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So what do you conjure when you think about Castlevania? Exploring vast expanses of Gothic Renaissance architecture while thrashing through various denizens of the night? Acquiring powerful items and improving skills so as to unlock previously inaccessible areas and pathways? Fighting Dracula? If these things hold any sort of meaning for you, if they are the very lifeblood of what makes Castlevania great, then be forewarned. Almost none of them can be found here.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360, PS3)
Developer: Mercury Steam
Publisher: Konami
Released: October 5, 2010
This is the new Castlevania. The one brought to us by Mercury Steam in “conjunction” with Hideo Kojima…or as they would have led you to believe. Unfortunately, if you know the work of Kojima, and play this game, you will see that his fingerprints are really nowhere to be found. There is a certain styling, polish and humor that comes with a Kojima product, none of which are present in this work.
So what are we left with?
What we have in Lords of Shadow is a fairly competent action adventure game in the vein of God of War (or more predominantly, Dante’s Inferno), that also borrows from Shadow of the Colossus. The problem is that in utilizing the game mechanics from these previous titles, Mercury Steam does nothing to innovate or improve upon them. Quite the opposite. Most of the Titan fights are not nearly as engaging or heart pounding as those found in Shadow of the Colossus, and little is done with the fighting mechanic to set it apart from previous titles. Indeed, Lords of Shadow is a Castlevania game in name only, and though there are some shining moments to the game itself, they can unfortunately be found elsewhere.
That is not to say that the game is completely barren of innovation. The light and shadow mechanics, although extremely similar to those found in Dante’s Inferno, are fun to use. Managing them during battle is essential to surviving some of the more difficult encounters. It’s just unfortunate that most of the battles are made up of mostly combat fodder, and it isn’t until the last chapters of the game, and the final battle in particular, that the depth of the combat mechanic is fully brought into light.
Much like Dante’s Inferno, Belmont has the ability to buy skills, some of which can only be used while having light or shadow magic equipped. If you like purchasing skills you’ll be pleased since there are a lot of them, but I found most of them to be nothing more than filler. There are very few occasions where you will need to use a specific skill in combat, and I found myself sticking with heavy attacks and area attacks pretty much my entire playthrough.
Basically, the combat follows the equation that is slowly becoming the standard bearer for the action title. Heavy and area attacks, skill purchasing, and battles (boss fights in particular) that end up reverting to simple QTE finishes. It’s not that these things are particularly bad pre se’. They have been replicated in multiple games because they work, and I would postulate that the combat in Lords of Shadow can really be the most enjoyable part of the game. But for a game as illustrious as Castlevania, to feel as if it too must relegate itself to these conventions simply boggles the mind.
There is some hint of the “old ways” found. The secondary weapons play a big roll in combat and can sometimes play a pivotal role in turning the tide of battle. These are where the enemy soft spots are and learning to use them during the game is not only enjoyable but also makes concrete sense within the mythos as well. Vampires are weak to holy water, spirits to fairies, werewolves to daggers and so forth. These secondary weapons also take on special attributes depending on which magic is equipped at the time. Maybe this would also add something to the battle mechanic. I wouldn’t know simply because I hardly ever felt the need to use it.
All of this battling takes place in some stunningly beautiful environments. Mercury Steam’s graphical chops have certainly improved tenfold, but like many other things in this game they don’t particularly feel like Castlevania, at least not to the extent to which you must traverse them.
There are 11 chapters in the game and only a handful take place in a “vampire’s castle.” These, however, are some of the best areas of the game. Moments when Belmont is fighting through long gothic hallways, creeping along old libraries stacked with books, platforming within the mechanics of a huge pipe organ. These areas look fantastic, feel fantastic, and are some of the few moments when the player actually feels like they are playing a Castlevania game. These moments come and go, however, and we are left fighting in another forest, another bog, another desert (desert? Yes…there is a lot of desert).
These areas are so numerous that they quickly outnumber, and just flatly out bulk, those small moments when the game gets the atmosphere just right. The result is a game that feels way too bloated for its own good, and in the attempt to construct an epic story Mercury Steam ends up telling an overly protracted one. That in itself is a shame since the story, particularly the ending (pre-credits), is very good and has one of the better endings I’ve seen in a long time.
Puzzles also fill up a lot of space in Lords of Shadow. A few times I even solved one puzzle to simply give me access to another puzzle the next room over. Again, much like the levels, the game just seems overly bloated with them to the point that they begin to get in the way of the flow of the game. Some of these, however, are well done. The music box puzzle in particular is fantastic and the vampire chess game was a really nice touch, but a lot of them feel very detached from the world or just come down to simple guess work.
As good as the graphics in the levels are, it’s unfortunate that the camera is so badly implemented. Not being able to move the camera not only causes some serious pathway issues, but it also keeps the player from truly being engaged with the world. Even in levels where I found the atmosphere to be just right I never found myself truly encapsulated, or truly part, of the world. The positioning of the camera is also used to hide objects and pathways in some fairly cheap ways. Do you want to find a bunch of the gems in the game? Then simply try to go where the camera isn’t looking, or in some cases run straight at the camera to make it back up slightly.
