Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (PlayStation 2) review "Mr. Exposition gives you the details of the plot, which basically comes down to Walter being a bit bored with eternal life, so for amusement, he kidnaps the loved ones of potential worthy opponents in order to engage in combat with the vengeful fighters. The old man lost his daughter to the vampire, but not his life or humanity. No, he's kept around to serve as a general store, so desperate to avenge his loss that he'll charge an arm and a leg for life-restoring potions and armor. A true humanitarian, this guy."

Perhaps the single greatest surprise you'll find concerning Castlevania: Lament of Innocence simply is the fact that not only did this game get released AFTER Devil May Cry, but it came out almost exactly two years later. It's somewhat of a sad surprise, as the Castlevania series is not only legendary, but one of my personal favorites. To play an installment that, while competent and reasonably enjoyable, could easily be described as a shameless rip-off of a game that debuted two years previously is somewhat disconcerting.

I'd complement Lament of Innocence for providing a decent origin story for Dracula and the Belmont family's eternal attempt to put the final nail in his coffin, but the recent Lords of Shadow pretty much ret-conned that out of existence. Still, hey...they tried! Leon Belmont is an awesome knight-type whose girl has been kidnapped by a vampire named Walter. A sickly friend points him to Walter's abode to get things started. Before entering the castle, he meets an elderly recluse who lives in the forest adjoining it. Mr. Exposition gives you the details of the plot, which basically comes down to Walter being a bit bored with eternal life, so for amusement, he kidnaps the loved ones of potential worthy opponents in order to engage in combat with the vengeful fighters. The old man lost his daughter to the vampire, but not his life or humanity. No, he's kept around to serve as a general store, so desperate to avenge his loss that he'll charge an arm and a leg for life-restoring potions and armor. A true humanitarian, this guy.

After being handed a whip, Leon enters the castle...and is roped into a brief tutorial before he's allowed to start looking for Walter. After that's taken care of, you'll find that getting to the well-hidden throat-biter won't be easy, as the way to his lair is protected by a seal. The only way to break it will be to enter a room where he can warp to five different regions of the castle. It's pretty paint-by-numbers and doesn't get much more complicated as things progress.

All five of these zones are essentially the same: a collection of rooms and corridors containing enemies, traps and the occasional puzzle. Leon's whip becomes an all-purpose tool, as it slaughters skeletons by the legion and is used to grapple onto railings, conveniently placed poles and the like. Most times when you initially enter a monster-inhabited room, the same scene occurs: doors magically are sealed and enemies appear. As Leon, you spring into life, assaulting them with whip combos, special weapons (the reliable standbys like axes, daggers and holy water) and the occasional magic spell. After a bit, the monsters will stop spawning and you'll be allowed to leave. There is a bit of backtracking in this game — at least if you want to explore the entire castle, as certain rooms in each zones aren't accessible until you've found a key or accessed a special ability that's located in another one — which is more tedious than anything. Since doors becoming sealed when you enter a room tends to only happen the first time you do so, you'll likely find yourself sprinting through them before enemies have a chance to collect their bearings.

Why? Because there's no reward for fighting monsters other than acquiring money (gotta pay for those potions somehow, right?) or items. Unlike the 2-D "Metroid-vania" games, monsters don't give experience of any sort. On one hand, this is nice, as it preserves the challenge of the boss fights, preventing players from grinding to get past tough fights like I did a couple times in Circle of the Moon. No cheap way out for me — I had to learn their patterns and demonstrate skill if I wanted to advance through the game. On the other hand, unless you know a particular room or corridor contains monsters known for dropping money, odds are that after that one mandatory fight, you'll look to run past everything due to the general pointlessness of wasting time with battle.

In a fighting-heavy action game resembling Devil May Cry or God of War, if I'm using phrases like "general pointlessness of wasting time with battle", something is wrong. I don't remember exactly how Devil May Cry handled this, but God of War enticed you to fight every single thing just because good things could come from each and every opponent. You'd get experience to power up weapons, you'd get health and magic recharges, you got tangible rewards regardless of how imposing or insignificant an enemy was. Here, if a monster doesn't drop money or a useful item, there's no benefit. Health is regenerated at save points, but if you have to burn healing items getting from one to the next, you're just wasting money. When you find a boss room, you'll likely retreat to the nearest save point and then prepare to make a mad dash to it, hoping nothing damages you along the way. In games like this, fighting should be intoxicating fun — not something you're actively looking to avoid whenever possible because the risk often outweighs the reward.

Lament of Innocence is flawed, but that doesn't mean it's not often enjoyable. Particularly during its boss battles which include a handful of elemental warriors, series regulars like Succubus and Medusa and a vampire who is easy to underestimate due to being an emo bishonen with the amusing habit of alternating between muttering and screaming his lines. After that foolishness, he assaults you with a variety of damaging attacks, forcing you to frenetically dodge while looking for any opening possible to take out the spheres shielding him and then finally deliver your own counterattacks. Exhilarating!

I'd definitely call this a decent game. If you're a fan of Castlevania or a fan of this sort of brawling action, you'll find a good amount of entertainment. Overall, though, it's not something I'd deem essential to play. There are a LOT of quality games out there and only so many hours in a day, so many days in a year and so many years in a life. With games today being larger and more time-consuming, I find myself more interested in playing captivating and interesting titles, as opposed to somewhat inferior clones of those games. I'd love to pick up Devil May Cry again...it's been many years. I own the first two God of War games, so I can put them in my PS2 whenever I want. I have no need for Lament of Innocence.

Staff review by Rob Hamilton (June 08, 2011) Rob Hamilton is the official drunken master of review writing for Honestgamers.