Yea, another big complaint of mine for the LoS series is having checkpoints for boss fights. That's how you know the bosses need to be streamlined or reworked. It doesn't feel like a proper boss if you can just keep trying again and again mid battle. It should be all or nothing for one go, a real challenge.
EDIT: Higher res shot from the scans.
It was my theory that they are trying(with MoF and this) to make his facial hair more pronounced. The artwork on the previous page shows it as being REALLY defined. My guess is that they are trying to make him look more Vlad III-ish(and less rugged stubbly Gabriel of the first game):
I'm still not liking his bare chest. Dammit, man, get a chest plate or something!!!
Oddly enough, regarding his look, I might've said this before, with his longer hair(yet still pretty full) and his somewhat facial hair, he looks like some 1980s rock star or head of some metal act. I could see him coming out in leather pants with a dragon tattoo on his chest, screaming into the mic and ripping it up on his pentagram-shaped guitar.