The game where nothing is wrong. Except for the game itself.
Gameplay: 8/10
Leon controls fantastically, he's smooth, easy to control, and looks sharp and deadly. Unfortunately, a limiting item system that forces you to leave yourself vulnerable in battle, no real variety in the battle system, and a lack of enemy variety brings it down.
Level design: 3/10
It sucks. The gameworld is flat, everything is copied and pasted. You will run into so many identical rooms its not even funny. Whats really sad is the occasional unique room that is just...fantastic.
Graphics: 9/10
Stunning. Absolutely beautiful for the PS2. Highly detailed models, visually amazing rooms (when held on their own), and with almost obsessive attention to detail. I would happily place this as a 10/10, however, the developers seem to think that castles have dozens of absolutely IDENTICAL rooms, down to the little scratches in the wall.
Sound: 10/10
Oh. My. God. This soundtrack is amazing. Beautiful sounds, well done voice acting, this game is, in terms of sound, perfect. Plain and Simple. Well done, Ms. Yamane. Well done indeed.
Story: 9/10
Brilliant, capturing, well written, enjoyable, and emotional. I think I actually shed a tear at Sara's sacrifice. This is truly IGA at his best. It is a shame that it left such a huge hole in the overall time line, which I feel is its only flaw.
This is how I felt when I first wrote it. Looking back, its less "Brilliant, capturing, well written, enjoyable and emotional". Its still pretty great, but honestly? Its just well written, enjoyable and capturing. Not really brilliant, and Emotional is a bit of an overstatement.
Replay Value: 5/10
Meh...Theres a few things to do after you beat the game, namely finding all the key's and items, and play the alt. Characters. However, there are few items, and one of the characters is literally a sit, lock on, jam button, while the other is a clone of Leon. Both feel quite a bit rushed, and with endings that leave you missing something.
Theres a lot of bashing of this game, some of it is deserved, some of it just those who waited for it during the hype, and were left feeling left down. Lament of Innocence is a well done game, visually stunning, sounds amazing, and a beautifully well done story however, don't feel suprised if you have to drag yourself through some of the areas.