Vampires, Churches, Eclipses, oh my!
Gameplay: 8/10
In both gameplay and visually, this is SotN. Soma has the same movement and ease of control that Alucard had, with (unfortunately) almost identical fighting abilities. The Soul System, while an extremely creative system, could have benefited from some major changes, because here, many souls become obsolete very quickly by superior souls.
It should also be pointed out that this game is almost pitifully easy. Enemies are reluctant to attack, bosses often are large and slow, with few exceptions, and battling in general is very predictable, made even worse by the fact that Soma becomes an absolute tank by about mid game.
Graphics: 9/10
Well defined sprites, smooth animations, creative and well designed backgrounds, nice and bright and easy to look at. The only true flaw is repetitive backgrounds, which seems to haunt all newer CV games.
Sound: 8/10
Creative and well done, many are new, nice to listen to, and really help give a breath of fresh air to your ears. The only problem is, nearly all of them are forgettable. I've beaten this game at least 15 times, and now I sit here, only able to remember about 5 of this games 27 song soundtrack.
This track also gets major props for the return of Heart of Fire, and doing a damn good job of it.
Story: 8/10
This story is nearly on Par with SotN and Lamont of Innocence. Nearly. The story suffers from a pretty lame beginning ("and BOOM, I was here!") and poor writing, however, the story itself is a work of art. The first example of a Dracula-less CV, Jones made a fantastic antagonist (although he could have used some fleshing out) and near final boss, a fan-gasimic Belmont Vs. Dracula battle, and a well done final fight (although, what was that giant snake-thing?). Mildly predictable, but the first time you play it, you most likely wont quite see the twist coming.
Replay Value: 7/10
Its a pretty good thing when the weakest point of the game is still a high point. Playing this game is a fun, active experience, and replaying it can still be just as fun as playing it the first time. Julius mode is surprisingly fun, but getting 100% can be a pain.
Overall, 3rd times the charm stands strong in this outing. This game did much right, and not a moment too soon either. From bringing to us endless amounts of speculation about story aspects, to hours upon hours of fun, this game is one of the high points in the series, and I never see that changing.