Improves on all aspects of design from Dawn of Sorrow, which itself is one of the best Castlevanias. The dual-character system works wonderfully, and opens up the inventory/spells to lots more usage. The enemies (especially bosses) all have charming animations and flashy attacks. The size of Dracula's castle seems ordinary until you realize each painting is its own world...then the game is huge (progress is measured in hundreds of percentage points). Just the right mix of challenge and fun.… Expand

I have never played a Castlevania game before, so I was pretty excited to play this. Honestly though, it's not really that fun. Perhaps I'm just not a faction of the action genre (i.e. I hated the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game on the Wii, etc.). I think POR would have been much much better if a coop option was available in the story mode. I also would have liked it better if the ending for the normal mode weren't so lame. I played through one of the extras as well, and it wasn't really worth it (and still didn't explain more of the story). The other problem I had was with the difficulty level. Normal is way too easy, and Hard is a little too hard for me. Even so, I did complete the game (twice, if you count one of the extra modes), and there's a strangely addictive quality to it. Recommended for fans of the action genre.… Expand

An okay and challenging Castlevania that comes up short in a few really annoying ways. 1) the dual character mode isn't implimented nearly as well as it could've been. There's a very low rate of puzzles and abilities that utilize this new feature. 2) the quest mode can be really frustrating. Sometimes you'll need an item that you have previously sold and can't get back unless you know someone selling it on the WFC shop mode or start the game over. They should've made any quest releated items non-sellable, or allow you to complete the quest even if you do sell them. Also, you can take on 5 quests at a time max, so if you have that quest and can't complete it, you're just stuck and can't pick up any new ones. 3) Selling items is a huge pain, as you are forced to keep one item of everything to prevent the above mentioned quest problem. Even if you did want to sell a bunch of stuff, it doesn't remove your equiped gear from the "to sell" list, nor put an E or anything next to it, so you may accidently sell your equipment if you're not paying attention. 4) Way too many enemies (and bosses) are reused...again 5) The story is really comedy/anime driven and this proves to be a major distraction and seems very out of place given the timeframe of the game (WW2). 6) Promise of co-op play is only limited to boss rush mode. 7) 95% of the items and abilities are worthless or just clones of one another. 8) Re-used stages (or similar looking levels) within the game. You'd think the portraits would bring in some new variety, but the only really different type of level is the pyramid level. Most of the others just look like any other CV castle. While still playable and sometimes enjoyable, this game definitely is the worse CV title since Harmony of Dissonance. Some of the levels and all the new enemies are cool, and so is the dual character mode. But for the above mentioned reasons this game fails to live up to Castlevania's previous body of work. The biggest improvement in this game, though, is it's back to the Circle of the Moon difficulty level.… Expand

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

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

(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

FANTASTIC! Despite being not quite as good as DoS, this is still one of the best games for the DS. If you own a DS and like 2D adventures or action RPGs, you MUST buy this game. Thank me later.

One of the best Castlevania games. A new level of perfection.

What did you expect, a lower score? This game is an instant classic. The new abilitys let you do so much more. The graphics are better than ever, and the story is definitely twisted. So far I can say it takes SOTN out of 1st place and I thought it was not possible. But over 10 years later and on a handheld! Castlevania fans this is a must buy game! For everyone else, it's a great place to start. Thank you 1 million times over Konami. You made this castlevania fan the happiest ever! and 3 words of advice.....keep em coming. BRAVO!… Expand

Simply the best Castlevania experience to date! The dual character set-up is makes for some crazy-ass action, easily directed by your own nimble thumbs.

I was a fan of the way old school Castlevania games and decided to pick this up for my DS. It lasted about 10 hours or less before I finally admitted to myself it was boring. I just did not enjoy it and it did not pull me in.

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.