Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Review

I haven't ever played an amazing Castlevania game in my life until October 2010. I played every game the franchise had to offer and even replaying the classics now I just never found anything compelling about them except the deep customization. In comes Mercury Steam. An unknown dev team that stepped up and dared to reboot the famous franchise. With them, they get help from the masterful Kojima Productions. The hype bar went up from the moment I learned this and here I am typing up my final thoughts on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. A fresh start to the franchise.

Single player 8/10

Gabriel Belmont, the popular surname every zealous Castlevania gamer should recognize is introduced to us as our protagonist. The husky hero is on a quest to find information on his deceased wife, Marie. He meets with the Guardian of the Lake, Pan, and tells him that he can communicate with the dead if he traverses to the Lake of Oblivion. Gabriel eventually reaches his destination and Marie tells him, in a hologram-esque form, that for the world's salvation Gabriel must stop the Lords of Shadow. These Lords conflict with the Guardians of Light and this is where religion comes in. It's a God vs Satan affair in the background and it'll interest even the ones that don't believe in such things. It's very well-told story. Every level of every chapter in the game (about 40-50) initiate with Patrick Stewart's voice giving us a brief introduction to the chapter. It also clarifies Gabriel's emotions and how he transforms throughout the game in ways I will not reveal. Patrick Stewart voices Zobek, a fellow warrior that follows Gabriel secretly and guides him to his goal. The story starts out slow but in the beginning I was caught surprised in a very frightening twist. Just when you think it starts to get boring it'll supplement something to make it fresh. It's a 15-20 hour campaign on Normal and there is incentive to replay it. You can complete trials when done with your initial playthrough of the chapters and the story is interesting enough to experience again. I just wish the pacing was better since during the middle of the game, the story seems to drop too much in exuberance. It makes up for those flaws though with the awesome yet appalling ending.

Gameplay 9/10

Castlevania Lords of Shadow shares the majority of its gameplay features with other popular games. God of War is the primary source. The slow yet effective gameplay that influenced God of War to be the masterpiece that it is, functions superbly in Castlevania even if it offers nothing to segregate it from any other game in the genre. But what it does, it does very well and that's what Mercury Steam wanted with the rendition of this reboot. An idiosyncrasy I noticed though that sticked out in Dante's Inferno is how during combos controls seem to be less responsive. This allows enemies to take jabs at you while performing a pretty complex combo and thus interrupting the flow. It's not as bad and conspicuous as it was in Dante's but still a small gripe. The weapons include your classic whip, gauntlets that deal immense damage but extremely uncomfortable to control while in combat and boots that aids with evading. There's also Light magic and Dark magic to enhance your abilities and you can purchase combos for the corresponding abilities at the end of every stage. Currency is not a problem but you would want to save your money on the later combos than mindlessly spending them on the early ones. Enemies are aggressive especially in harder difficulties but executing every combo you bought will get you through just fine. It's not any Ninja Gaiden but the difficulty is just right and enemy variations will keep it unpredictable and won't end up being repetitive with the combat.

Castlevania executes the combat greatly but there's more to it than just slashing up foes. Platforming takes a chunk of the gameplay department. Every level will have to make you think how to get from one ledge to another. They start out simple with just using your whip as a grappling hook but get more complex with wings and gaining momentum while running. Platforming is also accompanied with puzzles and go hand to hand. Puzzles you can compare to platforming in the sense that they start pretty stagnant and easy but end up being creative towards the end because of your expanded repertoire. There are problems with the platforming though. Sometimes it'll be unclear where you have to jump because of fixed camera angles. Also, if you descend down a ledge slightly more than required it automatically drops you and takes out a bit of your health bar. Small annoyances that shouldn't be repeated but are often noticed throughout the game. Puzzles consist of chess, music boxes and even reflecting light from mirror cliches. Excluding the mirror puzzles, I found the others to be quite competent and challenging and not too frustrating.

Lastly, I will have to mention the excellent boss fights. They borrow boss fights from Shadow of the Colossus that function perfectly and even the one on one fights with normal sized creatures have enough challenge and originality to make them memorable. Epic setpieces and finishers permeate through boss fights and make them a wonder to watch. Different approaches with different combos with different magic give you so many opportunities. There's alot on your palette in Castlevania and boss fights aren't gonna disappoint.

Graphics 9/10

Castlevania is a very beautiful game. Design-wise and visually. The diverse environments provide a very strong, fantastical world that Castlevania is trying to depict. Castles are the stereotype but Lords of Shadow expands on this with lush outside jungle areas, courtyards and even wild sandstorms towards the end. Try not to contrast previous Castlevania games because I'll repeat this is a reboot. Nothing associates or intertwines with the canon of the previous games. Character models also look great. Gabriel looks uninspired but his expressions transition greatly throughout chapters. You can tell the man has been through alot in his subjective journey. Enemy designs are also great and intentionally freakish. Boss fights all look badass might I say and will frighten you in the lengthy and intriguing cutscenes. The Butcher is my favorite enemy design despite his frustrating fight. He's a fat slob carrying just a butcher knife but goes ballistic throughout the fight and ends up going nuts and smashing a cauldron on his head, using it as a helmet. One of the last boss fights is also marvelous to just stare at and I'm sure it'll impress everyone.

Sound 10/10

I remember watching the Lord of the Rings movies. I sometimes hum the epic tunes that were in that movie. It had that tone and how it perfectly blended with the work's atmosphere it just made it a piece of art on its own. Lords of Shadow is also the Lord of the Rings in terms of soundtrack. The epic orchestra that synchronizes every epic battle, every scary encounter and every heroic finisher just accentuate the game's awesomeness. I usually breeze through the games not noticing the music but I'd gladly buy the game's soundtrack if I ever find it. The voice acting is as top notch. Robert Carlyle voicing Gabriel and Patrick Stewart voicing Zobek, the voice initiating the storybook approach of every chapter, never discourage you and detract from your immersion. I really can't find any flaws. The audio of this game is flawless.

SUMMARY:

Castlevania Lords of Shadow is one of the best of hack and slash games the 360 and PS3 have to provide. It has its flaws but you can easily overlook them with the amount of content and the extremely high production values Mercury Steam have inserted into the game. A 20 hour interactive epic. If you're not impressed with the sometimes stale story then the game redeems itself with its masterful soundtrack and impressive gameplay.

PROS:
+ Perfect audio
+ Gameplay of God of War and works just as well
+ Incredible boss fights and visuals
+ Awesome conclusion
+20 hours to complete. Get your money's worth


CONS:
- Bland character models
- Sometimes slashing is not too responsive
- Pace of story drops in the middle of the game

"A 20 hour interactive epic. Castlevania like you never knew it"

9/10