It's cool that everything explodes when you kill it. The boss fights are hit & miss, with all of them having very nice art. Sadly the level design is agonizing and largely consists of long corridors full of the same enemies. The second half of the game's map is even worse; you are constantly required to switch to and from a very slow flying state to access new areas, as it was obviously not designed to be traversed normally.

Fucking around in the inventory menu gets increasingly tedious because they couldn't have a sane item system. Most items just serve to clutter your inventory. This game suffers greatly from completely pointless RPG mechanics that detract from the entertaining parts of the game. You are drip-fed small servings of fun between long stretches of boring nothing, well hidden by satisfying bells and whistles that make you feel like something is happening when it's not.

It is hard to shake the feeling that the developers wanted to stretch out the play time as long as possible, but they didn't want to bother actually making it worth playing for that long. It's a waste of time.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is what happens when you decide to add everything to a game. It's worth playing for the presentation alone, but one shouldn't be ashamed if they've had enough before it's over.