Castlevania Lords of Shadow

[thegamezmaster]

Anyone get this yet? How is the game. Good, bad, or what's your impression of the game? Thanks for any info.

 

 

 

[cimerians]

There's a few reviews up they say its a great action game, basically a God of War clone with some other stuff thrown in. I won't be buying it anytime soon as it has no features from past Castlevania games. No Metroid style searching and collecting and no other features from past Castlevanias other than some monsters. I have plenty of action games like God of War, Uncharted and Dante's Inferno so this does nothing for me at full price. Maybe I'll get it when its a hit or in the cheap bins in a year.

 

If you plan on getting it, pick up the PS3 version cause according to IGN they compared a bit and the framerate kind of stinks on the 360 version. Kind of like the crappy port of Bayonetta on the PS3 (the 360 version was better).

 

Update:

I just played the demo and I think its fair. Its more of a Dante's Inferno game. It's like they copied everything from that game and some from God of War. If you played those then this is the SAME EXACT type of game. I also dont think its anywhere near the calibur of GOW III but its very close to Dante's Inferno. I think IGN gave it the perfect review, I would give it around a 7.5 only because its Castlevania. If it was anything else I wouldnt have bothered playing it.

 

It's totally not worth 60 bucks unless you have never played God of War III. In which case I highly recommend getting that instead. I also kind of prefer Dante's Inferno because its just more disturbing than this stuff.

 

I feel this is a cheap cop-out. Instead of giving us something new and also keep with the Castlevania tradition, we get a game thats trying to ride and cash in on the popularity of God of War. A shame really but its still pretty good. Decide what you will you wont be disappointed by getting it.

[thegamezmaster]

Thanks for the info. It really helped.

[Austin]

I have the 360 version. There are definitely some framerate issues in it. Nothing deal-breaking--The worst is in the first enemy cutscene sequence. During gameplay it's fine, but it could be better. If you have both systems though, from what I've read above, I'd probably suggest getting it on the PS3.

 

I'm about 30% through it already and all in all, I'm enjoying it so far. I have a few qualms with it though, and I will get those out of the way first: In the beginning there are way too many small areas combined with an outrageous number of needless cutscenes just to introduce enemies and environments. It really hampers the pace of the first hour or two of the game. The QTE system isn't really explained so you will probably die the first few times you get to one. There are also way too many segments early on that basically act as an elongated training mode, disrupting the flow of the game. Let me figure this crap out on my own instead of force-feeding it to me, is what I say (especially when it comes to Castlevania games, heh). To skip a cutscene, you have to bring up your menu, where it asks you if you want to skip it. This is a pain in the arse if you have to replay a boss fight again and again (which always starts out with a long cutscene, and it always replays when you die and have to try again). Lastly, when randomly unlocking abilities, your menu appears on the screen showing that you have, completely disrupting the flow of the game. Not a very good design choice, IMO.

 

That aside, visually, the game is beautiful. Arguably one of the best looking games this gen, and I can tell this just playing it on a standard definition CRT. Gameplay-wise, it is absolutely a God of War knock-off. Not a bad thing, but it's not exactly Castlevania, either. The map system takes a while to get used to as well--You go level to level in a linear fashion, but can go back to past stages if you want to find and collect unneccessary items you may have missed. You also gain "experience points", but in more of the same fashion as Lament of Innocence from the PS2 (The more you kill, the more abilities open up for you, except this time to purchase). Unfortunately it does not share the same metroid-vania characteristics that Lament of Innocence did. Story-wise, we actually get a solid one this time around. So far (again, about a third of the way through the game), the story is probably the best there's been in a Castlevania game. I know that's not saying much, but I'm enjoying it so far.. And the voice acting is very good, too. The musical score so far is very good as well. No remixed Castlevania tunes yet (and I don't think they will be appearing), but it's fitting.

 

I still have a good portion of the game to go before I finish it, but like I said before, I'm enjoying it. Asides from your whip-like device, your character's last name, and the general setting of the game (dark and dreary), there's not much so far that keeps it in-line with past Castlevania games asides from the namesake. Maybe that will change towards the end, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Mord]

 

I feel this is a cheap cop-out. Instead of giving us something new and also keep with the Castlevania tradition, we get a game thats trying to ride and cash in on the popularity of God of War. A shame really but its still pretty good. Decide what you will you wont be disappointed by getting it.

 

Well, in their defense I suspect even if they did give something that kept with the castlevania tradition people would still whine it was 3D so it's lose-lose.

 

If I pick it up I'll probably get one of the limited edition copies if just because I'm a sucker for extras.

 

How's the music in the game?

[Austin]

How's the music in the game?

 

Sort of like your typical modern day, big-budget movie (ahem, I mean, game) score. Completely symphonic. It's good (or at least fitting).

