One word: Classic.
Castlevania in general, to me, is probably the best series out there. I just love the gothicky storylines, graphics, music, and, of course, characters. They all infuse perfectly when put into a single game.
What makes this game better than the others? It's immersive. In such way that I found myself playing for the first time, a Castlevania game for over 20 hours. I'm the type to get 100% on games (maxed levels on RPGs, etc), and this game helped me satisfy my OCD. I went and found every single soul in the game, and got to about level like 7x because of it. It may seem not worth it, but playing the game was fun; Even when trying to do something as rigorous as getting 100%. Though it's really hard to compare between Castlevania games due to their similarities, this game's rich storyline adds to the mix. Arikado/Alucard is back into the game, who is the undeniably most popular character in the series, and Soma Cruz is an aloof character who is later to become Dracula's reincarnation. What a badass title, right?
Another reason this game is also fun, is that, Like SotN, you get to choose from numerous weapons. Rather than the redundancy of hearing a chain whilst your character lets a line out in front of him, you get to use swords, spears, guns, etc.
Uhh, I suck at conclusion.
It rawkz.