Castlevania: Dracula X

The Good
The graphics looks very nice, and so do the cut scenes. The levels are quite unique, each one looks different and has its own atmosphere. There are different endings and different ways to go through the game, which increases the replayability. The music is good... kind of. I'll come back to that later.

The Bad
The controls suck: Once you jump, you loose all control over your character. You can't upgrade your whip. You can't swing it in different directions. You have to use a two-button combination to you your secondary weapon. I guess the eight buttons on the SNES controller weren't enough. The music tracks themself are great, but they don't fit in. You feel like being on a 16-bit rock concert. Nothing is left of the eerie atmosphere the music of Castlevania I or IV created. The difficulty is hard to insane. Some levels clearly have not been playtested enough. There are certain situations where you are bound to get hurt, which never should be the case in a platformer.

The Bottom Line
Apart from the graphics (and maybe the music), everything or worse than in Castelvania IV. Why did they take out all the good stuff that made Castlevania IV a little bit better than the NES tiles? I recommend Castlevania I, III and IV over this one. Castlevania Bloodlines too. And especially Rondo of Blood, whose retarded brother this game is.