Castlevania Lords of Shadow

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Not really seen anyone on Neowin talk about this, going to start playing it tonight, think I'll enjoy it, I've been needing a fix since GoW3.

On a related note a patch went up today to stop save game corruption on the PS3, looks like I timed it right to start playing

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

Purchesed this game two days ago (currently on Chapter 2) It is Fun and the story is engaging however, the only complaint i have (as a Castlevenia player) is that I have yet to set foot in a Castle, and the game is VERY linier. (follow this path kill stuff) unlike the puzzle maze that is a standard side scrolling castlevenia. However, the game is still VERY good.

[Massiveterra]

I played it for 2 hours and returned it. Not my kind of game. Also, not a Castlevania game (literally)

[George P Global Moderator]

I'm at chapter 5 part 3 and yes there are "castles" or just very big buildings, plus caves and other things. It's linear ya, but not as much as the first few parts, later levels are mostly like one big area that you have to run around to find specific things to be able to advance and so on.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I played it for 2 hours and returned it. Not my kind of game. Also, not a Castlevania game (literally)

Do you like God of War though?

Also I don't really care about the Castlevania game history in relation to this 3D instalment, so I'm okay there :p If that's the major gripe from people besides some camera issues I shouldn't mind.

[(Spork)]

have it still unopened to busy with fable 3 and SW2

[Kickin686]

Long time CasteVania Fan with a pretty big collection. This game was good in its own right, but it didn't feel like anything CastleVania. There are a lot of good words for this game in reviews and they are true. I do have to admit i'm still glad i have my collection to rely on for my old school CastleVania Fix though.

[Dashel]

Disappointed its yet another GOW clone. Yawn.

[George P Global Moderator]

I don't see the problem with it sticking to the name even if it's got a different feel to it. There are other parts that match, like the whip, character names for the most part and also it does fit in with the other games setting and lore etc.

And it's not short either, I like it even more for that point, going back to replay levels so you can get things you couldn't before is good, plus there's other things like the trials to do in many levels so you can get 100% which adds to the playtime overall making it longer as well.

[still1]

I played the demo and i like it. I may not buy it probably rent them.

[Lingwo]

Got it and completed it.

I thought the game was brilliant. I suppose you could class it as a GoW clone but it is an excellent. Graphically i'd probably say it is on par with GoW III.

The game is solid and story is awesome, even though most of it comes towards the end of the game.

Everyone moans saying it is not "Castlevania" but it is a reboot, similar along the lines of Resident Evil 4 as that was a reboot of the franchise. You'll still get your old school Castlevania's on Nintendo DS stil. I do however hope the sequel is a little more open.

[Boxster17]

I've been playing through it and I'm currently on Chapter/Stage 5 at the moment. Never played any previous Castlevania games and most reviews I had read were downgrading it based on that so it really didn't bother me much. Loved the GoW series and this is fairly similar and playing through on hard some parts have been fairly challenging though I've realized I just need to dodge and critcally block more often so I'm starting to get into the swing of things a bit more. Definitely have been enjoying the boss battles so far.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Got it and completed it.

I thought the game was brilliant. I suppose you could class it as a GoW clone but it is an excellent. Graphically i'd probably say it is on par with GoW III.

The game is solid and story is awesome, even though most of it comes towards the end of the game.

Everyone moans saying it is not "Castlevania" but it is a reboot, similar along the lines of Resident Evil 4 as that was a reboot of the franchise. You'll still get your old school Castlevania's on Nintendo DS stil. I do however hope the sequel is a little more open.

Awesome (Y)

[shakey]

How long is the game? I'm still up in the air about this game. I have heard way too many good and bad things to justify me buying it, and I do not rent games lol.

[George P Global Moderator]

How long is the game? I'm still up in the air about this game. I have heard way too many good and bad things to justify me buying it, and I do not rent games lol.

I think it'll be pretty long if you try and get everything done that you can, def not short like 8hrs. If you take your time like I do and look for things that are hidden around it could end up being around 20hrs. The key thing is also that when you go back to older levels to pick up something you couldn't the first time around you HAVE to finish the whole level over regardless or it won't count, so that adds to it as well.

[Massiveterra]

Do you like God of War though?

Also I don't really care about the Castlevania game history in relation to this 3D instalment, so I'm okay there :p If that's the major gripe from people besides some camera issues I shouldn't mind.

