Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

[Dyne]

Yeah. Uncharted nailed ledge hopping and that came out how long ago?

The fight in the castle against the vampires while struggling to open the windows was awesome, as was the butcher fight.

I absolutely hated the fight against the girls protector towards the start when his black goo chased you. At least one other boss does this.

Finally, fuck the chess type game. I had three guys left, the other side had one. They kept getting three chances that would oddly enough land on the only character it had. Simply amazing.

[Spike]

For anyone still on the fence, let me put it like this:

Castlevania Lords of Shadow is this year's Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The game just keeps getting better and better the more you play.

[James]

My problem with Castlevania isn't that it's bad, because it isn't, but rather that it's a decent combat game and little else. It's got a few cut-scenes too many and takes itself a bit too seriously, and I can deal with that, but it's basically God of War rather than Castlevania. If you took away the Castlevania name and changed nothing else, would it get the same level of enthusiasm?

Hmm... scratch that. I think I'd like it better without Castlevania in the title. Then it could be its own thing rather than weighted down with expectations of things that just aren't going to be in there.

James

[NeoZeedeater]

For anyone still on the fence, let me put it like this:

Castlevania Lords of Shadow is this year's Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The game just keeps getting better and better the more you play.

I liked Arkham but I don't recall it getting progressively better the farther I played.

[SamuraiMoogle]

I love the Castlevania series and this game feels like a Castlevania game to me. I don't know why people keep saying it doesnt. Im at chapter 11 now and I'm still enjoying this way more than God of Bored.

I did just come across a battle with a shitload of zombies where the framerate dropped to the single digits. Yikes. Otherwise the framerate hasnt bothered me at all.

[FirstBlood]

Eh, the game captures the Castlevania setting pretty well but it just takes itself too seriously. It also doesn't help that the gameplay is 99% identical to God of War.

[Dyne]

I'm in the chromatic observatory trying to solve the puzzle to get the green(?) lens. Apparently I have to invoke the dark magic and dash around the square. The corner tiles light up but the ones inbetween don't

[SamuraiMoogle]

You have to use the charge dash with the left trigger and not the double click the stick dash.

[Dyne]

Gotcha. Thanks.

[bVork]

My problem with Castlevania isn't that it's bad, because it isn't, but rather that it's a decent combat game and little else. It's got a few cut-scenes too many and takes itself a bit too seriously, and I can deal with that, but it's basically God of War rather than Castlevania. If you took away the Castlevania name and changed nothing else, would it get the same level of enthusiasm?

Hmm... scratch that. I think I'd like it better without Castlevania in the title. Then it could be its own thing rather than weighted down with expectations of things that just aren't going to be in there.

James

Well, that really demands the following question: what is Castlevania? SOTN and the handheld games are all Super Metroid clones, the two N64 games are closer to Tomb Raidern than anything, and the two last generation are Devil May Cry clones. Is it really fair to complain about this game being a God of War clone when there hasn't been a truly distinct Castlevania game since the 16-bit era (okay, apart from Castlevania Rebirth)?

Personally, from what little I've played based on the demo and a bit of dicking around with the PS3 version, it nails the dark medieval style of Castlevania, which really is all that defines the series at this point.