It is quite unusual for a game franchise as storied as Castlevania to be making its next generation debut with a little under two years left in the lifespan of the current crop of hardware. Konami has sat out the front end of this era happily pumping out Symphony of the Night style adventures for the GameBoy Advance, and the success of those titles has left them little reason to invest the resources needed to produce a 3D version of their vampire hunting saga. All that changed earlier this year when a PlayStation 2 iteration of the series was announced, in which Koji Igarashi and his team promised to deliver the type of immersive experience that Castlevania 64 failed to produce. The final product, entitled Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, has arrived to a decidedly mixed reception: is it good, bad or just downright ugly? (Hint: it's a mix of all three.)

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence takes players back to the very beginning of the feud between the Belmont clan and the vampire lord Dracula. Set in the 11th century, the game places you in the boots of Leon Belmont, a knight who has recently left the church to find his beloved Sara. Venturing into the Forest of Eternal Night, he meets an alchemist named Rinaldo who informs him of the yet-to-become Dracula's evil plans. Leon enters his castle alone, determined to rescue Sara and put an end to the evil that has invaded his countryside. The game does a fair job of shedding light on some of the long-standing traditions in the series, such as the origin of the infamous Vampire Killer whip. And while the lengthy story sequences are nothing to get too excited about, they nonetheless do a decent job of providing the player with a reason to continue playing.

As the first next-generation Castlevania title, the biggest question that Lament of Innocence must address is "Does it feel like Castlevania?" Arriving at an answer involves evaluating three major areas: play mechanics, visual design and music. The best Castlevania titles, like Symphony of the Night and Super Castlevania IV, excel in each of these areas and provide an experience that is much more than the sum of their parts. Lament of Innocence marks somewhat of a departure for the series, as it is neither the statistics-based RPG of recent memory or the pure action slugfest of yesteryear. Konami has given us a hybrid action game that combines the whip-play of Super Castlevania IV with the magic-based Spell Fusion system from Harmony of Dissonance. The result is an interesting new wrinkle on the various formulas used by Castlevania over the years.

Leon enters the castle through the front gate which opens into the foyer. This area serves as a central hub that leads to the five main stages of the castle, as well as the final area that contains Dracula's throne room. You can choose to tackle the five sections in any order after you clear the first stage, House of Sacred Remains. The other obtusely-named areas include Dark Palace of Waterfalls, Garden Forgotten by Time, the Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab and my personal favorite, the Ghostly Theatre. Clearing these five stages will grant you access to the final area, Pagoda of the Misty Moon. (Try and guess who you'll find there.) Each area in Lament of Innocence draws inspiration from the countless variations that have appeared throughout the length of the series. Unlike the recent RPG-style games, the separate sections of the castle are not interconnected and must be traversed one at a time.

Each section of the castle consists of large, square rooms connected by long, narrow hallways. This basic description covers most of the architecture in the castle, with few variations to be found. Whether you're in the theatre or the garden or the lab, you're sure to find the same hallways, rooms and t-junctions in each area. This becomes one of the games biggest faults, as traversing a multitude of identical corridors and rooms gets very monotonous very quickly. Certain rooms cannot be crossed until you defeat all of the enemies that crop up. The enemies themselves are numerous and varied, and offer up a surprisingly stiff challenge that will keep you on your toes. As the game goes one though you'll start to see only slight variations on a handful of basic enemy types, similar to what you find in other Castlevania titles. It is very cool to see some of these enemies in 3D, especially the imposing boss characters.

Leon does not gain levels over the course of the game, so you will constantly have to use the full range of his abilities to succeed. You won't be able to level up to ridiculously high statistics, which keeps the game fresh and engaging. I'm happy to see Konami moving away from the RPG mechanics that have characterized Castlevania for so many years. Core gameplay consists of fighting monsters and solving puzzles in an approximately 85:15 ratio. There are a number of puzzles that will need to be solved, so you will likely be doing an obscene amount of backtracking to find the switch or key you need to progress. These puzzles are mostly filler though; they're not as convoluted as a Resident Evil game, and they're not as fulfilling as solving a Silent Hill word riddle. Couple all of this travel with bare-bones, rudimentary level design and you'll see how much of a chore this game can be at times. It has its moments, most of which occur during the many tense battles in the game.

For the combat mechanics, Konami has taken a page squarely out of Capcom's book of stylish hard action. Controlling Leon will feel very familiar if you've played Devil May Cry, from running to double jumping to dive kicks. This isn't necessarily a bad thing however, as Leon does exactly what you want him to most of the time. Leon can execute a number of whip combos (using weak and strong lashes), he can double jump and perform a dive kick, and he can assume a blocking stance and dive out of the way of attacks. You'll learn new techniques at a steady rate over the course of the game, and you are constantly encouraged to use them against the increasingly aggressive foes you face. Enemies will often surround you and force you to use both offensive and defensive techniques to win. This game is no button masher; you'll need finesse and timing to make it through unscathed. This is especially true in the games' boss battles, which end up offering some of the finest moments in the game.

To help him on his quest, Leon can equip a number of different items, including whips, armor, magical relics and sacred orbs. When combined with the traditional Castlevania sub-weapons, these orbs grant additional abilities that use up extra hearts. It's fun to experiment with all the possible combinations, though you'll likely find a favorite and stick with it. You can also buy and sell items at Rinaldo's shop that's located conveniently close to the castle. Changing equipment and using items must be done through a menu that is accessed while you're playing. While it's great to be able to manage items without having to access a true menu screen, it is often cumbersome to navigate a menu while trying to avoid enemy attacks. I want to be able to change equipment or drink a potion at my leisure; too often I died because I couldn't use a potion fast enough. Let's fix that for the next game, Konami.