I liked the God of War series, but I'm not crazy about them as other people are. Also, hack/slash/combo games aren't my forte. With that said, I was very much so looking forward to Lords of Shadows, and I'm a huge fan of Enslaved.

In the first couple hours I've played, every 30 seconds was a cut scene. This got real annoying. It's like 2 minutes of cut scene to 1 minute of fighting to 2 minutes of cut scenes to 30 seconds of moving forward to 2 minutes of cut scene to 30 seconds of platforming to 2 minutes of cut scenes to 30 seconds of puzzle solving. Ugh. When are game developers going to learn not to put in cut scenes for the sake of putting in cut scenes?

Some of the puzzles don't make sense in the game, and many of them aren't environmental or contextual. With action games like GoW and Zelda the environmental puzzles allow you to experiment enough to solve the puzzles on your own. Some of these puzzles don't give any hints or have much context within the game that it gets too frustrating.

Plus the combat wasn't very gratifying. I felt that I could have gotten by just by mashing buttons. A completely different feeling than something like Bayonetta, where you cannot progress unless you mastered the combat system.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I played the demo and i like it. I may not buy it probably rent them.

If it werent for the demo i would not have purchased this game. I have played the other 3D Castlevenia games and they were all epic fail however the demo for this one made me give it a chance and i am happy that i did.

[Cupcakes]

The ending = the best. I wasn't expecting it either.

That being said: camera angles are pretty horrific. One second you're turning right and the camera flips and you're all "OMG WHICH WAY WUZ I GOIN."

[citan]

great game, one of the best i played in a few months, and it doesn't end in a few hours like others :) very good voice acting, graphics, minor glitches, overall, highly recommended :)

[Lingwo]

How long is the game? I'm still up in the air about this game. I have heard way too many good and bad things to justify me buying it, and I do not rent games lol.

The game is close to 20 hours. In game there is no clock that tells you though. I went back before the end and collected everything too. I didn't do the trials as they didn't excite me at all.

The ending = the best. I wasn't expecting it either.

That being said: camera angles are pretty horrific. One second you're turning right and the camera flips and you're all "OMG WHICH WAY WUZ I GOIN."

The ending was really something, even the stuff leading up to it was good but that ending really blew my mind but kind of clever in Castlevania lore i think.

I really hope they stick to this kind of story telling for future 3D Castlevania's.

I agree with the camera, thankfully it only seemed to do it in the not so important bits. In fights it seemed to behave.

[Boxster17]

Some of these puzzles don't give any hints or have much context within the game that it gets too frustrating.

Plus the combat wasn't very gratifying. I felt that I could have gotten by just by mashing buttons. A completely different feeling than something like Bayonetta, where you cannot progress unless you mastered the combat system.

If you search around enough for every puzzle there is generally a body lying around nearby with a scroll in it. The scroll gives you a hint of how to solve the puzzle or if you want to skip the puzzle altogether you can simple auto solve it though you won't gain any experience from it (not to mention there's no fun in that).

While you may be able to get by with mashing whatever buttons playing on a harder difficulty I've found myself having to use a wider variety of attacks depending on the enemy I'm facing. Not saying you couldn't do it without using these other attacks, I'd just think you'd be making things a lot more difficult than they need to be (by this I mean you can't chain the same sort of combos against all enemies). I will admit that once you get your light/dark meters and focus it'll make things easier if you're good at avoiding attacks as you can generate a ton of orbs then just heal yourself up whenever needed.

[George P Global Moderator]

I got used to the camera to tell you the truth, maybe because I don't rush, it helps when you take your time so that when the camera does flip you're not completelly lost.

[WastedJoker]

I didn't like it. Had a couple hours on it around a friends house and it was all a bit clumsy. The platforming felt clunky and I died so many times because of poor edge detection...

[George P Global Moderator]

Ok, I just finished it today, now I want the DLC bad! The story is done very well IMO and I liked it a lot. The little twist at the end of the epilogue was also unexpected (though I saw the events in the final fight before then coming).

[NeoTrunks]

I have yet to play the game (still in shrink wrap), but from what I played of the demo, I thought it was very well done. Yes, it's kind of like a God of War clone, but that's okay as long as it's done right. The combat in Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness were similar. If this is as good as everyone says it will be, I hope they decide to pick up the Castlevania title that was being developed for the Dreamcast before being canned. I don't remember the name, but I knew it was to have Sonya Belmont in it.