While better than most movie adaptions, Van Helsing still could have been much more.
GAMEPLAY - Overall the controls were responsive, with an autoaim feature by keeping the R1 button down. There is a nice variety of weapons and they are split into either melee, which uses the triangle, or ranged, which uses the square. There is also a limited amount of alternate ammo that gives your weapons a greater boost. VH will occasionally be in spots where he can use a grappling hook to move to inaccessible areas, and can also use the hook to pull enemies closer to him. Fortunately for me there was not any difficult platforming to do. There is the option to spend his "money" on special moves but I never had any need to do so, and spent it on increasing his life bar or stocking up on healing potions. The boss battles for the most part were quite easy, and I found the best strategy was to keep pounding away and simply use my healing potions when my life bar got low. Bottom line is that the combat was simple and enjoyable but nothing memorable.
GRAPHICS - Graphics were decent, a bit blocky at times but colorful even in the dark Gothic settings that it recreated from the movie. VH and the monsters had pretty good resemblances to their movie counterparts. The cut scenes used the game engine which was OK but I would have preferred seeing some more CG scenes like they used in the game's introduction.
SOUND - Most of the movie actors did the voices for their video characters so you can't go wrong there. For the most part the monsters only make mindless grunts and screeches, with the exception of the bosses that will make occasional taunts during battle. The background music was adequate and the background noises were minimal, which made sense since you are generally in a castle, forest or deserted village.
VALUE - This was one of the shortest games I've ever played. My first play through took about 4 and a half hours, which in my opinion is simply too short, even if it is an action game. I should mention that scattered throughout the game were opportunities to go to a different world where you could try to reach objectives and obtain bonus items, which I did not bother with. I would imagine this would add at least another hour of game time. Also hidden about were cheat codes, some of which were just for fun (big heads, metallic bodies, etc.) and some were quite useful such as unlimited ammo for your alternative ammo. Again, I did not try to obtain all of the cheat items and that would add some time to the determined gamer. After completion you have the opportunity to replay the game at a higher difficulty and you can take all of the weapons you obtained as well as a much higher life bar that you ended the first game with. It's debatable as to whether I'll bother to play the game again or not.
SUMMARY - This is one of those games that I would recommend to a fan of action games as well as fans of the movie as long as they can get it for a low price, due to the very short length. There is fun to be had, it just won't last very long.