The fighting is also significantly enhanced with the addition of a guard function. When enemies warm up to deliver a special attack they glow with a violet luminescence. Pressing the guard button (R1) deflects the blow and tops up Leon's MP meter. However, a skill chance is afforded to braver adventurers: it's possible to perform a 'perfect' guard at the very last instant, negating all damage and significantly topping up both the MP and heart meters.

There's no question that Lament of Innocence is an impeccably produced videogame. While it fails to astonish (apart for the move to 3D there are no unique ideas) the pacing and structure is so well calibrated that it would take a stony-hearted gamer to give up before the final confrontation.

The music is majestic and the visuals are as good as anything the PS2 has produced to date. As a videogame package, Konami's latest Castlevania romp is hard to fault.

Only when the search for the final few objects and percentage points gets underway does Lament of Innocence sag.

The magnificent architectural design looks beautiful throughout, but a combination of deliberately unfair camera angles and poor collision detection makes finding the hard to reach ledges and secret alcoves exasperating. Often you'll try jump-whipping a ledge and miss only to find out later, and after much aimless wandering, that you were a pixel away from success the first time around. It's an unfair oversight that makes the effort of completing the game with the perfect percentage more of a chore than a pleasure. Not something one had to suffer in the 2D iterations.

Despite these minor imperfections, Lament of Innocence proves itself to be a gamer's game. Paced exquisitely and structured according to acknowledged convention, it breathes new life back into one of videogaming's oldest franchises.

And for those with high levels of stamina and curiosity, there's always that final dungeon to explore.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence will be released for PS2 on 13 February