Of all the classic franchises that attempted the jump to 3D, few have had as many problems as Castlevania. The first PlayStation 2 entry Lament of Innocence was the first completed attempt at a 3D game in the series since the two games that went to the Nintendo 64. Since ripping off Metroid wouldn't work for a 3D installment, Konami decided to rip off another game that was already a success on the system, Capcom's
Devil May Cry. While not a bad idea in theory, it left plenty to be desired in practice.
Lament of Innocence brings the focus back to the Belmont Clan of vampire hunters. Leon Belmont is a Crusader whose betrothed Sara is kidnapped and brought to Dracula's castle. After trying and failing to get the Church's assistance, Leon heads to the castle alone. He is stopped by a former vampire hunter named Rinaldo who gives him a whip and aid in his quest. The plot is thin, but it doesn't really hurt the game that much. Most of the games in the franchise had thin plots. The visuals are very good, even by today's standards, with detailed textures, moody lighting, and great character designs. The voices, meanwhile, aren't good nor are they laughably bad. They sound bored.
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The combat takes a lot of the template of action games from the time like Devil May Cry and God of War. One button for quick attacks, one for strong attacks, and one for sub-weapons is a decent scheme. However, unlike the free-flowing combat of those other games, the combat here felt too stiff and mechanical. The combat isn't bad; it's just dull. Even adding in relics and magic powers does little to spice it up. There are also several platform sequences, but those are annoying with the automatic camera. Sure, the uncontrollable camera doesn't reach the aggravating levels of
Dino Crisis 3, but I still found myself getting hit by enemies I couldn't see and missing jumps that would've been easy with manual camera control. You'd think mapping the camera control, even in a limited fashion, to the right thumbstick would be a no-brainer. However, for some reason, the developers used the right thumbstick for using the items in Leon's inventory. WHY??? Was pausing the game and bringing up the item menu too sensible?
Exploration is also dull. Unlike the distinct and interesting environments of Devil May Cry and God of War, the castle is just full of identical hallways and rooms that exist purely for fights. The five main areas where the majority of the game takes place can be explored in any order at any time. However, you may not find out that you need a certain item to progress further until you've gone miles from the hub. I found myself running around in circles too much and getting lost without constant map reference since so many of the rooms and hallways look the same.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is not a bad game at all. It's just a very dull one. While Konami got the structure of a game like Devil May Cry right, they forgot something Capcom's game had in abundance: personality. This is one of those game's that may provide some entertaining moments while you're playing, but it won't stick with you when it's turned off. Unless you're a die-hard fan of the franchise, whip this one out of here.
