much different. The touch screen is not really used at all....Only once....no wait actually never. You look at the touch screen the most though throughout the game to see your characters, but all in all you rarely even touch the screen and that makes the game feel more GBA then DS. There is still many new elements added. Switching through partners is fun and fighting alone isn't always fun unless you control a Super Ninja who has a chainsaw sword but you don't see those everyday do you? The new switching players is easy and not very original from other games out of the series but it's still easy and the computer controls the other partner quite nicely. The new Co-op mode and Shop mode adds a little more depth in the game. Co-op mode is fun if you don't always partner up with a noob from the world but it's still fun either way. It would have been better if they added Voice in it or at least text....but text would be pretty hard to do. You can't play the game through Co-op which would have been nice but Co-op in Castlevania is still a nice edition and that's the first time ever on the DS. Hopefully we see more of the Co-op online on the DS in the future. Shop mode is fun and easy to use but you're more likely to use it to gain money then buy items from people unless your really rich in the game. Shop mode as well doesn't have any voice and should have at least had text. The combat system in the game is still the same as you control Jonathon or Charlottle or both as the game allows you to do that. You'll mostly spend your time on this game running through the portraits or castle leveling then solving puzzles in this game as there is no actual puzzle in this game. The diffculty in Portrait is probably a little of hard and easy so it's a Just Right difficulty and can be tough in some cases but you won't always find yourself looking around for items but mostly stuck on certain bosses/enemies and there is always alot of those. Graphics - These DS games are not suppose to have the best graphics as does this game. It's 2-D Side Scrolling with a hint of 3-D and it's an okay combination just like New Super Mario Bros. has done. There isn't many glitches or blurry effects in the game but the background looks pretty dull but the enemies look simply amazing. Sound - Nice music with a Castlevania game isn't to hard but as the coming years grow, the music sounds the same in Castlevania games...this one does that and it tends to get annoying if your hearing it over and over. The same music is the same in certain areas throughout the game but Boss Music is much better than the overrall music. You can always just listen to your IPOD or MP3 Player while playing this game of course because there is still no voice acting in the DS games...just text but it's still nice to read and you can always skip the reading if you like. Value - The game is rather short as usual but the extra content will probably keep you playing for many hours to come. The regular storyline can be completed in less then 8 hours or in between 9 - 12. There is plenty of side quests and items to keep you going for probably another 10 hours and of course Co-op may last you as long as you want. The value is nice and after you beat the game you unlock other playable characters so you'll be able to play another new game with unlocked chars. Now that makes the game twice as long even if you don't touch the extra content. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is still an amazing game even though it barely adds that much to the other DS title. Probably next year another Castlevania will be made and hopefully they add alot of WiFi features and some Touch Screen features to make the DS feel more innoative and have more people buy Castlevania on the DS in the future. 
