Whether you're a old veteran or a newcomer to the series, you can check this game out for what it's worth.
The story takes place during World War II in 1944 where that war brought fear and hatred along with a number of dead souls. This caused Draclua's castle to rise again from hell. But later in the game you find out that Dracula is not the master of the castle anymore as a vampire name Brauner is take control of the it, and absorbing the demonic power of the castle for his own needs by using his paintings. He is also a accompanied by his two daughters Stella and Loretta. The goal in this game is to stop Brauner from taking full control of Dracula's castle. You'll be playing the main characters in the game, one is Jonathan Morris, who is the son of John Morris from Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Sega Genesis. He is current wielder of the legendary whip "Vampire Killer" and he's also smart and confident when it comes to dangerous situations. And the other is his trusty companion Charlotte Aluin, who is a cute powerful sorceress, a bookworm and a big mouth. She will start off weak with low physical strength, but give her the right equipment and level her up a bunch of times and you got yourself a strong character with good attack and magic stat points.
The main part of the gameplay is that you have the ability to switch between the two main characters on the fly at anytime just by pressing the X button. However most of the times I just Jonathan, but if he up against a foe with high defense points I bring in Charlotte to cast her spells on the foe. You can also have both of them on the screen at the same time by pressing the A button. While you are controlling one character the other is controlled by the A.I. The A.I. character will act independently by sticking close to you where ever you go, even if you command it to stay put with the Down + A command. The A.I. will also attack when enemies get close to it. The A.I. will use the magic meter as it's health, if it gets hit you'll a portion of your magic. Once your magic reaches zero the A.I. will disappear from the screen for the time being. You can also get your partner to do their secondary attack by pressing the R button. It is somewhat useful if your playing as Jonathan while Charlotte is being played by the A.I., I'll explain about that part a bit later.
Jonathan starts off with Vampire Killer at the beginning of the game, but he is able to use other weapons like swords, axes, spears, hammers, whips and fist gauntlets as you obtain them when you explore the caste and inside the paintings. As for Charlotte she uses books with magical weapons popping out of them. Each weapon will give the characters different stat. boost as you equip the selected weapon on to them at the pause menu.
The sub-weapon system is back and it's a good thing that the heart point system isn't in PoR since it's replace with you magic meter. Of course there are hearts in the game that will replenish a bit of your magic. Anyways you can use the main character's secondary attack by pressing the Up + X buttons. Just like the main weapons the sub-weapons can be found inside the castle and the paintings. Jonathan can use knifes, throwing axes, boomerangs, holy water, etc. even new sub-weapons that weren't in the previous Castlevania titles. When you get these weapons they start off weak, but they can gain experience points by defeating enemies you come across. Once they gain enough experience points their hidden powers will be unlocked and each one has it one special ability. Unfortunately I can't tell you what they are, because I don't find the sub-weapons that useful to me. As for Charlotte she uses magic spells as her sub-weapon like fire, ice, lighting, healing, etc. She can also summon monsters(a.k.a Familiars) to aid her in combat. Now about the explanation I mentioned earlier, every time she starts to cast one spell a bar will appear above her. The bar will show how long it will take for the spell to be executed. So if your Jonathan you need to buy the A.I. Charlotte some time in order for her to release a powerful spell. Unlike Jonathan's sub-weapons Charlotte's can't gain experience points.
It's good to see the Item Crush System back (even though it's called Dual Crush in PoR) and you expect some of your favorites like 1,000 Blades, Holy Cross and (my favorite) Hydro Storm, though some of them got renamed like Hydro Storm is Divine Storm, which I find it a bit cheesy. Plus some new Item Crush moves that you have never seen before. These attacks are very helpful against powerful enemies and bosses, of course all of them will cost a lot of magic points, but I say it's worth it if you're an Item Crush fan.
You''ll also get to do side-quest missions from a ghost name Wind. By completing various numbers of task he gives you like kill a total of 1,500 enemies, find five different kinds of cake and spend all of you money until you have nothing left Wind will give you weapons, armor, accessories, techniques and power-ups that will help you in the game. However I find that some of rewards he gives you aren't that useful, but by completing all the mission you'll get an item that gives you unlimited magic.
In previous Castlevania games you were only able to explore Draclua's castle, even if it was inverted. In PoR (as mentioned earlier) you'll encounter four different paintings that will take you to different locations outside of the castle like a British city, a Egyptian desert, a abandoned abbey and a circus that looks bizarre, which reminds you of the Realm of Chaos in AoS. If you complete the game with the bad ending it'll be somewhere around four to five hours of play time at the very least, but if you are going for the good ending the game will continue on with four more painting, (even though they're the same stages from before, but in reverse) which will last you ten to twelve hours in total. And there is one more painting you can get by exploring 888% (or 888.8%) of the castle and the dimensional paintings, then talk to Wind so he can open the entrance to that painting for you, of course it's considered a side-quest mission. That is a total of nine paintings and it'll take you somewhere around 15 hours to get 1,000% on every stage level.
The bosses aren't that difficult to beat, but they are fun and challenging to face. Some of the old classic monsters are back with a new look, which I find cool like the Werewolf, Medusa and Frankenstein (or The Creeper). You can also face the bosses from both PoR and Dawn of Sorrow(but not all of them) in Boss Rush Mode at the menu screen. One course is available at the start, but you can unlock two more courses by getting the good ending and defeating a boss called Whip's Memory.
In the graphics department the 3D background is unreal like you can see the city build structures in the British stage when the characters are moving. The 2D stage design are nothing special, even though it may look good it's still the same old style of level designing that has been used for years now. A lot of the character sprites are recycled, but some of the new ones are well done like I was impressed with the new look of the Big Peeping Eye monster in 3D. And the character's expression faces when displayed on the bottom screen during dialogue scenes are nicely well drawn especially when Charlotte has that cartoony, mean look on her face, which I find it funny.
In the sound department the sound effects are right on the mark, the voice acting is top notch, but what is always been great in the Castlevania series is it's music. The tracks are rock solid bringing back some of classic ones like Opposing Bloodlines(of course it's a remix version), Iron Blue Intentions and Theme of Simon, along with some new tracks that you'll really like in this game.
There are some unlockables in PoR like Richter Mode, where you play as Richter and Maria(as a kid), Sister Mode is where the stylish pen becomes useful as you take control of Stella and Loretta, and Old Axe Armor Mode is where you just play as Old Axe Armor. The other unlockables are Sound Mode, Hard Mode, the two Boss Rush Courses as I mentioned earlier and the New Game Plus Mode. The only things I can't include in my review is the Wireless and Nintendo Wi-fi Connections for the Co-op Mode, Vs. Mode and the Online Shopping store, since I don't know anyone that has a copy of PoR and I don't have a Wireless Router yet.
Overall Castlevania: Portrait of Ruins proves to be another Castlevania great game. It brings back some of the old gimmicks that what makes the series become a big success as it still is today. Whether you're a old veteran or a newcomer to the series, you can check this game out for what it's worth. It may not be good as DoS, but PoR is still fun and enjoyable to play on your DS.