I looked forward to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, so in preparation I decided to play the first one.
Especially since I knew about the _supposed_ cool twist in the end. (Read the spoiler below)
Short and to the point:
A protagonist wants revenge because "something" killed his wife.
It's an average game that tries to be something that it isn't.
It doesn't do hack'n'slash as good as God of War or Devil May Cry, nor platforming as well as Mario.
It doesn't do colossal bosses as well as Shadow of the Colossus and it doesn't do a compelling story as well as ... pretty much anything.
The platforming, despite being very prominent gameplay-wise, is terrible:
Gabriel reacts to every twitch of the stick with a giant step, which is devastating when you just try to re-align yourself thanks to the wonky fixed camera angles.
It feels like they built a pretty decent combat-system, and then they added a light and dark magic mode to it just to simulate variety.
Light mode heals, dark mode does more damage and being "in focus" lets your recharge your magic bars.
The combat is OK, it's not really BAD, but it's nothing special compared to famous hack'n'slash-titles like God of War or Devil May Cry.
There are a few cool moves, but in the end you just parry every once in a while to fill your focusbar, get some orbs, dodge the flashing unblockable attack and buttonmash until the enemy is dead.
--------- SPOILERS (and disappointment) BE HERE ------------
I played Castlevania: Lord of Shadow to see how Gabriel Belmont ended up becoming Dracula.
This was my primary reason for playing it, just to see how we got to the point of Lords of Shadow 2.
The last couple of hours I was just thinking:
"Man, this is gonna be awesome. I wonder how they'll make him into Dracula."
And then the game ended. With some proper Deus Ex Machina, no less.
---------------------END SPOILERS--------------------
It wasn't a bad game, but it wasn't particularly good either. Just very frustrating.
In the end I just wanted to be done with it so I could spend time with other games.
I played through this entire game for the payoff of the ending, imagine my disappointment when it was left out.
Then I find out that said payoff happens in DLC. My disappointment was monumental.
Granted, I played the Ultimate Edition, so I actually have the DLC, but the fact is that the game is not good enough to slog through more of it.
Conclusion: I wish I had skipped this, my time would've been spent better elsewhere.
And, seeing the lukewarm reception of LoS2, I'll also skip the sequel.
Thanks for reading.
This week A Pixelated View discusses the history of the Castlevania series, and whether or not it should be resurrected again.
I'd kill for some more 2D Castlevania titles.
More entries with huge maps to explore and combat/collectible systems similar to Order of Ecclesia, Portrait of Ruin, and Aria/Dawn of Sorrow would be most welcome indeed!
And the music...oh LORD, the MUSIC...
I know a lot of people want all the flashy 3D realism and stuff these days, but for Castlevania, nothing has yet to top the 2D Metroid-vania outings.
They're just quite frankly superior in quality and replay value, IMO.
You said it, Castlevania just doesn't feel right if its not in 2D. It deserves a new handheld release for Vita or 3DS with high res sprites.
Well, the New 3DS offers more power, so, as a wise little taco girl once said: "Why not both?"
Seriously though Konami should release a new Castlevania game. Aria of Sorrow, Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin were my all time favorites.
The New 3DS might pull something off, but it could be bad for business if it can't run on older 3DS models. Vita on the other hand is plenty powerful.
I agree to a point. I thought the first Lords of Shadow was done amazingly well. You can't beat a 2D Castlevania though!
If Rocksteady's Batman series could get the large scale Metroidvania formula down, I can't see why a 3d Castlevania can't work. But I would love to see a new 2d Castlevania but with Igarshi gone I don't think Konami will do anything with Castlevania for a long time.
I don't know how you all feel about this but if they decide to go 3D again, I personally feel that From Software or Platinum Games would do an amazing job.
This, right here.
Souls games really are the closest thing to a 3D Castlevania (the old NES ones) that we have ever had.
You know,
It would be interesting if Konami took Castlevania in the direction that Simon's Quest took.
Think...An open world Transylvania with towns and villages tasked with resurrecting Dracula to destroy him.
The issue would be with the gameplay of course, but in theory, it could be very cool.
That would be a great/new direction.
Castlevania is one of my beloved franchises ever since the days of the first Castlevania and Simon's Quest. I would absolutely love to see something like that Tex!
Online petition anyone..? haha
A new big sale is now available on GameStop in North America, discounting the PC digital versions of several Konami published titles.
Join Hardlydan and Amras89 for game talk and fun! This time, The Gamesmen talk all about news that came out of PAX East this year including the Guild Wars 2 feature pack, WildStar, Star Citizen, Guns of Icarus, Hearthstone: Curse of Naxxramas, and The Repopulation. Games discussed are Castlevania Lords of Shadow, Dragon Age Origins, Back to the Future, Putt-Putt, The Island of Dr. Brain, The Witcher, Law and Order Legacies, and Assasin’s Creed Liberation.
Can't say I agree with the score, but I agree that some parts are just boring and feel like a poor man's God of War. However, LOS does have some good points like boss fights, a bit of exploration.
LOS2 however, I'm not to sure on.
"Then I find out that said payoff happens in DLC. My disappointment was monumental."
That right there is why gaming is going to crash and burn. That one reason made me not buy the game ever, and this game with that (and any game that does this) does not deserve one sale at all.