Like all of the recent games, Lament of Innocence provides you with a detailed map to help you find your way around. You can set markers on your map in each area to indicate secrets that you might not be able to access until later. The game offers a number of bonuses that you can unlock upon completion, such as extra relics, new playable characters and a sound test. The latter is a really nice option, as each track is accompanied by comments from Michiru Yamane herself. Cool! There are plenty of secrets within the game that you'll likely miss the first time through, and I have to admit that my second play has proven more entertaining than the first. The game is still on the short side (in the 6 to 8 hour range), but the length feels just right for this type of game.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is a proverbial mixed bag when it comes to visuals. On the one hand, the game looks like it was made during the early days of the PlayStation 2 when developers were really struggling with the hardware. Blurry textures, low-detail objects and rudimentary facial animation characterize a game that doesn't hold a candle to the top games that have seen a release on PS2 this year. It looks just about as good as Devil May Cry did nearly three years ago. To top it all off, the display is covered by an ugly dither pattern that only adds to the visual squalor. Most players probably won't notice it, but those of us with a high-end home theater rig will find it very distracting. All of this is doubly disappointing considering that the game is coming from Konami, a company who has repeatedly delivered visually stunning software for the PlayStation 2.

But to be fair the game does have some strong visual elements, most notably its framerate. Lament of Innocence runs at a rock-solid 60 fps that never wavers, even during heavy action. It's quite refreshing to play a game that doesn't stutter when the screen is packed. The artistic qualities of the game also go a long way in compensating for its technical deficiencies. The art direction is top-notch, as many of the interior areas look exactly like you'd imagine they would in 3D. Flickering candles, floor-to-ceiling drapes and a metric ton of statuary all give the game a sophisticated gothic look. Leon himself is richly detailed and sports a number of smooth animations, while a handful of the enemy monsters (especially Medusa) look great as well. Despite its rudimentary graphics and level design, the game still very much looks the part of a true Castlevania adventure and should at the very least be acceptable to long-time fans.

The biggest saving grace of Lament of Innocence is its outstanding sound, which really should come as no surprise. Sound effects are crisp and clear, from the many cracking noises of Leon's whip to footsteps pounding off of various surfaces to the shrieks and howls of your undead adversaries. It all sounds exactly like you'd think it would, and gives the game that classic Castlevania feel. The acting varies between acceptable and super-cheesy, but it's thankfully no worse than the third-rate performances from Symphony of the Night. And if the English cast is too cringe-inducing, you can switch over to the Japanese language track and marvel at how fluent these 11th century Europeans are. Everything sounds amazing thanks to Dolby Pro Logic II which, while not quite as robust as DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1, nonetheless provides excellent audio performance. The pounding footsteps of those giant golems will undoubtedly leave your room rattling and shaking.

Of course, the real standout in the audio department is the wonderful score crafted by Castlevania veteran composer Michiru Yamane. Her scores have become synonymous with the Castlevania experience ever since her mind-blowing soundtrack for the 1997 trailblazer Symphony of the Night. In this regard Lament of Innocence absolutely does not disappoint, as Yamane has once again provided an aural masterpiece. Its robust offerings embody a range of musical styles and moods, from the haunting piano and organ melodies of "House of Sacred Remains" to the up-tempo trance rhythms of "Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab" to the sweeping string and percussion arrangements of "Garden Forgotten by Time". It is not quite the equal of her score for Symphony, but the soundtrack nonetheless provides an excellent backdrop for the action and goes a long way in creating the atmosphere of a classic Castlevania adventure. Great stuff.

But overall I'm sad to say that Lament of Innocence falls far short of the greatness for which Castlevania is known. The action can get intense at times, but much of the time you'll be running through identical empty hallways en route to your objectives. Though the game gives you plenty of moves to play around with, too often they end up being completely useless. Why bother having a blocking move when so many enemies can break right through it? Aside from the excellent sound effects and music, I'm left searching for positive things to say about the game. It's not poor by any stretch, it's just painfully mediocre. Perhaps its rudimentary level design and basic graphics would have been acceptable had it been released two or three years ago, but even then it would have come up short against games like Devil May Cry.

Having said all that, I still think that Lament of Innocence embodies a pretty decent first attempt at bringing Castlevania into the current millennium. It looks like Castlevania, despite its first-generation graphics, it plays like Castlevania with its cool whip-play combat, and it sounds like Castlevania thanks to another haunting gothic score from Michiru Yamane. There are a lot of positives for Igarashi and company to build upon for the next iteration, so in this regard Lament of Innocence is not a total loss. But it just doesn't stack up as a fourth-generation software title in a number of areas, namely level design, visual detail and play balance. It is also tediously boring at times, and yet frustratingly difficult in spurts, resulting in a game that just never feels right.

Hopefully the experience that Igarashi's team gains from this project will lead to the next-generation Castlevania we've all been waiting for. Despite some high notes, Lament of Innocence isn't that game. I still recommend it for Castlevania fans, as it does provide a fair amount of entertainment value, especially if you received the bonus CD with your pre-order. Lament of Innocence is nowhere near the experience offered by Symphony of the Night or Super Castlevania IV, but it's got enough going for it to earn your play time this Halloween. Check it out.