CastleVania Lords of shadow

[mustang1]

So yes I went down to my local Game Stop on Tuesday to trade in Halo Reach for a copy of CVLOS (a bit of a gamble I admit) but I have to say it was totally worth it! This game is not only stunning visually (graphics) but it has essentially taken the best aspects of several different games and woven them into quite a unique gaming experience.

Borrowing from such games as Devil May Cry, Princes of Persia , (obviously) God of War, Shadow of the Colossus and Resident evil just to name a few, This reboot as they call it, is an imaginative iteration into the series.

Yes I know, many of us grew up on the old school 2D side scroller. I remember the fall of 1987 when I first laid eyes on that awesome box art and thought man is this going to rock! the memories of those early days of gaming will always be with me, however, time marches on...when I popped this bad boy into my X-box I got that same feeling. I feel this game is going to be obscenely underappreciated due in large part because of the origin of its pedigree, but don't count it out, this game is not only amazing it is really long!

Not mention the outstanding cast and excellent voice acting. But perhaps the most impressive aspect is the incredible and epic musical score, absolutely top notch! Sure it is not perfect, but pretty freaking close !

Any thoughts?

[shiroth]

Played the demo, and i must say i'm pretty pleased. Shame it's basically just another hack and slash, though the gameplay is pretty fun, plus learning new moves and the dodge system just add to that.

Visuals are seriously stunning. Especially the horse riding part. Demo has the dub, which is actually pretty damn good. Robert Carlyle makes a good Gabriel, and Patrick Stewart is just what you expect. Sure i'd still prefer the Japanese voice cast, though i can safely say i don't mind playing the whole game with the dub.

As expecting, my favorite parts from the trailer (the score and story) seriously shine. I'm loving what's shown regarding the 'love' part of the story.

Will be picking up a copy pretty soon.

[Mr March]

I think you're right. A VERY long time, indeed.

I'm an old school Castlevania fan that loved Super Castlevania, Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. I played a few of the games following that Playstation masterpiece, but they were all mediocre at best. Since for the most part I've fallen out of gaming, every year or two I'll replay an older Castlevania game and that reminder will entice me to seek out information on the "state of the franchise". Most often all I see are the common and forgettable games that lack any majesty, atmosphere or polish that made the best games of the Castlevania series. However, when I saw clips for Castlevania Lords of Shadow, it was readily apparent this new game had the potential to be something different. You can see an honest attempt is being made this time to make something good.

Reading your thoughts confirms many of my own. I've now got more confidence in the quality of this new game. I'm glad to hear it's turned out as good as I'd hoped it would be.

[wolfx]

need to hear more 1st hand impressions. The review on gamespot doesn't paint a pretty picture of the game saying its quite derivative.

[Ghost Train]

Everytime you "trade" a game to gamestop a school of clownfish gets devoured by a great white shark.

(Footnote: trade is used veeeeery liberally here, as it denotes an exchange of equal value which stops being the case as soon as a game leaves a rack )

[mustang1]

Update,

I. Am not even a fraction into the game yet and I have to say this is not your Normal hack and slash! Not even close! As you progress in the stages, there is no way you can survive by slashing alone. In fact the enemies make it so that you have to use some real strategy and not just on the bosses...

Trust me guys it only gets better and better as you go further and further into the game!

Wow .... Just wow...

[Keith]

And the "Castlevania" difficulty has translated into the distribution of HP. Really, you don't refill when you start a new stage? Damn!

[wolfx]

Played the demo. I must say i'm not impressed. Firstly the demo doesn't show much cuz its in a village "arena" level fighting off werewolves and a "horse-chase" scene. Couldn't get much of the feel of the game here.

But even so the combat feels kind of like bayonetta + god of war. Feels like a rent game. But at least it got me hyped up enough to start Order of Ecclesia on the DS.

[shiroth]

@wolfx - if you want a worthwhile impression of the game, check out Gamtrailer's review.

The look down on the controls for the exploring and adventuring part of the game sounds like it depends of the player and not the game. If you're good at these type of games, then i really can't see there being much problem. Shame to hear about the puzzles, though thankfully there's supposed to not be that many of them.

[Chewie]

Watched my buddy play this last night for about 7 hours while raiding. I got enough of the platforming, hack and slash and dodge and reaction command and hack and slash and dodge in the Devil May Cry titles Dante's Inferno, not to mention like Wolf said, God of War and Bayonetta.

Just another "generic" button smasher to me.

Edited October 10, 2010 by Chewie

[Ghost Train]

But this game has Patrick Stewart in it.... Captain Jean-Luc Muthafukin Picard.

[Keith]

But this game has Patrick Stewart in it.... Captain Jean-Luc Muthafukin Picard.

Now that, is hilarious!

[Gaijin]

This is a terrific game. At the end of Chapter II now .

[sabretooth]

so far i'm enthralled with this game. it's good. really good. but sweet crap the werewolves are total bastards.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Just went through this game yesterday. Sure it's a mish mash of several good games I've played within the past 5 years, but I had a blast with it. Gabriel's definitely a more appealing character than Kratos or Dante, and the visuals are gorgeous to boot. And the ending? Definitely an interesting one, and I won't go on to spoil it; but if Hideo Kojima had any influence on this game, I would say it shows at the very conclusion.

[Guest sh002]

damn for a second i thought they were gonna make a movie. that would be cool. or not.

[macross_fan99]

I was looking forward to this game until I played the demo. I hated the button mashing combat and as much as I like Patrick Stewart, even he could not save that horrible writing.

Since some of you have played it, how does the demo compare to the full game? Any chance I will actually enjoy the full game?

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

The demo is just a sliver of what the game has to offer. However, there's nothing new in terms of mechanics; you'll get many flashbacks of Uncharted and Shadow of the Colossus. And if you're tired of the button mashing and magic from GoW and Dante's Inferno, then the combat system will be nothing new. If anything the combat system is more forgiving when it comes to timing compared to GoW. It's just wrapped up in a prettier package IMHO.

[Gaijin]

I enjoyed it a lot. After viewing the epilogue to the game after the ending I cannot wait for the sequel.