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Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin
Score: 8.2/10
This is Konami’s second offering from the highly successful and blood thirsty series, and without a doubt retaining all the quality and 2d charm of its fore bearers.

Portrait of ruin offers the choice of two playable characters, vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and Magician Charlotte Aulin. The story is that our two friends are united in battle to prevent a pair of evil vampiric sisters - Loretta and Stella - from resurrecting Draculas castle in a heinous plot to unleash a world of pain unto an unsuspecting world, already ravaged by the events of the second world war.

Much of the stylus requirements from Castlevania: Dawn of sorrow has been done away with in place for other varied concepts, the buddy up system being the most noticeable addition to the formula. Whether this is a positive move could purely boil down to personal preference, although it is fair to suggest that the experience does not suffer as a result overall.

Our two protagonists can be played individually or together to combine their special skills, as freely as the player may wish. Although some sections of the game are impassible without such collaboration you will find that up to 95% of the game can be played single handedly, which does suggest a missed opportunity rather than a bolt on feature.

Technically, despite the portrait format, these paintings are actually landscapes depicting the various locales available for exploration and besides, landscape of ruin anyone? But the inclusion of portraits as portals has allowed for some of the more unusual and exotic settings seen in the serious, from a mad circus inspired environment to one based on Egyptian mythology. Access to these environments is not restricted and there are various map portal dotted around each level to maintain the pace of the game.

New to the series are a selection of specifically structured quests, courtesy of a trapped ghost character defeated by Dracula known as Wind. Quite possibly the strongest addition to the series, our players are invited to complete certain objectives in reward for special skills and abilities unavailable elsewhere, although other attributes such as strength power,weapons and special items are all found as you progress through the multitude of dungeons. Although not strictly an RPG, The user does have access to a RPG orientated menu where by you can customise the weapons, spells and other such attributes to either suit your style of play or to defeat a given section of the game.

The wireless inclusion of this title enables the player to have a friend help out in a co-op version, which in turn is probably better suited to utilising the combined attributes of the players in the single player mode although this sadly seems only to apply to the boss rush mode. Again,a definite missed opportunity.

There is also a shop mode which allows for the trade of various other items, although some items are actually beyond any use with regards to progression of the game.

The graphics are worthy of a mention, with an almost seamless addition of 3d elements and stunningly realised boss characters add to a visual treat. The music is passable, and although there are speech elements, none seem to amount to any more than phrases harking back to the days of the SNES. Given the machines blatant technical superiority, a little more spoken dialogue between the pivotal characters would of been more than welcome.

Although the game doesn’t quite carry the initial gravity the first title offered, it is in no way an inferior product. There are no noticeable problems with the game but in a similar vein to the earlier version, there are some sadly missed opportunities. Whether or not Konami choose to up the bar or continue to offer a different and unproven experience in a further title remains to be seen. But as far as the Castlevania series is concerned this a worthy addition and should keep fans and new comers more than entertained.