Castlevania: lords of shadow
Matthew Cash
Castlevania is one of the longest running and most popular retro game franchises in existence. When the gameplay became outdated for some (still plays fine for me), it must've been time for a remake. What we got wasn't the 3D sequel to Symphony of the Night like many were expecting (Thank God. Too much SotN fanaticism for me to handle.), but instead, a reboot to the entire series. A shocking thing to do to fans? I know I sure as hell was shocked, so I'm guessing many others were going to be as well. To be truthful, I, too thought this would suck as it was a 3D Castlevania game. When the release came closer and closer, I quickly changed my mind and it became one of the most anticipated game on my "To Review" list (Yeah, I have one. Look at the bottom for a list of games I'll review up to next early year). After getting my hands on the final product, only one question still lingers: Is it a good 3D reboot (and does the 360 version have framerate issues)?
To start the suspense, a good story is an evidently a now important part of the franchise. As such, the story in this was actually excellently well done. Basically, you are Gabriel Belmont, a member of some celestial Order who seeks revenge against the three Lords of Shadow to bring back his murdered wife, Marie. Of course, it isn't nearly as simple as that, but you get the picture. The rest of the story is understandable and it actually brought me into the experience quite well. You want it in great detail, but a big story like this can't be summarized within one paragraph.
To answer Question #1: Yes, it is a good 3D reboot. For the presentation standpoint, the graphics are phenomenal and easily some of the best, if not the best, to hit the 360. For a more in depth description, the environments are extremely varied between each of the 12 worlds and some of the architecture reminds me of the Hammer Horror films from the 1960's. The voice acting is equally as great, with **Robert Carlyle (Gabriel) and Sir Patrick Stewart (Gabriel's Mentor, Zobek) playing their parts beautifully. Still not quite Uncharted, but closer to Fallout 3 in quality. The orchestral score is awesome. That's all I need to say for series fans to know what I mean. Another thing that I should mention is that playing the game on a SD‐TV is great, due especially that the text appears clearly on the screen (Mercury Steam's "fuck‐you" to Capcom and Rockstar). Apart from the undoubtedly Castlevania atmosphere, nothing else in the presentation department is something to comment on. Except maybe that the 360 version does NOT seem to have any framerate issues. Also, the sound quality was superb and I noticed no problems in it at all. So, PS3 fanboys, in your face!
Now, as a 3D Castlevania game, you wanna know how it plays. Yeah, you don't read the mainstream reviews, that's fine… that's why I'm here. For one, the mainstream media was actually right this time, which must be some miracle from God (maybe the Christianity leaking from everything in this game made him happy and he made it bugless). Combat is a tight paradise where strategy mixes with reflexes to earn this game my #1 combat in this sub‐genre in the overall Action/Adventure genre (think God of War, Dante's Inferno, etc.). Button mashing becomes as effective as a butter knife trying to cut through steel in this game. Even when using my quickest reflexes, the inability to think up a good strategy quickly got my ass handed to me through a straw. The game is balls‐to‐the‐walls hard, and I suggest anybody who thinks they're "leet" because they beat CoD on Veteran to beat this game on the hardest difficulty. They would probably die of old age before that happened.
As an added bonus to the above paragraph, combat mechanics should be explained. Aside from the traditional "kill enemy, gain XP, buy new move" thing, we have Light and Shadow magic. Light gives you health with each successful blow, while Shadow put the hurt on the enemies. That may be simple enough, but the magic runs on an energy bar. Yay. To gain energy, your main focus is killing enemies, but there's also a Focus meter. Fill up the focus meter by attacking successfully with varied attacks and by not getting hit. Fill this bastard up and every hit becomes a gold mine of energy. Cool, huh? Yeah, I thought so.
For the other parts of the game, you have exploration for one. This seems noticeably Uncharted to me. The entire thing was just giving a big smiley emoticon to Naughty Dog. This makes up around a third of the game and, to me, that was great. Despite what GameTrailers said, climbing around is NOT hard. In fact, it is actually very simple. Just because they decided holding down on the analog stick and press A (or X) when the game clearly says, "Press A/X" and has an entirely different scenario for DOWN AND A/X does not mean that climbing is broken; the person playing it was just retarded. This part was probably my favorite, though it would grow really old, really fast if it didn't have variety.
The third and final part of this is the puzzles. These have a lot of variety, going from simple "match the icons", to figuring out some pretty complicated sections. This final main piece just reeks of thought from the development team. I'm pretty sure they confused themselves while making these puzzles, because there were some that took me well over 30 minutes to figure out. Still, these puzzles were immensely enjoyable. Besides, combat/exploration would be too bland without something else to mix it up.
In the end, the fanboys have only one thing to brag about: 1 disc. While one disc may seem like a big advantage, I found nothing wrong with getting off my well‐exercised to stick in a disc after around 8 hours to stick in the second half. That being said, the game is humongous. The storyline can last well around 17 to 20 hours, and more if you plan on grabbing the hidden collectibles hidden to increase your health bar. So, if you like the game, you'll be in friggin' heaven with plenty of gameplay to last you a long while.
The only problem I can think of with this game are the problematic camera angles, which are so few and far between that it isn't really any kind of gripe. Just a mention on a minor design flaw.
