Hello and welcome to another edition of The Doctor's Prognosis! It's been a few months but I'm done with finals and ready for Winter vacation! I'm still working a lot but at least I have some free time again.
Now back in October, where I usually spend my time watching horror films, I decided to play Castlevania games instead. So here is the first of three reviews I plan to do...
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Review (XBox 360)
The Castlevania series has seen a lot of success as a 2D series on the older consoles and as modern handheld games. However, the acclaimed series has had a few fumbles when it comes to its 3D iterations. Now, from developer Mercury Steam and Kojima Productions, comes Konami's latest 3D Castlevania, Lords of Shadow. Does Lords of Shadow deliver where previous incarnations have failed? Yes and no.
LoS is a reimagining of the Castlevania series and is not related to the original series canon. Set in the year 1047, this Castlevania once again features a Belmont as the protagonist. Gabriel Belmont is on a journey to both expel the evil forces of the land, and resurrect his dead wife with an ominous relic known as the God Mask. Helping Gabriel accomplish his goals is his chosen weapon, the Combat Cross.
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| Lords of Shadow's hero, Gabriel Belmont, with the Combat Cross. |
The game begins with a tussle with some lycans (werewolves for the uninitiated) in the rain. A basic tutorial to become acquainted with the controls. The Combat Cross is basically a big cross-shaped hilt with a retractable chain whip. Not too unlike the Vampire Killer whip from previous games in the series. Basic moves include attacking a single enemy, a wide attack for covering your back, dodging, blocking, and a grab attack. There is also a return of subweapons such as holy water and daggers, as well as a couple new ones (fairies and a crystal).
Killing enemies nets you experience points which you can use to purchase upgrades to your attacks including new moves, combos, and enhancements. As you progress, you also gain access to magic which will open up how you can fight. Light magic is generally for healing and defense, while Shadow magic is for offense and damage. Learning to use your magic and weapons effectively is fun and challenging.
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| Fortunately for Gabriel, the Combat Cross can be used as a stake! |
Overall, the fighting feels a lot like God of War. This is not a bad thing since that fighting system is good. You wear down the enemy until you give the killing blow, usually a quick time event style deathblow like God of War employs. However, it takes a while for the game's fighting system to hit its stride. It can be pretty tedious for about the first third of the game. But even once you open up more skills and combos, you might find yourself relying on the same combos even later in the game. But the potential for fun is there if the player experiments with the magic system, combos, and subweapons.
Boss fights are particularly well done. The series has always had good boss fights and this iteration is no different. They range from easy to very difficult, and will test your wits and abilities. You have to be quick with the dodge to survive. In fact, many boss fights can be won by focusing on a couple quick strikes and then dodging. These fights can be very intense and will sometimes require the use of magic or abilities to win. Many also feature dramatic quick time events to win and help tell the story. Fortunately, these fights can be very fun, very challenging, and also very rewarding. Some bosses will even look familiar to long time Castlevania fans.
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| A very menacing vampire boss. |
Enemies vary from lycans and giant spiders, to specters and animated armors. Many of the enemies are very much a part of previous Castlevania games, and defeating them unlocks information in the beastiary just like previous games. However, there are some new ones such as goblins and trolls. It seems the developers wanted to make something of a dark fairy tale as opposed to the straight-up horror-inspired iterations of the past. Even Pan, a mythological goat god of sorts, makes an appearance. While some may complain, these creatures are not too far from the Castlevania creature spectrum that they do not feel like they belong. And more importantly, they are fun to kill.
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| "Use the fo-" "The force?" "The fork! Use the fork!" |
The only problem is that goblins, trolls and lycans are far too generic, and far too common for about one third of the game. This is what leads to some of the tediousness of the early game. But fortunately, it gets better as the game goes along.
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| For the umpteenth time..... *yawn* |
However, I would be remiss not to mention the worst enemy in the game, the chupacabra. First of all, it does not make any sense why it is even called that. Chupacabras are usually known as "goat suckers." They are most often depicted to be odd spined creatures that are quick and drain the blood of their prey. In this game, the chupacabra is a mysterious, magical little man-creature-thing that wears a hooded robe and steals your magic and relics, making the game tedious and annoying for a while until you catch it. How someone would confuse this annoying creature with a blood sucking creature is a mystery. They are nothing alike. Chupacabras are extremely annoying and mostly serve to artificially lengthen the game for a short amount of time.
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| "My name makes no sense." |
Also of note are Titans. If you have played Shadow of the Colossus, then you have an idea about these enemies. Titans are large enemies you must climb in order to attack the magical runes that make them work. Using your platforming skills is essential in defeating these enemies. They can be tough and require a lot of good timing to make your way from rune to rune.
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| "Pfft..... that's not so big." |
Now, aside from all the fighting, thankfully, platforming breaks up the monotony. You must jump across large chasms, as well as shimmy along steep cliffs. The Combat Cross doubles as a grappling hook to help you traverse the levels as well.
