Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

[Gilghamut]

Didn't see any threads for this on the front page, so thought I would post about it.

Never owned a castlevania game, and haven't played one since the NES days. But, I came away from this pretty impressed.

The story I found to be pretty good. Patrick Stewart I think does a good job of narrating(wish he would do more gamework). The story does start off slow though, and gets going better when you fight the boss of 3-2. There's 12 chapters in all, some chapters can have up to 5 sections, others can have as low as 2. Each section begins with narration from Stewart on a book screen with artwork on the right side showing the next location.

The combat, while like God of War, I found to be fun and even challenging; patience is key and so is dodging and blocking. And you're not gonna run up to some enemies and rip them in half with your bare hands, because you are no demi-god. Fans of Shadow of the Colossus may like some boss fights (reading on other boards it's either love or hate), and one of these fights isn't as beautiful as one of the SotC Colossi, it's far more impressive and epic looking.

One of the best things about this game is the scenery, some of it is just beautiful looking; I would say some sections are a few notches below a combination of Uncharted 2 and God of War 3. Not all scenery is filled with bright colors, it does go gothic for a few chapters and the gore factor goes up a few notches.

A few other things. There's a lot of puzzle solving in this. A lot of platforming. VeryfFew statues that replenish your health; instead you have to rely on Light Magic that can run out, and would have to be replenish by a statue or orbs dropped by enemies. You could enter a boss fight with your health at any level if you get beat up a lot prior to it, forcing you to learn the attack patterns in order to win. You can return to areas in the game to get to items out of reach after upgrading your abilities, and also take on trials unlocked for that level; this can be done at anytime, though not sure if can be done during a boss battle.

I loved the ending, thought it was pretty awesome and left me I don't know how fans of the series since the early days will think of it though lol.

[KentaRawr!]

When I heard that it was originally just Lords of Shadow, and that the next year they decided to make it a Castlevania game, I stopped being interested. xD I didn't realize it was already out. I'll look up reviews and whatnot.

[DMKA]

When I heard that it was originally just Lords of Shadow, and that the next year they decided to make it a Castlevania game, I stopped being interested. xD I didn't realize it was already out. I'll look up reviews and whatnot.

It was always a Castlevania game, they just hid the fact intially and didn't reveal it until later because they didn't want it to interefere with sales of Castlevania Judgment.

I got it first day. I've been having fun with it. It really is a gorgeous game, but it feels far more like God of War II: Lord of the Rings Edition than Castlevania. Luckily I'm a total God of War loving tool so I like that.

[black orb]

>>> I didnt know it was already out, Im not fond of the games that look like GoW but atleast i have the chance to play as a Belmont now..

[Vyk]

Yeah I hadn't heard this was releasing anytime soon. But I'm behind on the times. I -adored- Lament of Innocence. But I barely got to play the next 3D one, and didn't really care for what I did play of it. And didn't really care for the N64 games. So I understand people's hatred of the idea of 3D Castlevania. But I'm glad Konami keeps trying. This one has had my interest. Nice to know its actually pretty decent

[JKTrix]

Aside from some weird frustrations, I'm liking this game quite a bit. It borrows little bits of things from awesome games and it comes together nicely.

I just wish I could look around, be it in First Person mode or just having a little bit of control over the camera. Not only to admire the beautiful settings, but so I could see what I'm supposed to do occasionally. The normal camera has pointed me in the wrong direction a few times, and I haven't even finished the 2nd chapter yet.

[Vyk]

Ah, there's a nuisance. Its extremely hard to adjust to games with no camera control. But I got used to it in Overlord and eventually loved that game. Though that was ages ago and by most standards it was considered inexcusable then. But its not usually something I'd automatically consider game-breaking. I may rent the game tomorrow and check it out~

[Bolivar]

Only played the demo so far and I've been very impressed - I'm a sucker for games with substantive cinematic direction and excellent use of camera movement.

That's horrifying though to find out you could fight a boss with any given amount of health and just have to learn the attacks. Although that's standard for many great games back in the day, seems like it could be a huge frustration source. I guess this is part of the design criticism its getting from a lot of places.

In any case I hope to pick this up eventually.

[Dreddz]

Just found out this game was developed by the people who made Jericho. Now thats crazy.

[Vyk]

Just found out this game was developed by the people who made Jericho. Now thats crazy.

Whaaaaat? Clive Barker's Jericho? I love that game. Which is probably crazy in itself as not too many people seem to. But that actually piques my interest more lol Not that it should really have any bearing as they're completely different genres and atmospheres

[DMKA]

Just found out this game was developed by the people who made Jericho. Now thats crazy.

That, and the director of the Metal Gear Solid games did the quality control. o__O

[Gilghamut]

Only played the demo so far and I've been very impressed - I'm a sucker for games with substantive cinematic direction and excellent use of camera movement.

That's horrifying though to find out you could fight a boss with any given amount of health and just have to learn the attacks. Although that's standard for many great games back in the day, seems like it could be a huge frustration source. I guess this is part of the design criticism its getting from a lot of places.

In any case I hope to pick this up eventually.

Not all boss fights force you to fight with any given amount of health, I should've been clearer on that. So, you can at times find a health statue and a magic statue to replenish yourself. I know a boss on 4-1 doesn't have a health statue present before you fight it.

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Some of the trials you can attempt after beating the level for the first time are freaking hard. For example, this one trial says you have to complete this Light Puzzle in 2:30 seconds; you have to move statues and turn them to open doors while fighting enemies. I've only come close once after about 20 tries; usually a stupid monster will decide to stand in the spot I need to get the statue too, thus blocking it, as if to say, "Mwahaha, I'm gonna block this statue just so I can see you get pissed off; you suck, I rule, mwahahah!"