Some might make the argument that you could never move the camera in past Castlevania 3D titles so why should you move it here? This argument is ludicrous since it accepts that the unmovable camera is the only thing “Castlevania” that Mercury Steam seems to have left intact.
This might seem like an exceptionally critical review, and I don’t deny that there were many moments in Lords of Shadow where I was genuinely having a good time. It’s just that though there are some gameplay mechanics here that are well done, the overarching feeling throughout the experience is simply that this is supposed to be a Castlevania game, and Castlevania is supposed to be better than this.
In attempting a reboot, all has been lost that made Castlevania great in the first place. If Lords of Shadow had come out today, without the historical weight that the Castlevania name carries, it would have come and gone with about as much fanfare, or less, than Dante’s Inferno. Castlevania did not need to replicate previously accepted conventions from other games. It already has its own celebrated distinctiveness which should have been utilized, and even updated, in this release.
To put it simply, instead of creating a game that tried to repurpose itself while holding onto the historical conventions that always made Castlevania great, Mercury Steam has abandoned those conventions entirely and supplanted them with QTE’s for opening doorways.
Score: 60
(60-69%: Good - You’ll find some serious or distracting issues.)
Comments
14 years, 1 month ago
For those of us who played and remember the earlier, more linear Castlevanias, we know how closely Lords of Shadow actually resembles the franchise. The thing I miss the most is the signature soundtrack but Lords of Shadow's is rather good. Just not very resemblent of Castlevania.
14 years, 1 month ago
Good review.
I remember when QTE's were new and actually kept you on your toes. (RE4) i guess thats the only game i can think of where QTE's work well.
14 years, 1 month ago
Man, your reviews surely are the most subjective I've read in my life.
14 years, 1 month ago
Well it's a shame that this gmae wasn't better
14 years, 1 month ago
Your right, that was an exceptionally critical review. I couldn't shake the feeling that your review was so critical simply because of the negative outlook this site has held over this game since it was announced. I simply suggest to other readers of the review that if you are interested in this game, do not allow this review to put you off, as with this game in particular it will be very difficult to find an unbiased review of Lords of shadow from 4playerpodcast.
however I'm not implying that the review should be ignored just that it should be taken with a grain of salt
14 years, 1 month ago
Well I guess I'll also add, just like some comments here, that I personally found this game great. I guess it helps when you actually grew up with the series and played through the first linear Castlevanias on the NES and SNES. I've been trying to think about how I could translate those games in 3D and I often came back to the kind of ideas LoS pulled out. Unlike most Metroidvanias where most of the action took place in a castle, the classic linear games always had that same "outside then finally inside the castle" formula. I can understand some negativity about this far from perfect game, but it's starting to become almost asphyxiating. Especially when I watch and listen to Brad's playthrough live where he's so focused on hating the game that any objectivism is already thrown out the window.
14 years, 1 month ago
I got the game, didn't look at much of the reviews. Personally i thought this review was a little bit harsh on the game. In my opinion 78 - 80 score is good. I love hack & slash game nowadays since real life keeps me busy. They are usually light on story and even though you haven't played the game for a month or so, it's very easy to jump back in, unlike some other games. FPS being the only other genre who allows me to do that, MP has been boring me like crazy. Give deserve a rental if you like the hack & slash genre at a minimum.
14 years, 1 month ago
I have a question. I hated Castlevania on the NES and SNES. I fell in love with Symphony of the Night. I've played Circle of the Moon, Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia and one of the PS2 ones (Lament of Innosence). I'm open for change and I'm interested in this game. Should I try it?
14 years, 1 month ago
No offence to you Joseph, you did write a good review, I was just expecting Brad to review this game.
14 years, 1 month ago
Pretty much agree with your review. Overall, this game wasn't great or terrible, it was just painfully mediocre. Basically, every game mechanics this game tried to do were done a lot better in the games it copied from. I kept expecting the game to step it up a notch but it never did. My only favorite part from the game was the chess battle and that's kind of sad.
14 years, 1 month ago
I felt about the same way about this game. If it didn't have the Castlevania name stamped on it, some people wouldn't be giving it such negativity, which doesn't seem so fair imo. Fallout 3 was a game that strayed far from its predecessors yet I still highly enjoyed it. As a non-castlevania fan, I thought it was just fine. Didn't do anything spectacular but nothing too game breaking either. There were times when I wish the game would inform of what I needed to do to solve some puzzles, rather than leaving me in hours of frustration, trying to figure out what the hell to do. Some of them were just downright trial and error, which I thought was just silly. I thought the last boss was just a joke compared to the rest of the bosses you fought, giving you just about unlimited magic, both refilling your health bar so you couldn't really fail at the fight. The very last cutscene made absolutely no sense to me. It was if they were adding an extra kicker to a joke that's already been made. Just one of the many things about the game that I will never understand. On the topic of the sequel announced, I couldn't care for it, nor am I bothered by it. I'll just choose not to play it.
