After playing all of the 3D games in the series I can safely say that the N64 has been the only console to get it right!
It's an underrated and underappreciated classic on the system, with a good storyline, excellent soundtrack and extremely high replay value.
This is strictly a review of Castlevania 64 so I shall refrain from mentioning Legacy of Darkness too much, I may also write a review for that game if I am pleased enough with this review.
Starting with the title screen, we are greeted with a refreshing 3D view of the infamous Dracula's Castle with some delightfully spooky music playing in the background, along with the eerie rumbling of a thunder storm.
The screen fades to black as Malus (a character you will no doubt be meeting in the game) is shown playing an entrancing violin cover of Divine Bloodlines, Richter's theme from Rondo of Blood and it's SNES ports.
When seeing this for the first time, back in the late 1990's my stomach was just full of butterflies, the thoughts that were in my mind were "This guy looks awesome" and "This music is beautiful!" I remember waiting a while before pressing that start button, just to hear more of the music.
Now the game really begins and we get the choice of selecting one of two characters. One of these characters is Reinhardt Schneider, supposedly an heir to the Belmont family; his weapon is of course the Vampire Killer whip that we have grown to love over the years. The second is Carrie Fernandez, a decendant of Sypha Belnades (Who was Sypha Fernandez in the Japanese game, I'm going to call translation error on Carrie's name here) and uses magic to defend herself with.
As well as their main weapons, both characters also have second weapons, Reinhardt has a short sword and Carrie has some ring shaped blade. Personally I rarely used these but it was nice to know they were there.
In the game, you will pick up the classic sub-weapons from the games predecessors, such as the holy water, the cross, the daggers and the axes, these can be powered up by collecting three of the same sub-weapon in a row and will make it more powerful, you will also find power-ups for your primary weapon in the form of talismans, the same as they appeared in Super Castlevania IV. Hearts are replaced with gems, much like the Sega Megadrive's Castlevania game, and as usual, they are ammunition for whatever sub-weapon you may be holding, the more powered up your sub-weapon is, the more gems it will consume. As well as the power-ups there are also health replenishing items, uncurse potions, antivenoms and sun and moon cards, which can quickly change it to day or night, some events won't happen unless it is a certain time so these will become useful.
Familiar enemies will return, such as skeletons, mermen/fishmen and Medusa heads! Yes, this is the only 3D game to include Medusa heads, that alone should be enough to give this game a dozen thumbs up.
Oh and did I mention vampires other than Dracula? ... No no I did not, but I shall now, there are vampires other than Dracula in this game! This was actually somewhat of a first for the series and was greatly appreciated.
What I really like about this game, which more of the games in the series really should have done, is that it really did acknowledge the fact that Castlevania is meant to have horror elements, at points in the game it was actually try and scare you with enemies jumping out from behind you during cutscenes accompanied by a silence breaking instrumental shrieks in an attempt to make players jump.
Another good point to mention is that the game is actually challenging, there is of course the infamous Mandrake and Nitroglycerine combining section in the Castle Centre which does drive a lot of players insane, but the sense of satisfaction you receive once you've done it makes it all worthwhile, the puzzles in the game are pretty varied, some are as simple as pulling levers in order, others require you to have payed a lot of attention to things your character has examined in the level, but all the puzzles are doable, and the game tries not to completely leave you in the dark in terms of what to do next.
Many complain about the camera in this game, though they needn't do so, one simple push of a button is all it takes to get the camera facing in a more favourable direction.
The only real issue I had with this game is that it could have been and should have been longer! For this reason I cannot give this game a 10, a 9 is still a worthy score I think.
So to sum this up, no, this game is no Symphony of The Night, but it is still a fantastic game in the series and should definitely be part of your N64 collection.
I would certainly recommend it to anybody who wants to see what a 3D Castlevania game should play like.
Despite all the bad things said about it, you can not deny that this game will forever be considered a classic.