Average game time to beat= 5-6 hours
Gameplay-8: I enjoyed playing this game for the past five days. It's a basic platform game, except with the mature rating....hehe. There's nothing special about the gameplay, but there's nothing really wrong with it, either....The puzzles are simple, the fighting is cool, and the levels are awesome.
Graphics-8: Great visuals. Everything is detailed, although there aren't any special cinematic graphics (like they do in Final Fantasy games), so the game always looks the same (which isn't bad, but it isn't spectacular either).
Audio-9.5: This is the area where I thought the game's team really spent their time on. They've added new songs that sound perfect for every place with emotion blended into them, and they even re-mixed some of their old songs from previous games that amazed me and a friend of mine that heard it (we stayed in the level an hour longer than we should have because we just wanted to listen to the song in it). Also, the voice-overs are done well, with the appropriate voices, just it seemed like some of the timing was off, which made it a little bit less dramatic. They've done a nice job on this game, though, with the audio department.
Storyline-9: Cool plot that creates the beginning of this innovative series. You're Leon Belmont, and your betrothed (fiance), Sara, has been kidnapped by a vampire named Walter. You meet a man called Rinaldo, who gives you an alchemy whip, a weapon stronger than any sword or ax (I don't know about a cross, though....lol). To get to Walter, Leon must vanquish 5 monsters (bosses) in each level. The story is very slow in the beginning, but later on, as Leon progresses through the levels, more is unfolded, and the ending is much better than expected. Since the game was so short, though, I had to reduce the score a little.
Fighting-8.5: Combo attacks. The game is mostly fighting skeletons, ghouls, ogres, and what not, so there is tons of ways you can kill an enemy. Want to whip them "out of shape?" Need to burn them alive? How about calling Jesus for some help? Well, you can get those attacks in this game....The regular way of attacking is with your whip, which you can improve throughout the game, and as Leon is going through the story, he gains combo attacks to do more damage and strikes. Another way of attacking is getting sub-weapons (can only carry one at a time: i.e. knives or axes or crosses or holy water or gems) and you equip an orb to do a special attack with that sub-weapon (there are 6 orbs in the game, one for each of the five monsters that Leon destroys and an optional boss one). Also, you must obtain a certain amount of hearts to do the sub-weapon attack. One other way of attacking is using a relic that you equip and turning it on will activate it and cost you MP every second or so. The way of obtaining MP is blocking special attacks of enemies. The problem I had with the fighting is that there's so much of it, that it becomes a bore after awhile. Impressive techniques keep Leon alive, so how impressive can you be? Sadly, the answer is "not that much"......
Score: 8.5/10
Another game reviewed. Too bad this game was short since it had amazing potential (some critics think otherwise....). I'll check out the next Castlevania that arrives in stores, but there hasn't been any word on it yet.......