A game for those who doesn't have anything better to do. It gets repetitive, and I bet you've certainly seen better.
You start the game off with an immediate boss fight, the time to master the controls would most likely range from 10-15 minutes. You have the usual weaponry associated with these types of games, the melee and the long-range types like your pistol, for instance. After beating a few levels or so, you're rewarded new types of weapons such as crossbows, katanas... wherein you can gain upgrades to each one by finding them in the game.
The boss battles are easy to figure out, there's no challenge or whatsoever for the seasoned gamer. The hoards of demons and the undead feels as if it's all just a button-mashing marathon. The graphics are... ok, they're good enough but it is still rough around the edges. The camera needs more work, especially during boss fights. You get the lousiest angles and the worst times. It's like fighting blind, with the camera system of Van Helsing the boss isn't always visible on screen.
The replay value of the game is low, since there's no reason to play it all over again, unless you're a gamer who wants a 100% completely finished game. Van Helsing offers a wide range of unlockables from unlimited ammo, to different skins for the character models.
Van Helsing is a game just for the weekend, something that you'd play if you need your fix of some hack-and-slash type of gaming, or something that you need to kill the time. If you want story content, watch the movie instead.