Friday, January 5, 2007

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

Title: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Genre: Action/RPG
System: Nintendo DS


Backstory: (Straight from the instruction booklet) The year is 1944. The world is filled with chaos. The second global war holds the entire world in its grip of terror, creating hatred and fear along with countless numbers of lost souls. The agony and hatred of these souls summon the castle of evil. The castle that has appeared many times throughout history only to bring terror and destruction upon its surroundings, the castle of the dark lord, Dracula... The demonic castle.


This game marks the most recent installment of the Castlevania saga of games, and, in my opinion, is probably up there with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in sheer fun factor. The story is pretty healthy, as it always is with a Castlevania game. You take control of two characters in this game and switch liberally throughout.


Jonathan Morris - "Wielder of the legendary whip, 'Vampire Killer.' A hot-headed, energetic young man, but has confidence, poise and a sense of humor. At times, this makes him seem like he's not taking things seriously. But when it really counts, he can be very clever. His most common answer to things: "No problem."


Jonathan isn't the typical hero of Castlevania games, not being a Belmont, but that doesn't stop him from being an amusingly violent, and cool hero. Able to wield multiple types of weapons, as with the other DS Castlevania games, there's only one problem with Jonathan: He can't really wield the Vampire Killer, since he is not of the Belmont lineage. That doesn't stop him from being quite a badass when it comes to fighting off the hordes of undead and demonic creatures in Dracula's Castle. But, of course, what would a Castlevania hero be without a little backup?


Charlotte Aulin - "Grew up with Jonathan. Intelligent, but is a little too confident in her book smarts. Talks a lot, and sticks her nose into others' business. She takes a logical approach to everything so she comes off as unemotional. Has great magic power, and is seen as the potential final weapon in the battle against Dracula."


Charlotte is mouthy, opinionated and intelligent. All the things that make a woman such a threat. Charlotte is a very great mage, and uses actual books for weapons. Well, she uses her magical ability to enhance knowledge contained within the books as a weapon. For example, Don Quixote sprouts out the fabled knight himself and sticks his spear into the enemies. Entertaining, to say the least! Charlotte is definitely a force to be reckoned with, especially teamed with Jonathan, which brings me to the next point.


Portrait of Ruin brings a refined concept of the Partner system into the mix. Switching liberally between Charlotte and Jonathan is definitely a viable option, as it was with Dawn of Sorrow's characters, but with a major added twist: Partner Attacks. You start off with no Partner Attack skills, but you collect a few very early on. Partner attacks are lethal, but just suck your mana bar dry.


Now, on to the baddies.


Brauner - "A vampire who lost his daughters thirty years ago, and had his magic powers awakened by Dracula's castle. Revived Dracula's castle by collecting tortured souls of those who died in World War II. His goal is to destroy humans who have yet again started war."


Brauner is the main villain of Portrait of Ruin, skewing from the traditional Dracula-oriented villainy. I won't ruin any of the game for you readers, but I'll say this: Brauner is very much the villain.


Stella - "The older of the twin vampire sisters. Has a flashy, aggressive personality. Looks down on humans condescendingly. Is skilled with physical attacks."


Stella is, frankly, a bitch. One of Brauner's twin daughters, Stella is the loud-mouth of the twins. The brash, disturbingly busty woman, Stella is one vampire I want to slap around with a riot glove.


Loretta - "The younger of the twin vampire sisters. Her physical appearance is a little plain, and she is intelligent, rational and unemotional. Looks down on humans, like her sister. Is skilled at magical attacks."


Loretta may be a cold, emotionless vampire, but that doesn't stop her from being a bitch. That's all I really have to say about Loretta, except for one thing: She's really got to ditch the bonnet.


On to the gameplay: Portrait of Ruin is the typical fast-paced Castlevania game. Combining the host of enemies on the screen with an arsenal of weapons and magic that would make all three Lord of the Rings films green with penis envy, Castlevania is hardly a game you'll want to put down.


Portrait of Ruin combines the classical, bash-the-hell-out-of-any-baddie-in-range with the beautiful music that has made the Castlevania franchise so popular. The musical score may be digitized 'synth' but it's still quite addictive and adds to the atmosphere of the game.


The gameplay and storyline itself consists of Jonathan and Charlotte making their way through the maze that is Dracula's Castle, but with quite a few changes made to it. Brauner has weaved several spells around the castle through his magical paintings which Jon and Charlotte must enter and defeat the bosses of in order to weaken Brauner's control over the castle and sink Dracula's castle back into the shadowy realm from whence it came. The controls are very similar to Dawn of Sorrow with the exception of not having to trace out a pattern with the stylus in order to banish an enemy to the nether realms. Just a straight forward bash and smash style to put down the bosses of each level.


Overall, I honestly think that Portrait of Ruin is a great addition to the Castlevania storyline, and explores a storyline that definitely has me gripped.


Story: 9.5/10
Gameplay/Controls: 9/10
Sound/Music: 9/10
Replayability: 8/10
Overall: 9/10


Don't miss out on this game if you have a DS. Definitely worth the money.