A really good game cursed by a very bad camera. Graphics are good, music is superb, gameplay is interesting.

User Rating: 8 | Castlevania: Curse of Darkness PS2
I was recently re-playing this game based on my thirst for something gothic. And indeed i like it, altough I couldn't help but think that this could be so much better.
The artistic part is very well done, sound, artwork and even its menu systems are very beautiful. Another good aspect is gameplay, item creation, weapons and companion systems are good. Combat is fun and rich. A lot of things to find in every map.
There are other aspects that doesn't seem quite so good. Level design is kinda bland, long plain corridors filled with monsters every time. The geometry rarely goes anywhere but flat ground and high walls everywhere, at least they are well ornamented but still, I couldn't properly look at them cause the camera forbids me to look up.
The camera is very limited in this game, it's always about the same distance from the character, which for me was pretty close, in a way that the player is almost always looking at the ground from very near or 0ยบ forward. This ends up getting in the way of combat, reassuring the flatness of the level design and hiding the great effort put on the graphics of the game. The story is regular but good enough for a castlevania game.
Even so I still like this game, although it could have been a lot better, if they've just inserted some more dramatic camera that points to the goods looking parts of the game, and some more platform action to get level design more entertaining.