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| Castlevania: Lords of Shadow |
In fact, it borrows so heavily from God of War and other action adventure games, that it becomes a bit too familiar and even predictable at times. It doesn’t differentiate itself enough from the other greats in the genre. It’s like the developer felt content with just slapping on the Castlevania name to a gameplay formula that other games have already perfected. That said, Lords of Shadow is a solid all-around action adventure game, but fans of the series might feel left in the dark.
In Lords of Shadow you take on the roll as Gabriel Belmont, who just so happens to be an ancestor to Simon Belmont – the protagonist of the first Castlevania game. Gabriel is a member of the brotherhood of light – an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent against the supernatural – and just an all out righteous dude. The quest at hand is to defeat the three lords of shadow, gain their godly powers and ultimately bring back his wife from the dead. The story is pretty straight forward with a few predictable twists, and towards the end it gets surprisingly religious. In between levels, the story gains depth from a narrated portrayal of what Gabriel is feeling and what he is up against. Here, we get to know Gabriel and follow his character development throughout the game, which is quite a transformation to say the least. We are treated to an all-around stellar cast of voice actors who all come through with flying colors, especially the narrator; none other than Patrick Stewart, aka Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Hideo Kojima – the creator of the Metal Gear Solid games – assisted in the development of Lords of Shadow. One of his more obvious contributions is the long and frequent cutscenes, which all look amazing. Be sure to stick around once you’ve bested the final stage, as you will be rewarded with one of the most awesome after-credit cutscenes ever.
The combat has a much more prominent roll then in any of the previous Castlevania games. Luckily, the combat is great. Even though there are only two combat buttons – one that lets you target a single enemy and the other swings the whip around, thus damaging all nearby foes – you’re able to produce loads of devastating combos. Killing enemies grants you experience point, which in turn can be spent to buy new combos. The array of choices allow you to somewhat customize your strategy and confront the monstrosities on your own terms, which is nice. Although, you never really get the feeling that you’re using a whip, which kind of feels like a missed opportunity. A few chapters into the game you’ll unlock light and shadow magic, which opens up even more attack options. Apart from the whip and the magic, you have four secondary weapons at your disposal; throwing daggers, fairies – distracts enemies while you’re free to let loose some powerful combos –, holy water – exploding bottles of blessed water, extra powerful against vampires – and dark crystals – summons a powerful demon when broken.
For a linear action adventure game, Lords of Shadow is really lengthy. It clocks in around twenty hours, but it isn’t long just for the sake of being so. Very rarely did I feel as parts of the game were drawn out or irrelevant. But if I had to nitpick, I’d say there is a bit too much emphasis on climbing walls and shimmying along ledges. There isn’t much skill, if any, involved in getting through these parts, and they are extremely linear. There soul purpose is to slow down the otherwise hectic gameplay and showcase the gorgeous visuals and epic scenery. You can go back and replay sections of the game once you’ve finished a level, but there isn’t much incentive to do so if you’re not an achievement hunter.
One of the games greatest assets are its dazzling vistas and scenic design. Each level has a distinct look and feel, ensuring your eyes will never get bored. You’ll traverse through jungles with lush vegetation, vampire infested castles and a spooky abandoned abbey. Everything looks stunning, from epic foreshadowings of castles in the horizon to the highly detailed facades.
This isn’t one of those games were you’re constantly encounter the same types of enemies over and over again, with the occasional color variation. The large cast of enemies are impressive and all of them are somewhat different, thus forcing you to adapt your fighting style which keeps the combat interesting until the very end. The boss battles are also fun and challenging, and the cutscenes preceding them do a fine job of hyping up the fight which gets the adrenalin pumping even before the battle starts.
Sadley, the game suffers from a bad, sometimes horrible, camera. The developer opted to go for a fixed camera, like that of God of War. It works okay for the most part but it immediately becomes a problem in more open areas when the camera, more often than not, won’t zoom out to show the whole battlefield. This results in that you’re constantly getting attacked by enemies that aren’t in view, which makes you have to battle the camera as well as the bad guys. The cameras unwillingness to cooperate also becomes a problem when exploring the environment in search of hidden items, a specific object or the path to the next area; as the desired object or pathway, in the worst case scenarios, are not even visible on screen.
Castelvania: Lords of Shadow is a solid action adventure game with great rewarding combat and amazing visuals. If you’re looking for a lengthy action game, and can see past a clunky camera and the lack of innovative gameplay elements, you should definitely give Lords of Shadow a try. If you’re thinking about buying the game just on the premise that you’re a fan of the franchise, you should think twice, as this is not like any other Castlevania game.