Unlike a certain princess-saving plumber, you can always count on a new Castlevania game to hit Nintendo handhelds about once every year to eighteen months, bringing with it classic non-linear, 2D gameplay sprinkled with just the right amount of RPG elements. 2005 saw the series making its first appearance on the DS with Dawn of Sorrow, an excellent game that, for better or for worse, brought a large spotlight of accessibility with it, in the form of lenient difficulty and less foreboding level and character designs, all to attract a younger audience.

This year's entry, Portrait of Ruin, stays the course laid out by Dawn of Sorrow but adds the ability to change between two characters, which has led to the series' first two player co-op levels. Other than that, the majority of change between the two is arbitrary at best as Portrait of Ruin proves unable to separate itself from Dawn of Sorrow. For a series of a lesser caliber that could have spelled disaster, but the tried-and-true Castlevania formula still provides hours of enjoyment and is well worth the price of admission - just be prepared to feel the hefty touch of retread and the feathery touch of the aesthetics.

Picking up where the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive classic Castlevania: Bloodlines left off, Portrait of Ruin puts you in the shoes of the teenage son of Bloodlines' protagonist, Jonathan Morris, as well as his childhood friend, Charlotte Aulin. As descendents of the Morris and Belnades/Fernandez families respectively, they have accepted their roles as protectors of humanity from the demonic forces. Set in Europe in the middle of World War II, the game begins with Jonathan and Charlotte attempting to discover why Dracula's mythical castle has reappeared. Portrait of Ruin tells a decent tale that gets lost under a boring script and cookie-cutter characters - not that any Castlevania game has really pushed the limits of storytelling, but the simplistic, afternoon-anime-show-for-kids style script and unimposing characters fail to delight, scare or invoke any truly positive emotions. Everything is just so bright and silly that it's hard to take any of it seriously. When Death loses his badass status and is changed into a laughable stand-in for Skeletor, things are very, very wrong. Please, drop the accessibility act and bring back the stellar Gothic-style artwork of the previous games.

Other than the all-too-wholesome art design, the rest of the graphics and overall presentation throughout the game are wonderful, as Konami continue to prove their DS prowess. Pushing the combination of 2D sprites and 3D effects further, such as the wings of certain enemies, giant polygon objects overlooking your actions from the background and many of the special attacks, there are a few awe-inspiring moments. Giant boss creatures that span multiple screens make a return, bringing with them plenty of spectacular graphical effects, including Brauner's blood painting, Aguni's massive fire fits and the ultimate tag-team final boss (wait till you see it) - all of which amazingly cause zero slowdown. But then you'll run into more than a fair share of creatures and bosses making a pixel-perfect transfer from Dawn of Sorrow, as well as some unintelligible 3D backgrounds that will cool the burn of admiration. I have to wonder if time restraints led to these more lackluster graphical moments.

At times it may be overshadowed by other elements of the series, but there is no denying the power of a Castlevania soundtrack, and Portrait of Ruin brings its A-game. Consisting of individual tunes for every section of the map, each complex piece is layered in a way that only a set of headphones can truly do justice. Sound effects are plentiful and varied, with most weapons having their own specific noise (I love the horse noises that come from Charlotte's Don Quixote weapon!) There is a small amount of voice acting and anime-style video clips that continue to tease players with the possibility of a completely voiced story, with multiple video clips sprinkled throughout.

But as every fan of the series knows, what really determines a Castlevania game is the gameplay. Continuing to eat from the "Castleroid/Metrovania" style of non-linear progress with RPG sprinkles ice cream sundae, Portrait of Ruin brings back Dracula's castle in a new and less restrained way. By having the vampire Brauner draw power from his own paintings, Konami was able to develop levels that take place far outside what could normally be done strictly inside the castle walls. Hence we have, among others, desert-themed and carnival-themed levels that really stand out. Why, then, did Konami drop the ball towards the end of the game, lazily rehashing the original four portraits with only slightly different variations? Again, that sinking feeling that this is the result of time restraint returns, bubbling with acidy disappointment.

The dual character system, however, will only bring about joy and smiles. Instead of creating one powerhouse character who can mix and match all weapons and magic (ala the hero of the past two Nintendo Castlevanias, Soma Cruz), Konami broke the melee and magic types into two styles and developed characters around them. Jonathan Morris has access to all of the hands-on fighting weapons and spells, while Charlotte receives all the magic spells and books with weapons bounded within. Not willing to stop there, you can choose to use one character at a time, with the other waiting to unleash a quick attack or spell with the press of the R button, or both at the same time with the game controlling your partner. If that is still not enough for you, the pair can team up for screen-filling, battle-turning team attacks. There are also some dual character puzzles, but they are few and uninspired, hardly being worth this sentence.

All and all, Portrait of Ruin plays exactly like Dawn of Sorrow, minus the gimmicky touch screen puzzles and plus dual characters - which is not a negative statement in any way. Refined to a point, you will be hard-pressed to find another set of controls that feel as fluid, natural and instinctive as what's on offer here. Taking the replay value to a whole new level, Portrait of Ruin has more than enough enjoyable hooks to keep players interested way beyond the ten hours or so needed to finish the game; there are plenty of secret rooms, items and areas to discover and conquer, not to mention multiple endings and multiple replay modes (including different sets of controllable characters). You could easily play through the game three or four extra times and not see and achieve all it has to offer, making this one excellent investment of money and time.

Co-op and Wi-Fi internet play, on the other hand, do little to extend the lasting appeal, feeling more like last minute gimmicks than fleshed out ideas. Co-op mode, online or off, does not contain the obvious feature - being able to play the main game with another person. It instead is condemned to the Boss Rush mode, where tight rooms and limited amounts of enemies make your player-controlled partner only slightly more effective than one under A.I. control. Shop mode varies only slightly better, as a clunky interface and the inability to set your own prices sap much of the usability and fun out of it. Both of these ideas deserve a second look and I can only hope that next time the development team have enough resources to make these actual features instead of unrealized gimmicks.

Had this game followed through with more of its new features other than with the dual characters, it would have set itself apart from Dawn of Sorrow. Instead, it simply falls in line behind it as well, letting many of its individual traits fall short of their full potential. But a mediocre Castlevania title is still light years above many companies' greatest efforts, and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin again proves that equation. What I am not sure about is how, when the inevitable sequel to Ruin is announced, another simple variation on the Dawn of Sorrow style will be met. Portrait of Ruin leaves plenty of threads of potential to be pulled and tightened, including the dual character system, co-op and shop modes, but simply seeing them to their end might not be enough. I can only hope that Konami takes a careful look at the direction of the next game before committing to it, as well as providing the development team with what they need to keep rehashing to a minimum.

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).