Castlevania - Legacy of Darkness (Europe) (En,Fr,De) ROM

This game is a curious case. It's a prequel to the previously released N64 Castlevania game, and it stars Cornell, a werewolf going to save his sister from the clutches of evil inside the castle of the same name, quite a few years before Reinhardt or Carrie.
It's quite a big adventure, with numerous locations made from quite well designed  graphics exuding loads of atmosphere. Sadly, much of it is shrouded in thick fog. The other flaw in the visual department is the low polygon count of the character models, which makes them look a bit jaggy during cutscenes.
The music fits well with the environments and is actually the best part of the game, adding to the atmosphere mentioned above.
The contols is the owea point of the game. You see, this being a 3D version  of the old style Castlevania games, there's quite a lot of precision jumping involved, with harsh punishments for failure. However this chalenge sometimes gets frustrating due to the often unwieldy camera. The battle controls are also cumbersome, despite offering a lock-on mechanism. Still, if you can make the effort, all these are not something that can't be ovecome.
However, and this is where it gets interesting, after you finish the game, you unlock another character with an interesting and challenging side-mission, but, and this is the important part, you can play the prequel as well. Yes! It's two games in one! Granted, much of it has many of the same stages, but there's subtle differences to keep it fresh. Some stages are a bit changed from the original, becoming a bit more streamlined which is only a good thing.
All in all, this is a game that you should definitely try. It has it's flaws, but th atmosphere and the quality of the game shine through these blemishes

Also Known as Akumajou Dracula Mokushiroku Gaiden - Legend of Cornell.