[cimerians]

Yup music is your standard over the top movie score, the demo has you in a village fighting werewolves and the classic CV starting music is playing in the background (orchestrated). It was pretty cool to hear.

 

I mean its good for what its imitating but not 60 bucks good cause its EXACTLY like DantesInferno\GOW which I already played to death. I'll definitely be waiting for a siginificant price drop before I get this.

[thegamezmaster]

Thanks for everyone's input, it helps alot.

[Mord]

I've decided to put off getting Castlevania in the end. I'll get it when it gets cheaper or when I actually get a PS3 or something. The things in the limited edition just don't feel worth the 20 dollar price hike.

 

In the meantime I bought Overlord and Soul Calibur 4.

[xg4bx]

I got it last night, incredible game.My only complaint so far is that it's a tad hard to figure out where to go sometimes but other than that I'm loving it. IMO it's better than GoW3.

 

Also picked up Enslaved, it's nice to see the return of the 3rd person adventure game.

[cimerians]

IMO it's better than GoW3.

 

 

 

From the demo, not really. I finished GOW III and Dante's Inferno. It seemed more of a clone, like Dante's Inferno. Of course I dont own CV yet so I cant really say for sure.

[Austin]

Yeah, I don't know.. So far, I would take God of War over Lords of Shadow. The story and the game overall just flows a lot better.. there's not nearly as much uncontrolled interruption in GoW. Then again, I am also a jaded Castlevania fan.

[cimerians]

I am also a jaded Castlevania fan.

 

Thats exactly why I still want this game. If it wasn't Castlevania I wouldnt have even bothered cause I like Dante's Inferno and God War III.

But since it is a "Castlevania game" (at least in name) I still want it.

 

[Tempest]

Is it true that this game didn't start out as a Castlevania game and they stuck the Castlevania theme on it towards the end?

 

Tempest

[cimerians]

Is it true that this game didn't start out as a Castlevania game and they stuck the Castlevania theme on it towards the end?

 

Tempest

 

You are correct. It was supposed to be a whole new action game according to this:

http://kotaku.com/5274898/kojima-taking-on-castlevania-with-lords-of-shadow

 

I think they reconsidered when they found out about Dante's Inferno AND God of War III coming out within a year of each other. They probably figured it would sell better by sticking a known name to the title rather than directly competing new IP with existing IP with the same game mechanics. (My opinion)

 

Edit:

I found this persons quote on Wiki:

"The game was originally announced as Lords of Shadow with no connection to the Castlevania series mentioned.[9] According to Konami, this was to keep their plans to radically change the direction of the Castlevania mythos a secret[10] and to prevent the announcement of the game from upstaging their other series release at the time, Castlevania Judgment.[11]"

[Tempest]

Meh. I think I'll wait on this one. I haven't liked any of the 3-D Castlevania games so far anyway.

 

Tempest

[toptenmaterial]

I would like to see a legit full length Castlevania game on the Wii-either a brand new side-scroller, or a 3D game that makes good use of the wiimote and nunchuk.

 

Lords of Shadow (360) disappointed me. It was totally non-intuitive. Every time I wanted to do something, I had to look it up on my mobile phone. Graphically it is beautiful- that much is true. But graphics aren't everything! Castlevania has a way of sucking you right in to the action, and not just the Metriod-Vania titles either. I so wanted LoS to work, but it just didn't give me the fix I needed. That's just my two cents.

 

Anyhow, a real cool dealer on AA traded me a 2600 Jr and a bunch of games for it, and he ended up liking LoS, so it all worked out

[toptenmaterial]

Is it true that this game didn't start out as a Castlevania game and they stuck the Castlevania theme on it towards the end?

 

Tempest

 

A bit like Super Mario Bros 2 it seems... that one I DID like!

[Mord]

Meh. I think I'll wait on this one. I haven't liked any of the 3-D Castlevania games so far anyway.

 

I didn't mind the Curse of Darkness one, but then I didn't really think of it as a castlevania game.

[Rex Dart]

Is it true that this game didn't start out as a Castlevania game and they stuck the Castlevania theme on it towards the end?

 

Tempest

 

Not entirely. It was originally conceived as a Castlevania game, but Konami was afraid that people would be turned off by another 3D castlevania after the last several stinkers, so they were going to just call it Lords of Shadow. Then there was a positive reaction to the early media they released of it, so they tacked "Castlevania" back on. Shows how much confidence they had in this one, eh?

[cimerians]

Meh. I think I'll wait on this one. I haven't liked any of the 3-D Castlevania games so far anyway.

 

I didn't mind the Curse of Darkness one, but then I didn't really think of it as a castlevania game.

 

Curse of Darkness wasnt that bad. It wasnt great but I loved the familiar thing. I remember beating it and thinking that if it wasnt for the familiars it would have been awful. I remember doing a lot of backtracking to open up areas and leveling up the familiars. The end boss battle was tough unless you had certain familiars. I cant remember much.