Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

"Portrait of Ruin is a good game that doesn’t outdo its predecessor but definitely deserves some attention from action, adventure, and Castlevania fans. In future Castlevania games I’d like to see Konami tinker with more 3D effects and less anime-inspired art, and I’d also prefer if they’d stick to a more traditional design. The portrait idea was cool but just seems like a cheap way to introduce levels that are dramatically different than Drac’s castle."

"Portrait of Ruin is a great game not because of what it does differently, but because it stays true to the familiar Castlevania design and delivers a fun, lengthy adventure."

"From room to room, these dwellings are rife with everything from new screen-dwarfing monsters to the hopping fleamen we've always loved to hate. It's the new gameplay features, however, that really separate it from the preceding installments."

"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. Overall, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin doesn't hit the system with the same impact as Dawn of Sorrow, but it's still one of the great Castlevania experiences."

"As it stands, PoR is still a quality product that all fans of the series should invest in, but Konami should really start considering giving everyone's favourite vampire-hunting franchise a face-lift when it comes to crafting a follow-up."