Good and better than Dawn of Sorrow
This game is one of the best Castlevania ever!! First, you can switch your character anytime you want, although Charlotte could be a little weaker than Jonathan. Second, the pace is faster than Dawn of Sorrow. Third, IMO, the music kicks ass. Finally, this game has better storyline and more conversations. Of course there are some weaknesses in this game: enemies are mostly repetitive (you can see most of them from previous Castlevania games). After you beat the game, new modes are kinda boring (Richter's mode and sister's mode). Hard difficult is far too difficult (just like playing Dracula Chronicle X). However, if you like AVG and RPG this is a must have!

Amazing
This game is simply amazing. And delivery is fast and flawless as always. :)

A very good platformer, but but with tiny flaws
This game doesn't stray far from the classic castlevania formula which is very good. It provides great gameplay in varied environments with a great selection of weapons, enemies, bosses and sub quests. However it is very easy compared to previous castlevania games and I find myself drawing to the end (or so it seems) quite quickly, some bosses are challenging but once their system is figured out they can easily be trodden over. personally I haven't tried the multiplayer feature yet so I cannot comment on it. However all of the flaws described do not detract from the experience and is still worth buying by both seasoned castlevania fans and anyone looking for a good platformer for their ds

Excellent
This game is absolutely awesome. Pure and simple. Basically, If you're semi new to the franchise (like me) or if you liked everything about Dawn of Sorrow except the touch screen features, this is the game for you. It is well-polished, deep and even though it's not really a giant step foward for Castlevania, it's basically the sum of everything that made the past Castlevania games fun, minus the bad parts. So if you don't have DoS, get this game. If you have it, you may not want this game as you're basically getting the same thing, but more polished. If you're a fan of the series get this game. I've played Aria of Sorrow and I will say the graphical leap is substantial, though you have to pay close attention to the subtle details.

Excellent Service from Play-Asia. Kept me informed throughout my purchase. Best thing about the service was that I received an email answer to a query I had within 24 hours, which put my mind to ease. Shipping took roughly 7 days (Take into consideration that my mailing service doesn't operate on Weekends and I received the package first thing on Monday, you can assume 5 days instead).

This was my first purchase from Play-Asia. But it will not be my last.
Nice Job Play-Asia.com

This game is awesome!!!!
Portrait of Ruin is an Awesome Game. I have both DS games Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of ruin, and I like both games. They are fun to play. Now please Konami all I need for the Nintendo DS is Castlevania III, Dracula X (PCE version which never come out from Japan) and Symphony of the Night, this three games for the Nintendo DS.

get DOS first.
great game but dawn of sorrow is better in my opinion.

Excelent
This castlevania has a great story mode, equal to down of sorrow, but the online modes, like shop mode, and co-op mode really hit the spot!!

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
This is the best verison of castlevania yet!!
Go and get it now!!

En la l璯ea de DoS
Me encantan todos los Castlevanias, así que no puedo ser objetivo. Un juegazo, con una música brillante y de momento me está ofreciendo lo que buscaba, una prolongación del Dawn of Sorrow.

a futile attempt at reviving the once popular legendary series
I loved the gothic graphicical style of the previous installments and I am wondering why the guys at konami discarded that artistic approach and aimed for a more animated style. I assume it is their attempt at gaining a younger fan base. Afterall, the series is not as popular as before due to the change from era from 3d to 2d.

I just hope that konami will stick to the original formula that made castlevania popular--2d action plus detailed graphics.

not too good
i only played for couple of hours but i did not feel any sense of attachment to this game. There are way too many better DS games out there.

Amazing!
This game is the best Castlevania EVER created!

They've mixed the engines of Aria/Dawn of Sorrow with the old school Castlevania games, namely CV: Bloodlines, as they are directly linked story wise. Every enemy from the Sorrow series makes a return with a makeover and there are new enemies and some old enemies from way back to the original CV games

Also, it's good for newcomers to the series, since the new engine is known to be quite a shock for some of the CV vets.

FACT: Some of the enemies use sprites that are the ones used in CV: Bloodlines.

If you miss out on this game, kiss your DS goodbye and jump from a high place, it's THAT good.

Portrait of Disappointment
A disappointing outing for the Castlevania franchise, especially considering Dawn of Sorrow's more or less excellent offering. While the initial premise brings to mind far superior entries such as the classic Dracula X or Legacy of Darkness, this pales in comparison to those and, even more insultingly, taints the characters from a previous entry, Bloodlines, with their insulting inclusion in this extremely lacking and excessively dull Castlevania. While graphically superb and good sound-wise for the most part, pretty pictures and good music (with mostly good voice acting) do not excuse the terrible story, lacking gameplay, and outright frustrating attempts at accommodating the gimmicky insertions. After a point in the extremely predictable and groan-worthy story, I put it down permanently. Save your money and buy something more deserving of it instead.

Sorry Symphony of the Night
You've been replaced. This game delivers everything that one might expect of the 2D Castlevania series with a few very surprising easter eggs. The story is involving and the addition of Quests add variety to the genre. If you miss the old days of Castlevania, pick this game up. No one will complain that it wasn't a challenge.