Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Critic Reviews

I'm simply astonished at the fact that Konami has created two of my favorite DS games in only a year apart from each other.

Konami delivers once again another fantastic Castlevania game that will not only please fans of the DS, but Castlevania fans as well.

The consistent level of quality has never been a question with the series and the addictive nature of the gameplay always leaves you wanting more...You can bet that Portrait of Ruin will be one of my top-10, DS picks of 06.

It’s just as good as Dawn of Sorrow, and has the online modes to help promote the longevity.

A game that stays true to the Castlevania series.

While it doesn’t innovate that much, it adds just enough and gives you a more than satisfactory amount of new areas to explore to make it a worthy sequel.

A great example of what's possible on the DS, despite the fact that the game really doesn't go out of its way to utilize many of the DS' marquee technologies. The game is wonderful simply because it delivers a pure unadulterated classic Castlevania experience that looks great and plays like a dream.

Portrait of Ruin provides a whole lot more of a very good thing, and Castlevania fans won't be disappointed with the results.

A game that not only reaffirms the series' greatness, but is easily once of the best handheld games released this year.

Putting two characters in the player’s hands proves to be an ingenious way of expanding on Castlevania’s bread-and-butter action. It’s been done before, but Portrait of Ruin’s system is particularly smooth in execution.

Look up "video game" in the dictionary, and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin should be pictured on the page.

The only thing to really rag on Portrait for is its length. Seven-ish hours is pretty short, no matter how you slice it. But, as with all the other Castlevania games, there are so many bizarre things to do once Drac's down that they totally make up for the main quest's length.

Easily one of the best handheld games of the year and quite possibly the best Castlevania portable title yet.

If you’ve yet to play a Castlevania game, I’d recommend Dawn of Sorrow over Portrait of Ruin because it’s a more appropriate entry into the series as future games will likely not feature the portraits.

In terms of action gaming on the DS, Portrait of Ruin is second to none.

The gameplay manages to successfully merge the two Castlevania play styles, while retaining a firm hold on excellent design and presentation.

The best bits of the best games have been stuck together in one wonderful Castlevania cake.

This has to be some of the most impressive enemies you'll ever see on the DS.

Even though the sequel's doesn't offer as strong an original design as the initial DS game, it's still immensely fun with a lot of legs thanks to multiple endings, additional unlockable characters, and a focus on multiplayer that, while not as awesome as it could have been, is a really solid secondary mode.

A bold experiment; far from "Ruin," this Portrait is the Mona Lisa of Castlevanias.