Castlevania as good as ever.
Anyway, this is another great Castlevania action adventure in 2D, as it should be, the upcoming 3D Castlevania game sounds promising though. But back to this, it is a lot of fun, and naturally it's challenging, but this is one of the easiest games in the series that I have played. I never became frustrated, which is a first for me in the series, sure there were challenging parts, but I never felt I couldn't do it or not get past a boss or something, the bosses, or at least the majority of them are not the most inspired ones, but still many of them won't just roll over and die without a fight. The whip can be upgraded, not permanent, or by buying abilities, you can't do that. You just pick up orbs throughout the stage, and this is often crucial to get through a level without too much hassle.
It should take you about an hour to finish the game's 6 stages. Each stage has a time limit, but it might as well not be there, I never paid attention to it, as you always finish a stage with more than enough time left. But this is a great game and fans of Castlevania should definitely check it out, it's not my favorite in the series, but it's still pretty awesome.