Ever since Symphony of the Night, Konami's Castlevania series has taken an interesting turn into the explorative adventure/RPG genre, never leaving its monster-killing roots behind. In addition to beating the living (unliving?) tar out of zombies, bats and other creatures of the night, modern Castlevania games give you tons of items to search and collect, experience points to build your character, and unique magic systems that really toss a little spice into the mix. The most recent Castlevania installment, Portrait of Ruin for the DS, continues the tradition and alters the formula ever so slightly with the addition of two-character single play. Each successive game seems to add and subtract a few features while leaving the bulk of the gameplay intact. After playing all of the portable installments in the series and recently finishing Portrait of Ruin, I have a few opinions about the series and what I think is great and what could use some attention. Read on for the story.

Don't Change:

• Exploration + action + RPG = happy gamer.
• The music. Michiru Yamane has been doing a fine job.
• Sprawling maps with non-linear, branching paths are where it's at. More please.

Start Tweaking:

• Storyline. Not only are the storylines vague and uninteresting, they feel like they're in the way. Either integrate the plot into the game or do away with it altogether.
• Gathering spells from enemies makes it worth my time to dispose of them. Portrait of Ruin veered away from that a bit, so don't forget the card/soul gathering mechanic.
• Recent Castlevania installments seem to never really get started until you're suddenly at the final boss. Either change the pacing or make the games a bit more lengthy. Or both!

IGN has an excellent Castlevania retrospective if you're in the mood for more Dracula-related reading.

Got an opinion of your own? Of course you do! Fire off in the comments below.