Dracula’s Castle is fairly big, but not quite a big as some of the other ones seen in this style of Castlevania. That is because a good amount of the game takes place outside the castle..well sort of. There are several cursed paintings throughout the castle, and it is up to you to go inside of them and defeat the boss at the end of the area. The paintings will bring you to a variety of areas including a city, school, forest, circus and desert. Your progress through these areas is tracked thanks to the map that is displayed on the upper screen. You can also change this display by pressing Select so you can monitor your characters’ status, and see information on the current enemy you are fighting including HP, items that it can drop and how many times you have defeated it.
Once you clear a few of the paintings, you have to face a major boss fight. Similar to Symphony of the Night, this fight can be finished in two ways. One way will give you the bad ending and the other will allow you to continue your quest to the good one, as well as giving you access to another set of paintings. These paintings feel like alternate versions of the previous set, and, once again, it feels like a nod to Symphony of the Night as that game had an inverted castle that altered the layout of each of the areas inside of it.
When you are not going into paintings, you can accept sidequests from a NPC called Wind. These quests involve killing certain enemies, finding and examining a certain area of the castle or painting, performing a Street Fighter-esque command, or talking to him while under a certain status effect. These quests may sound like a chore, but I found them to be quite amusing, plus the rewards you get from them are more than worth it. Completing these quests can give you life ups or much more powerful weapons and equipment. Early on, you will need all the help you can get because you start the game off very underpowered. The first couple of bosses, can be tricky, particularly Dullahan, as he has a move where he launches skulls at you which do a lot of damage. Most of the bosses seem to have a pattern, and there are ways to dodge their attacks effectively. With a bit of leveling and practice, you can conquer them.
There is one thing about this game that did not bother me initially, but did as I played more Castlevania titles. There seems to be a large amount of reused sprites from older games. There are some new sprites and animations, but it feels like, for every new enemy, there are three that are pasted in from a previous game. It is really disappointing when you play a game that came out in 2006 that is using a significant amount of sprites and assets from a game that came out in 1993. At least the artwork for the characters and backgrounds look really nice. Some of the areas have a few polygons in the background, which fit in surprisingly well. Like other Metroidvania games, Portrait of Ruin can be really easy once you start powering up your skills. Sub weapons like the Shuriken completely dominate enemies and bosses, but it is nothing compared to the infamous Shield Rod + Alucard Shield combo seen in Symphony of the Night. I REALLY need to stop referring to that game.
It wouldn’t be a Castlvania review unless I mentioned the soundtrack. This game has some excellent music. At least the developers must have thought so, as Portrait of Ruin was originally bundled with the soundtrack and, just like that, half of my readers went to eBay to track it down! For those of you still with me, I’ll give you a sample of one of the tunes I liked below, perhaps you will join them after hearing it:
The main quest is not terribly long, as players can expect to see the good ending in about 8-10 hours for a first playthrough. The game does has some really cool unlockable modes. You can unlock level caps, which is actually a really nice way to balance the difficulty. You can also play through the game with two of the main villains, and you can use the touch screen to attack enemies. Other playable characters include the Axe Knight, Richter Belmont and Maria Renard all of whom were unlockable in Symphony of… I’M DONE!
On the title screen, the player has access to a Boss Rush mode which is multiplayer (each person controls a character) and even a Store mode. Players can set up a shop and put specific items up for sale. They can connect to the internet and find other players to sell their items, too. To be honest, I did not use this mode too much. I never encountered too many people online back in the day. Well, it was not THAT long ago, but you get what I meant. If you have a buddy with you, there is a co-op mode where two players can face some of the game’s bosses. This mode is also available for online play. If, for whatever reason, you are unhappy with the dub, you can play the game with Japanese voice overs by holding the L button as you select an option. You will know that you did it correctly because you will hear someone yell “SHOWTIME!” Reused sprites and low difficulty aside, this is a very solid game! For me, it was my gateway to the rest of the Castlevania universe. and I ended up purchasing quite a few titles in the series after finishing it, including that one game that I am no longer mentioning.
For about $20-25, you can get yourself a really nice 2D action adventure game that can keep your attention for quite a while. The bonus modes definitely had me coming back for more and I have completed the game multiple times. I am pleased to report that the game looks fantastic on the 3DS XL! So, no need to worry about stretched out sprites or blurry text. If you are in the mood for a fun Castlvania game or are just new to the series and want to join the party with all the cool kids like I was, then pick up a copy of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin!
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Review copy purchased by author
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