Platforms: Xbox 360 PS3
Developers: Konami
Players: Single Player
A little over twenty four years ago, on September 26th 1986, Akumajo Dracula (Devil’s Castle Dracula) was released in Japan by a fledgling company know as Konami. Since that tiny game released on the FDS (Family Computer Disk System) all those years ago, Konami and the Castlevania series have become one of the most widely known companies and franchises and their success are greatly linked.
The first Castlevania game got it’s big break when it was finally ported to cartridge for use on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Now almost a quarter of a century later the Castlevania series has spawned over thirty five titles, cross multiple consoles and handhelds and out of those 24 years they nearly released a game every year.
We have always been Fanboys and girls of the series, from our days of wielding a flimsy chain whip in Super Castlevania IV to the brooding heroics of Alucard, Dracula’s son, in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Symphony of the Night was a game changer way back in 1997, opting for more of an open ended RPG adventure rather than the previous games which were action side scrolling adventures. Konami’s move paid off and the game was a huge success, winning ‘PlayStation Game of the Year’. Now in 2010 Konami are trying something new once more and we’re here to tell you whether it has worked or not.
Plot
You are Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, on a quest to meet with the Guardian of the Lake and seek the ancient beings aid. The powers of the Lords of Shadow have grown considerably and now the Brotherhood fears that their contact and alliance with the divine and Heavens have been blocked somehow and the darkness manifested by the Lords is increasing with attacks by supernatural creatures on the rise.
Gabriel is not untouched by this disaster, his wife, Maria was murdered by some unholy demon and now the young Warrior of Light finds himself on a path of vengeance to crush the forces of darkness and retrieve the Twin Masks of God and Devil and resurrect his wife using the powers of the God Mask.
Gameplay
As we said at the start, Lord of Shadows has tried to change the way players took on the challenges of the Castlevania game. Incorporating both heavy action with mind teasing puzzles is nothing new in the series but the way in which we play these modes has changed somewhat. There are over 50 levels to complete in the game, progressing through each will unlock the next and upon the finishing of a stage you are allowed revisit it again and complete a new challenge which you unlock after it’s initial completion. These challenges will vary from killing a certain number of enemies, not dying or even the forbidding of using certain items.
Fans of the series will see old enemies resurface including ferocious lycans and twisted vampires but in an effort to open the game up to new players, newer creatures have been dropped in, including trolls, goblins and giant spiders.
One of the newest enemies in the game are the colossal Golems which rise from their ancient slumbers to attack Gabriel while he traverses the lands, you’d be correct if you were in anyway reminded of the ‘Shadow of Colossus’, as the game seems to borrow heavily from this title in it’s execution of combat against the monsters.
To defend and fight back against these monstrosities Gabriel uses the Combat Cross, a whip like weapon that allows for powerful single strikes or weaker area of effect attacks. The cross is upgradeable with new attachments being used to help solve puzzles and allow you to reach other parts of stages. On defeating an enemy, Gabriel gathers experience which then allows him to upgrade and buy new combo attacks and moves, increasing his arsenal against the force of Darkness.
Overall
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow borrows heavily from many recent games and if you find yourselves wondering have you seen this style of game anywhere before, let us refresh your memory and get you think about Dante’s Inferno… man goes mad after his wife is killed… man goes to hell to find wife… man must fight off Hells demons and guardians…
Lords of Shadow doesn’t fail in terms of gameplay or plot by any means, in fact aside from the obvious borrowing of style and gameplay, it is all in all a very enjoyable game. Several noted actors lend their voices to the characters including, Robert Carlyle, Sir Patrick Stewart and Emma Ferguson.
Our only drawback with the game is that for something that was pushed as a reboot to the franchise, it falls a little flat in the originality department.
Good Points
Visually appealing
Re-playable
Great Voice Actors
Bad Points
Serious lack of originality
Monotonous grinding involved
Rating
7/10
