My Castlevania: Lords of Shadow review

I finally finished Castlevania: Lords of Shadows a few days and wanted to share my thoughts on the experience.

The first thing I want to say is, yes, Castlevania has finally been done correctly in 3D! If you're a real Castlevania fan you may be skeptic about that statement due to Castlevania's bumpy past in the 3D realm. If that's the case I urge you to read on.

So What's different about the gameplay this time? In Lords of Shadows there are very few instances of a free roaming or user controlled camera. Infact, the camera really only follows the player while traveling down a trail or corridor to the next area.

Where platforming is concerned, the camera usually pans out and remains stationary in a manner that makes sense to where the player is supposed to be going. Or at least most of the time anyway. There are a lot of instances where the camera angle makes it difficult to tell where or how far a jump should be, or in what direction you should be climbing. For the most part it's pretty east to tell where to go though. My favorite instances are when the camera shifts far and to the side, giving you some nice 2D Castlevania platforming nostalgia.

The combat is sort of ripped off from God of War, but I feel like it's done better here. There is a straight forward combo attack for direct enemies and a horizontal area combo for when you're being surrounded. On top of that are special moves that you can purchase using experience points, most of which are new combos.

You also have access to "light" and "dark" magic, which are represented by two meters on either side of the screen. By activating either set of magic you gain access to light or dark specific special moves and combos. As you attack while your magic is active the meters will go down. You gain meter back my killing enemies and absorbing magic orbs.

A third meter rests at the bottom of the screen called your focus, which builds for every consecutive combo you land on the enemies without taking damage yourself.

Combat is a blast and combos and specials flow together fluently. I feel like the only hiccup is once again the fixed camera angle. It's easy to take a cheap hit from an enemy hanging off screen. Even in the larger arena battles if you find yourself close to the edge. I found much of my frustration from losing my focus meter to a cheap shot off camera.

The game world is divided into stages and again within chapters. So in that right it's more like the original games instead of a "metroid-vania" experience. This structure falters where it tries to emulate the metroid-vania experience by hiding areas or items out of reach for your current equipment. Now if you're familiar with Castlevania since Symphony of the night then you know some back tracking is expected. However in this game it's not so much back tracking as it is playing entire stages over again which can be a little annoying.

For the completionist or those looking for more challenge, you can play through "challenge mode" versions of the stages that have added perameters, such as completing a boss or stage without healing. If you're in this game for the long haul this could add a lot of replay value, however if you get sick of repeating levels this could be as bad as the so called back tracking.

The environments and special effects are some of the most beautiful examples presented on current consoles. Whether you're in the forest or scaling the outer walls of Castlevania itself, every square inch of the environment has been presented in marvelous detail. Which is why i feel so dissapointed with some of the character models in the game. Particularly the female characters. They sort of look like they were plucked out of a PS2 era game and contrast badly with Gabriel's model that they obviously worked harder on.

The sound effects and music are top notch, and every tune is perfectly beffiting of whatever situation you're in. My only complaint about the music is that there wasn't a single classic Castlevania song used in any of the stages. I would have loved a new version of Bloody Tears for the castle interior.

The voice acting is something else. Probably the best voice work for a video game that I can remember. Robert Carlyl and Patrick Stewart shine throughout the entire adventure. Nothing sets the stage like Sir Patrick's haunting narrirations. Jason Isaacs also makes an unforgettable appearance, I won't reveal his character though as it would be a huge spoiler. Just know that he did a fantasic job.

Now I'd like to talk about the story and my thoughts on the ending of the game. If you've not played through the game please turn away now. Seriously it's not worth ruining this game for yourself, go play it.

Spoiler alert!

Last chance, spoilers after the picture!



You were warned, if you're reading at this point it's not my fault.

The story takes us back before the time of Dracula and acts as an origin story for him, the Belmont curse and even the legendary Vampire Killer whip. These stories had been previously explained in past games, but we'll touch on that later.

As Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, you have been charged with the quest of basically finding out why the world is being overrun with nightmarish creatures like werewolves and vampires and why God would allow such a thing. Your true quest though is to defeat the Lords of Shadow, who each hold a piece of the God Mask, which may grant you the ability to bring your beloved wife, Marie, back to life.

The story is delivered through the narriration of Sir Patrick Stewart, so of course each stage intro is a joy to hear. Like i said before, the voice acting is top notch. The only thing I didn't feel was "Gabriel's growing rage" that is mentioned more and more as the story progresses. Gabriel seemed fine to me. This isn't a fault of the voice actor though, but of the writing. They just didn't illustrate his rage enough and I felt like he was coming off more as a silent bas ass.

Hideo Kojima was involved in the project, so of course there were plenty of twists and turns to keep it exciting, although some were a little predictable. Such as Zobek's betrayal.

On that note, let's talk about the ending. The presentation was beautiful and the twist on the time period of the ending was probably my favorite surprise. I had this strange feeling even when I started that Gabriel was going to end up becoming Dracula. I don't know how I feel about a Belmont becomming Dracula, or of the back stories of the older games being retconned over this. I guess I may be a bit biased having grown up with the older games. I just couldn't get myself to like this turnout. We'll have to see what they do with this storyline in future games. For now though, as I face Dracula in other titles I'm left with the thought of "he's/was a Belmont too." Maybe this better explains why the Belmont family is cursed to forever hunt Dracula where ever he may appear. We shall see.

Aside from the camera hiccups and my own opinion of the ending, we have a very worthy new entry to the Castlevania series that i would recommend to anyone.

Pros:
Combat and platforming are fun.
Puzzles are fun and create a lot of "ah ha!" Moments.
Graphics and music are great.
Voice acting is great and has some of the best talent ever.
Lots of bonus content in the form of unlockable artwork and mini games.
Jason Isaacs as the voice of Satan.
Everything Patrick Stewart does.

Cons:
No control over the camera.
Some character face models are pretty bland.
Story changes may bother older fans of the series (not too big of a deal, Castlevania was very convoluted anyway.)
Some of the tutorial segments could be presented better.

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