14 years, 1 month ago
The game was good. Easily a 8/10 or 9/10. I like the older Castlevania games as well but I'm not one of those butthurt "hardcore" fans who goes around nitpicking every single thing in this game. Sure, it may resemble God of War a bit but some of the older Castlevania games resembled Metroid so much to where you could call it a Metroid clone. I have no problem with this either way. If it works, then use it. There were a lot of things that God of War took from games before it.
In fact, this game has received a lot of praise and good review scores. This is finally a good 3D Castlevania game. A sequel to this game has also been confirmed and I can't wait for it. The ending to this game was epic.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-11-castlevania-los-sequel-confirmed
14 years, 1 month ago
Well written review Joseph, If I recall correctly you gave Dante's Inferno around a 55 so atleast you enjoyed this game a tad better, as it is the much better game IMO. But it is kind of strange how it is now applicable to compare a "Castlevania" game to God of War or Dante's Inferno...
14 years, 1 month ago
This game is an abortion. Some of you are complaining about the review but I almost feel like Joseph went quite easy on it.
I realize many Castlevania fans really want this to be good and are trying to pretend and argue that this is what a "classic" non-Metroidvania CV would be like in 3D. That's a load of horseshit.
Are these the reasons why we loved the old Castlevanias? : Predictable QTE's, uninspired puzzles that we've already done a bazillion times in other character-action games (really, redirecting light using mirrors? how innovative, Mercurysteam), shallow combat system and stiff God Of War platforming (oh cool, I'm balancing on a wooden beam again! This is so exciting. It's like I'm really Kratos in 2005).
I don't have anything against developers re-using tried and proven ideas that work and are fun. A game doesn't need to be innovative to be entertaining. But at least execute the elements you are copying half as good as they were done before, or -god forbid- improve on them. Don't make them WORSE. And worst of all, don't tell me this is a Castlevania game. Just because there's a whip and the levels are linear doesn't mean this is any more "classic Castlevania" than God Of War. We already know that this wasn't a Castlevania from the start because the first trailer that was shown for this game was just titled Lord Of Shadow. Then Konami took over the reigns and slapped the CV name on it and put in a few CV-like themes in hopes of fooling some people.
14 years, 1 month ago
If you just read though all the comments above me you will see that a taste of some of the arguments and love/hate for this game elsewhere...Like say other reviews or videos of LoS on youtube.
To me the game was frustrating overall. I mean I have to agree with Joseph on his review. He had both listed the good points and bad points about the game. Sure it hack and slash, puzzles, platforming, and huge boss battles. But in each of those categories were huge problems. The game itself didn't really have its own identity, it was just a mash-up of different games puked up with pretty graphics and slapped a castlevania title on it. Would LoS sell as much without the castlevania name? I highly doubt it.
I just don't like ppl saying that they like this game because of things that has nothing to do with castlevania. Like they would say they like the hack and slash, or the graphics and stuff like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTov342NYls
Check out this one guys review of this game on youtube....He is probably just like some of the ppl here who like this game soo much. Like he actually says he is a huge fan of castlevania because of LoS and wants more of this! Amazing, but there are ppl out there...they seem to have a way of blocking the bad in this game. Which means they might actually like Jericho.....lol
14 years, 1 month ago
I see a few reasonable people in these comments, and I see alot of "butt hurt" people.
Nice review Joseph.
14 years, 1 month ago
Good review joseph. I don't think these guys have any reason at all to lie about a score of a game so I don't understand all the hate towards the review. I will admit that after all of the hype and talk from brad over the year that I would have preferred his review. Hell, I would preffer if all the 4pp would write up a review and get an aggregate score. Each of the writers have extremely different tastes and preferences. There sure are a lot of immature people that post and should think twice before being cocksuckers. They write reviews for our benefit not theirs.
14 years, 1 month ago
Since I can't directly reply to Brad anymore, I'll just say it here:
I wish we could talk about it more and I can see your point, but it's just hard for me to shake off the feeling of "deja vu" when SotN came out and classic Castlevania fans were complaining about it being a Metroid ripoff and the battle system being completely different because of various weapons (swords, axes etc.) instead of just the whip. Now it's like the flock of fans that appeared when SotN came out are the ones complaining about changes. I guess I'm weird since I'm a hardcore Castlevania fan and I've still always been very open to changes, even if my favorite game in the series is linear-styled (Super Castlevania IV). Heck, my second favorite game in the series is probably SotN or Dawn of Sorrow, two metroidvanias.
14 years, 1 month ago
As strange as this sounds, even after reading this, I still have a craving to play this game, I loved the earlier Castlevania games (Symphony of the Night being my favourite) and I want to experience the change myself despite my hate of God of War 3 which many have linked to this game. Plus I have heard many good things about the story as you yourself have stated with "particularly the ending (pre-credits), is very good and has one of the better endings I’ve seen in a long time".
14 years, 1 month ago
I'm not sure which I like better...The review? or the parade of retarded comments posted because of it.