The entire experience will sap about 12 hours of your life the first time around. It could easily be done in about 8 with a guide, maybe sooner. The difficulty level is extremely low, mostly due to the addition of the cloaks. Simply finding an open area and standing still will let you regain life. All the med kits you need will be readily available for the big boss fights.

Beating the game unlocks tons of neat stuff including a sort of "deleted scene." You'll play through a short segment of the game as a 4th character which adds a bit to the story. Added difficulty levels, alternate costumes, making of features, and new weapons all become available as you play through the game more than once. There is a real nice shooting gallery-type mini game as well. Oh, did I mention multiple endings (make sure to watch after the credits)?

Die-hard fans may be dissapointed by the easier difficulty level (I died twice through the entire game and that was within the first two hours), but this could very well be attributed to the near perfect camera as much as it can be blamed on the cloaks. This is the only real detractor the game has, but same may feel it's highly repetive just like beat-em-ups of the past. Those of us who grew up throwing the same four hit combo to the same enemy time and time again will have no problem relating here.

This is an epic trilogy, the video game equivalent to the Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. An entire series is rarely this solid and the 3rd game should never be the best in the series. Here, it happens. The combination of flawless graphics, intense good and evil storytelling, along with the already classic gameplay of the first two games makes this a must play and early contender for game of the year.