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| "Wee!" |
If Lords of Shadow had to be compared to a previous game, Super Castevania IV would be it. Both feature open landscapes mostly outside a castle. In fact, both feature a similar map screen showing its Belmont's path to the end of the game. Thus, LoS eschews the popular Metroidvania style for a more classic, linear adventure. However, there are plenty of secrets to uncover, such as hidden gems that lengthen your life and magic bars, as well as upgrades to the amount of subweapons you can carry. You have to explore the levels thoroughly to find them. The map screen even shows your completion percentage and what you have left to do. Completionists will also want to beat each level on the hardest difficulty as well as complete extra challenges that unlock after finishing the levels. Fortunately, you can go back to any level at any time you wish.
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| Maybe a bit un-Castlevania-like. |
While lush green landscapes may not sound right in the Castlevania series, there are plenty in LoS that do. Ancient ruins, burning villages, underground caverns, and desert wastelands are some of the great settings in this game. The only downside is that it takes a while to build up to these settings. In fact, going back to the first third of the game feeling somewhat tedious, the first third also somewhat feels like a different game. As mentioned, it is almost like they were going for something more fairy-tale like. And after a third of the way through, Konami came in and made them go a different direction. As if they came in and said, "This is a Castlevania game now." And it gets better after that first third because of it. In fact, there are some great staples from the series here such as a library, clocktower (complete with lots of platforming), and of course, a castle full of vampires.
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| Now THIS is very Castlevania-like. |
The game also has plenty of puzzles for further variety. Unfortunately, the puzzles are hit or miss. Some are just environmental puzzles where you figure out what to push or pull and where in order to advance. Others are a bit obtuse. Overall, they are welcome to help with pacing, variety, and fun. But some could have just been left out.
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| So...... what the $@#% am I supposed to do now?! |
Further dragging this game down are the technical issues. First, the camera is static. There are no camera controls. This is not too bad as for the most part the camera does not get in the way. But it is a bit archaic compared to most games today. Furthermore, the camera is shaky a lot. Sometimes it seems like this is done for effect. Giving an ominous feeling to what is going on. Other times, it feels like they just did not know how to make it steady.
However, the biggest flaw is that when you are confronted with multiple enemies there is considerable slowdown. The game even came to a complete stop when swarmed with a myriad of specters at once during the third act of the game. It should be noted, that this happened only a few times (maybe 3 or 4) during gameplay for me and during the final third of the game. However, it seems this can vary from person to person from some research I did. It is a shame because the game actually looks great both graphically and artistically. Unlocking game design pieces is definitely one of the highlights of this game.
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| My game looked a lot like this photo.... completely still for several seconds! |
While this review has been nitpicking, there is also plenty of positive in this game. In particular, the voice acting and story are superb. The narrative is interesting and keeps you playing to find out Gabriel's fate. Throughout the game, each level is narrated by Gabriel's comrade Zobek, played by Patrick Stewart. The best part of these narrations is that they throw in a lot of winks towards long-time Castlevania fans. Furthermore, while I will not spoil anything, the ending is quite good. And it definitely makes one wonder where Konami will go with this new series.
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| "Gabriel Belmont will make those vampires cry bloody tears with that cross of his. You could call it a real vampire killer. Hang in there dear friend. Vanquish the symphony of the night with your iron blue intention you tragic prince. Soon we will dance of pales to the moonlight nocturne....." *wink* |
The sound department also did an amazing job in this game. You feel like you really are in the environments. The music is also fantastic which is reassuring due to the series' pedigree in that department. Unfortunately the soundtrack is missing classic songs from previous games. There is one classic song that pops up in a surprising format which is a nice touch. While not necessary, it would have been great if they could have worked in some more of the classic music. But what they have is great already.
Castlevania fans have long been dreaming of that great 3D game to finally hook them in and this game definitely has a lot going for it. Despite the slow start, the game slowly gets better the more you dig into it. The player is rewarded with experimenting with combat and exploring previously visited levels. And the game definitely gets going upon completion of the first act, only getting better with the second and third act. And the truth is, that while Lords of Shadows does borrow elements from God of War and Shadow of the Colossus, it borrows the best parts, while mostly staying true to what Castlevania is about. What we have is a flawed, but very good start for Castlevania in the next-gen. If Konami can address the issues with the first game, Lords of Shadow can spawn a really great 3D series to complement the original 2D one. Unfortunately, the technical flaws and slow beginning bring this otherwise enjoyable game down a notch. Thus, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow earns a 7.5 out of 10.
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"Where do you go Belmont's theme?" *wink*
"Quiet you!" |
Talk about dissection! Don't let my nitpicking deter you from checking this game out. If you are a Castlevania fan, this game is worth a playthrough. I was hoping to do reviews for Order of Ecclesia and Harmony of Despair so keep an eye out for one of those soon.
Happy holidays to you all and happy gaming!
See you again soon!
