'Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin' (NDS) - Features & Screens
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2006 May 10th

Castlevania®: Portrait of Ruin exclusively for the Nintendo DS™. The latest installment in the renowned action series lets players control two different characters as they attempt to thwart a terrible plan to resurrect Dracula's Castle and bring a reign of darkness upon the world.
In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, players take on the role of vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Orlean, a young girl with tremendous magical abilities. Amidst the chaos of World War II, many lost souls from the global conflict were left to wander the world in search of salvation. Desperate to escape their terrible plight,














The year is 1944. Thirty-three years ago, John Morris and Eric LeCarde defeated Dracula's niece, Elizabeth Bartley, and in so doing, saved the world. As usual.

I've loved Castlevania since the moment I took Simon Belmont on his awkwardly difficult adventure through the castle to punch Dracula in the face, and while not every title in the franchise has been good, the 2-D titles remain some of the best offerings on their respective systems. The announcement of a new Castlevania for the DS brought joy and happiness to my heart. While I was a bit disappointed with the last DS title, Portrait of Ruin, it was still a great game, albeit a tad
Three-dimensional Castlevania games have always been a bit lackluster than their 2-D counterparts. While Symphonia of the Night or Dawn of Sorrow are considered among the best games on their respective systems, Lament of Innocence and Castlevania: 64 are generally held to be mediocre at best and borderline unplayable at worst. There's just something about the trip into 3-D that makes Castlevania lose its magic. Perhaps this strange curse is what made Konami decide to make the first Wii Castlevania title into something completely different. Castlevania: Judgment




