Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is an action adventure game.

Status

I do not own the game, but have beaten it and seen the regular ending.

The background art is really beautiful.
The character animation is amazingly detailed. In addition to movement consisting of numerous frames, there is even a lot of dialog animation.
The game has a solid soundtrack. The music keeps a Gothic sound while incorporating a contemporary sound.
There are a wide variety of interesting monsters.
It's kind of interesting to have to collect items for things that are normally commonplace in Castlevania games, like obtaining items from candles, or seeing a monster's name.

The voice acting is just terrible.
The items aren't very balanced. The cross and Agunea are far better than the rebound stone of Bibuti. So, the weaker ones just get in the way. And the way item changing is handled is annoying. It's common to accidentally hit a candle with a weapon you do not want, and, if it's near a pit, you lose your desired weapon.
The CD icon at the top of the rooms when you change sections is out of place.
The display of the item you get and monster you kill sometimes gets in the way of the action.
Some of the items are humorous, but totally out of place, like a snorkel.
Alucard's spells are annoying to have to input for as little as they do.
The menu system is bland looking.
The first ending is lame.