New DS Castlevania to hold fort in World War II

Contrary to all those jaunty war movies, for everyone but pearly kings and the manufacturers of leather shorts, World War II was a pretty miserable affair.

One way to make it even more horrible, however, would be to throw Dracula into the mix. So of course Koji Igarashi, creator of the Castlevania series, has done exactly that for the next DS outing of the long-running horror saga.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin aims to recreate the confusion and horror of the conflict, only as zombie-maestro George Romero might see it. It seems thousands of lost souls are engaged to rebuild Dracula's Castle, led by a pair of evil Vampire sisters. (Presumably the good ones are down on the battlefield doing duty as portable blood transfusion units). And guess who has to stop them?

Using a 2D side-on scrolling view to show the action (a pixel perfect view in previous versions, so we're pleased the developer has resisted the jump to 3D), Portrait of Ruin gives you two different players to control – Jonathan Morris, vampire hunter, and the magically gifted Charlotte Orlean.

Switching freely between the two characters, you'll battle to prevent the rebirth of Dracula's Castle. And if roasting a chicken with a lot of garlic, Provençal-style, doesn't do it, there's always plans B and indeed C: Jonathan's wicked way with a weapon (fans will be pleased to see the return of the Holy Whip) and Charlotte's spell casting.

This being World War II, there are also plenty of conventional weapons lying about (in our experience, nothing sends a filthy monster back to whence it came faster than a bazooka) and the undead-destroying duo can fight fire with fire too with a new-to-the-series 'summon' attack, which raises demons to assist them against the Vampire sisters' army, and the rest of Portrait of Ruin's 100-plus adversaries. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is set to bite into our busy lives in November. Hit 'Track It!' above to be alerted when we hear more.