never played castlevania before? play ths. Play castlevania way too much? play this.
User Rating: 9.3 | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin DS
The latest castlevania title for DS is both a good entry point for newcomers and a great game for vetreans of the series. It has the gameplay fit for newbies, your not leaving and entering a room and killing the same monstor ad nausem just to get one ability like in Dawn/aria of sorrow. The diffculty is near perfect, the first play through is just challenging enough, and then if you want a good challenge you can play your clear data on hard with level caps at 50, 25, and 1. Like its predeccesors, POR exhibits probably the finest 2D graphics around, with nice animations, great backgrounds, and unlike most other castlevanias this takes you outside the castle to a foggy london-inspired town, a desert pyramid, and a mansion in the forest. As always the music is top notch.
the only area this game falters is the lack of effort put into the online multiplayer co-op. While the online shop mode is a great addition, the co-op just feels lacking. there is only one 5 room map. It is fun for awhile but the luster of playing cv online with someone will fade quickly. They should have included more maps and allowed players to pick the secret characters for online play (if they have unlocked the characters of course)
Basically another superb Castlevania title and probably your best bet to get your non-Castlevania friends introduced to this series 
