1. ShaneS.

   10

   (9.7 actually) Well I'm ashamed to say that this is my first Castlevania game. I was a Sega kid growing up and the DS is my first handheld. But anyway Castlevania PoR is a classic sidescroller type action game with RPG elements mixed in. There are two different characters in this game a female magician and a male warrior. The warrior uses weapons of all types, and can don three types of armor that modify his stats differently. Heavy armor makes him resistant to physical attacks but weak agianst magic. Ninja gear makes his attack rating go up, but easily killed by all attack types, and magic gear turns him into a cross between the magician and the warrior. The magician also has three general armor types. Magician gear makes her heavily resistant to magical attacks and gives her a boost in magic power. Dancer gear makes her "lucky" and get a lot of critical hits along with slightly higher attack ratings. Heavy gear makes her a cross between the two characters. There's also tons of special gear in the game with unique effects. In the game you have a magic meter that you use to either do special moves with the warrior, or cast spells with the magician. Most of the special moves with the warrior are throwable weapons of some sort. The more you use a specific special move the stronger it gets, until you eventually become a master in said skill. The spells range from damage of all types (fire, frost, shock, poison etc.) to protection spells, transformation spells, and healing spells. There are also "super moves" that you can use and deplete a lot of magic in the process. In Castlevania PoR there are hundreds of different enemies, and each one occasionally drops a unique item upon death. There are about two different items per monster, and hundreds of items in the entire game. There are also different items hanging around in the different levels. You can buy or sell items with a shopkeep at the entrance to the castle as well. The shopkeeper has two items that cost a ton of money but make the game a bit easier and are essential to beating the game on hard mode. There's also a trainer which gives you quests. Upon completing a quest you are rewarded with a new item. Unfortunately most of these quests are too obscure and confusing to complete without a cheat guide. Different monsters are weak or strong against different attack types, so you'll want to switch weapons and attacks strategies a lot in this game. The main world of PoR is Dracula's castle, but there's also eight different painting worlds. The castle is four times bigger than the painting worlds and has six different bosses. Each painting world has it's own boss as well. The bosses are not to be trifled with. While not quite Ninja Gaiden hard, these bosses are extremely tough to beat, and well designed. Add all this up and you've got a game that'll take you about twenty hours the first time around. Add a boss rush mode, hard mode (ala RE4 where you keep all your previous money and gear), and the desire to collect every bit of loot, and you've got a game that should keep you satisfied for weeks. A lot of reviewers bash Castlevania for just being a photocopy of the last incarnation. I guess there's almost as many Castlevania games out there as there are Final Fantasy games. Don't let that fool you though. This game is really a AAA title and one of the best DS games since Advance Wars Dual Strike.… Expand

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2. ReviewKing

   9

   Over all better than Dawn of Sorrow, for these reasons: 1. no more monotonous soul system 2. Overall higher fun factor, close to Symphony of the Night 3. More detailed graphics, more layers in the background 4. AWESOME music score, it won best DS music score at IGN 5. fun to level up your secondary weapons 6. bosses are much more challenging, you dont beat most on the first try like in Dawn of Sorrow 7. Numerous portraits lead to very large levels, making this the biggest Castlevania game ever. Now go buy it!… Expand

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3. Will

   8

   The gameplay is excellent. But several aspects of the game seem a bit unpolished.

   • Helpful? 0 of 1 users said Yes.
4. sparriskrigaren

   6

   It's OK, but nothing special. Too short and kind of unimaginative. The story is incredibly boring and uninteresting, so it all comes down to the gameplay and level designs. They're OK but even after 10 hours I found myself thinking "OK, when is this going to get fun?" The dual character thing feels like a gimmick, I used Charlotte about three times and played as Jonathan the rest of the time.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.

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