To me this is the best castlevania game ever, even beating out symphony of the night.
The graphics are nice with good detail and animations,but some of the animations feel stiff and akward.It really doesn't detract from the game though at all for that matter.The music and sound effects are all true to the castlevania name.Wierd and quirky songs with a sharp whip and grunts and moans set the mood just right.The controls as you would expect are top notch and if you die its your fault.I just wish they could have made it to where you could whip in all directions.
Now down to the gameplay.This is Castlevania at its best.I am a huge castlevania fan and for me this is the best one ever.Why you ask well I think this ones difficulty actually makes it better.At least to me it does.Ya it can be a chore in some areas but its nothing you can't handle.It just seems to take a little bit of skill and grinding to make it which is just fine by me.I had fun doing that and exploring the castle at the same time.You travel on foot through a huge castle, super metroid style,but unlike super metroid you level up,collect cards,and find better stuff to equip.THis helps give the game some real depth and the formula is near perfect for castlevania.
The card system is cool and what it does is allows you to mix and match cards,that allow you to use many kinds of magic powers.You'll have to experiment to find out whats best for you.The dss card system is really fun and helpful to use on top of that.Some of the spells really come in handy.Which makes you want to look everywhere for all the cards.
Like I said I like pretty much any castlevania game,but to me this one is the best of the best.I think that the dss card system,and the more skillful difficulty make it better.Its not loads better but I can say I was way more into this one than all the rest and thats really saying something.