It sucks you in and leaves you feeling soulless without it.
The graphics are nothing if not basic, but they perform sufficiently to portray the environments of the game. The effects are basic as well, but they do get the point across effectively enough. The shining points are the storyline, game-play, and the superb voice acting.
The storyline evolves around a dark hero named Kain who was transformed into a vampire and is thrust back into the world and embarks on a quest of revenge on the vampire who transformed him as well as various other evil lords. Now tell me, how can that not be anything but good clean fun? (LOL) The control scheme is easy to grasp and the on-screen displays and menus are very helpful. The game-play is just plain awesome! As Kain you will find yourself wielding a good variety of death dealing implements. Everything from swords and maces to Chinese star style projectiles are at your disposal. You also develop the ability to use various vampire abilities like metamorphosing into different forms and the use of magical dark spells as well as the classic blood sucking no self-respecting vampire would refrain from. Kain also adorns himself in different types of devilish armor that has very different and very useful properties. The combat is a hack-and-slash style of combat. You basically butcher your way across the country side with the exception of a handful of friendly villagers and gypsies. The carnage brings out the beast in you! The voice acting is outstanding. As you play through the game, the inner voice of Kain shares his ponderings and perceptions with you which only helps to progress the story and make you feel apathy for the dark hero.
This is one of my favorite hack-and-slash style rpgs and, I feel, the best of a classic series. If you give it a try, I'm sure you will agree.