Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Review (DS)

1944, the world is filled with pain and lost souls caused by war. The agony created by this brings forth Dracula's demonic castle, which the vampire Brauner tries to utilise to destroy the human race. Step forward Jonathan Morris, who now carries the Belmont family's legendary whip and Charlotte Aulin, a tremendously powerful magician to destroy the evil menace.

What we have here is a streamlined amalgamation of all the best parts of previous Castlevania games, as well as a few highly effective new ideas. The most important of which is the ability to use two characters at the same time. Upon the press of a button, the second character can be called to aid you. Along with moving blocks and other minor tasks the duality can be used to produce one of a number of powerful combined attacks

Portrait of Ruin features an excellent compromise for fans looking for a more linear Castlevania. Dracula's castle is still there for exploration in the classic Symphony of the Night style. However the main location is somewhat smaller than before, as it contains a number of cursed portraits. Each portrait acts as an entrance to a new world, which houses the more linear elements of titles gone by.

Level design via the portraits is of an excellent standard with each of the four initial worlds following a different style. A highlight is a world set in a town turned upside down. The only small downside to the design is that you will come across four paintings near the end of the game that share the same basic structure as before, only with much tougher enemies and a slightly different graphical touch.

Boss encounters are yet another highlight in this Castlevania tour de force. They contain enough of a challenge to be approached cautiously, but none are overly harsh.  Each of the creatures are wonderfully satisfying to defeat, and require some real thought and lateral thinking in terms of magic and weapons (taking out the two evil sisters with one hit is a touch of genus, all be it a difficult one).

Main adventure aside there are a number of side quests that can be taken on which when completed give up new skills and weapons to the player. While not essential it is advisable, as certain skills such as being able to flail the whip (as seen in Castlevania IV) and the ability to attack diagonally down come in extremely handy. Everything about the game seems to have been set just right. The difficulty level is at a perfect level somewhere between Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow, which means it is challenging but fair due to the support from the second character and there is a far fairer way of dealing out skills and weapons.

Overall, it is clear that only the most rose tinted gamer would fail to agree that Portrait of Ruin is the best Castlevania game in the series for a long time. The best bits of the best games have been stuck together in one wonderful Castlevania cake. It is highly recommended to anyone who likes adventure games, and absolutely essential to Castlevania fans.

9/10

Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn) Video Review

A video review of the highly sought after Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Sega Saturn.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Review (PS2)

If ever there was one game to show off a love hate relationship with its fans then this is it. For a large proportion of Castlevania players this 3D adventure is just a continuation of the flawed N64 titles. For the rest us more accepting gamers Lament of Innocence is a great, if short, action adventure game.

The game starts with Leon Belmont heading into a dark castle to rescue his fiance from a vampire lord (not Dracula yet). Not ground breaking by any means but this marks the start of the Belmont family's story in the fight against evil. Once inside the fortress you have to guide Leon through five dungeons containing all sorts of ghouls and monsters.

Enemies you come across range from tiny imps and weak skeletons to hulking golems and huge boss creatures. Fighting off the hordes with your whip is a joy as Leon leaps and rolls around easily which helps you forget that the camera sometimes isn't quite where you want it. As you progress and kill monsters you learn new moves, skills and gain a number of magical spells and weapons.

A high point of the game is the excellent tone set by the graphics and sound. Each area of the castle is moody and forbidding with it's own visual style. The music pumps away with a synthetic orchestral sound and enemies whale and shuffle as they march, float and limp towards you. The game may have detractors but no one could ever accuse it of not looking and sounding like a classic Castlevania title.
The game is short, lasting between five and six hours on a first play through.

There are however, secrets to be found and once completed you can play through again with a couple of over characters (one of which is especially nice). If you are feeling brave you might even feel like venturing down to the basement for one hell of a one on one.

It really is a struggle to see where all the bad feeling comes from. Castlevania in 3D may be a step too far for many but this title has the right feel and style. Anyone out there looking to see how the Belmont story started should have no fear of stepping out of the second dimension. Above everything else this is a fun adventure that has more than enough variety in terms of dungeons and enemies to see you through to the end.

8/10

Castlevania Review (NES)

Set in 1691, the first NES Castlevania has Simon Belmont taking on the evil Dracula as he rises from the grave. Simon comes from a long line of vampire hunters who wield the magic whip ‘Vampire Killer’. He heads off into Dracula's huge castle armed with his trusty whip vowing to take down the master of Darkness once and for all.

The game is set over six incredibly difficult levels of platform slashing action. The levels do not differ a great deal and just become harder with enemies getting ridiculously tough and more precision being needed to make death defying jumps. By the time you reach the bosses later in the game expect your hair to be well and truly ripped out as Death, and then Dracula prove to be two of the hardest creatures ever seen.

Graphically the game is horrible. Looking back now all the extra detail just goes to make the screen seem cluttered and confusing, we really do not need seven different shades of brown displayed at once. The fascination with brown continues with Simon as well, giving him a very strange detached look. Animations are basic to say the least with characters consisting of two or three frames.

In terms of gameplay, Castlevania fairs better. The controls are slow and awkward but there is definitely a solid game engine behind it. The main problem is that you cannot change direction in mid air which leaves no room for error when jumping. Furthermore, the whip is not the most easily used weapon. Simon can only whip forward, no diagonal or upward strikes here, which adds even more difficulty to the boss fights.

Overall Castlevania is a solid start for the franchise, though not a game that anyone other than fans will stick with. The controls are too slow, and the difficulty level is extreme to the point of madness. Criticisms aside there is some fun to be had and it is interesting to see the story unfold. However, Castlevania IV on the Super Nintendo is more or less a re-make of this. Given the choice we would always recommend you play that instead.

6/10