Being a fan of the series does NOT mean I'm giving the game this score because of the series. Just letting you guys know that. Between this and Splinter Cell Conviction, I have a hard time picking out my Game of the Year. Unfortunately, that challenge seems like it might be about time to have another competitor enter in. Hello, Fallout: New Vegas. Let's see if you're any good…
Score: 10
** Originally, Gerard Butler was supposed to play as Gabriel. He was unavailable at the time. Also, Patrick Stewart may be known most in the gaming world as Emperor Uriel Septim in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Castlevania is one of the longest running and most popular retro game franchises in existence. When the gameplay became outdated for some (still plays fine for me), it must've been time for a remake. What we got wasn't the 3D sequel to Symphony of the Night like many were expecting (Thank God. Too much SotN fanaticism for me to handle.), but instead, a reboot to the entire series. A shocking thing to do to fans? I know I sure as hell was shocked, so I'm guessing many others were going to be as well. To be truthful, I, too thought this would suck as it was a 3D Castlevania game. When the release came closer and closer, I quickly changed my mind and it became one of the most anticipated game on my "To Review" list (Yeah, I have one. Look at the bottom for a list of games I'll review up to next early year). After getting my hands on the final product, only one question still lingers: Is it a good 3D reboot (and does the 360 version have framerate issues)?
To start the suspense, a good story is an evidently a now important part of the franchise. As such, the story in this was actually excellently well done. Basically, you are Gabriel Belmont, a member of some celestial Order who seeks revenge against the three Lords of Shadow to bring back his murdered wife, Marie. Of course, it isn't nearly as simple as that, but you get the picture. The rest of the story is understandable and it actually brought me into the experience quite well. You want it in great detail, but a big story like this can't be summarized within one paragraph.
To answer Question #1: Yes, it is a good 3D reboot. For the presentation standpoint, the graphics are phenomenal and easily some of the best, if not the best, to hit the 360. For a more in depth description, the environments are extremely varied between each of the 12 worlds and some of the architecture reminds me of the Hammer Horror films from the 1960's. The voice acting is equally as great, with **Robert Carlyle (Gabriel) and Sir Patrick Stewart (Gabriel's Mentor, Zobek) playing their parts beautifully. Still not quite Uncharted, but closer to Fallout 3 in quality. The orchestral score is awesome. That's all I need to say for series fans to know what I mean. Another thing that I should mention is that playing the game on a SD‐TV is great, due especially that the text appears clearly on the screen (Mercury Steam's "fuck‐you" to Capcom and Rockstar). Apart from the undoubtedly Castlevania atmosphere, nothing else in the presentation department is something to comment on. Except maybe that the 360 version does NOT seem to have any framerate issues. Also, the sound quality was superb and I noticed no problems in it at all. So, PS3 fanboys, in your face!
Now, as a 3D Castlevania game, you wanna know how it plays. Yeah, you don't read the mainstream reviews, that's fine… that's why I'm here. For one, the mainstream media was actually right this time, which must be some miracle from God (maybe the Christianity leaking from everything in this game made him happy and he made it bugless). Combat is a tight paradise where strategy mixes with reflexes to earn this game my #1 combat in this sub‐genre in the overall Action/Adventure genre (think God of War, Dante's Inferno, etc.). Button mashing becomes as effective as a butter knife trying to cut through steel in this game. Even when using my quickest reflexes, the inability to think up a good strategy quickly got my ass handed to me through a straw. The game is balls‐to‐the‐walls hard, and I suggest anybody who thinks they're "leet" because they beat CoD on Veteran to beat this game on the hardest difficulty. They would probably die of old age before that happened.
As an added bonus to the above paragraph, combat mechanics should be explained. Aside from the traditional "kill enemy, gain XP, buy new move" thing, we have Light and Shadow magic. Light gives you health with each successful blow, while Shadow put the hurt on the enemies. That may be simple enough, but the magic runs on an energy bar. Yay. To gain energy, your main focus is killing enemies, but there's also a Focus meter. Fill up the focus meter by attacking successfully with varied attacks and by not getting hit. Fill this bastard up and every hit becomes a gold mine of energy. Cool, huh? Yeah, I thought so.
For the other parts of the game, you have exploration for one. This seems noticeably Uncharted to me. The entire thing was just giving a big smiley emoticon to Naughty Dog. This makes up around a third of the game and, to me, that was great. Despite what GameTrailers said, climbing around is NOT hard. In fact, it is actually very simple. Just because they decided holding down on the analog stick and press A (or X) when the game clearly says, "Press A/X" and has an entirely different scenario for DOWN AND A/X does not mean that climbing is broken; the person playing it was just retarded. This part was probably my favorite, though it would grow really old, really fast if it didn't have variety.
The third and final part of this is the puzzles. These have a lot of variety, going from simple "match the icons", to figuring out some pretty complicated sections. This final main piece just reeks of thought from the development team. I'm pretty sure they confused themselves while making these puzzles, because there were some that took me well over 30 minutes to figure out. Still, these puzzles were immensely enjoyable. Besides, combat/exploration would be too bland without something else to mix it up.
In the end, the fanboys have only one thing to brag about: 1 disc. While one disc may seem like a big advantage, I found nothing wrong with getting off my well‐exercised to stick in a disc after around 8 hours to stick in the second half. That being said, the game is humongous. The storyline can last well around 17 to 20 hours, and more if you plan on grabbing the hidden collectibles hidden to increase your health bar. So, if you like the game, you'll be in friggin' heaven with plenty of gameplay to last you a long while.
The only problem I can think of with this game are the problematic camera angles, which are so few and far between that it isn't really any kind of gripe. Just a mention on a minor design flaw.
Being a fan of the series does NOT mean I'm giving the game this score because of the series. Just letting you guys know that. Between this and Splinter Cell Conviction, I have a hard time picking out my Game of the Year. Unfortunately, that challenge seems like it might be about time to have another competitor enter in. Hello, Fallout: New Vegas. Let's see if you're any good…
Score: 10
** Originally, Gerard Butler was supposed to play as Gabriel. He was unavailable at the time. Also, Patrick Stewart may be known most in the gaming world as Emperor Uriel Septim in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.