From the Vault — originally published October 22, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is an 3D action-adventure game developed by MercurySteam and Kojima Productions and published by Konami. Lords of Shadow is a reboot of the Castlevania franchise. This game departs from the often called “Metroidvania” style that places the player in a large “Metroid” like castle environment/maze that must be traversed and backtracked through. Instead Castlevania: Lords of Shadow goes in the direction of games like God of War with its slightly overhead view, primarily linear progression and fixed camera. In fact this game borrows openly and so heavily from many games that many will be turned off from the start.
Does it feel like a Castlevania game? Yes, and no. It is surely more akin to the original Castlevania games than the newer “Metroidvania” types. Lots of Castlevania-esque elements are in the game but perhaps not as frequent as die hard fans would want. There are vampires, skeletons with shields, candles to destroy for items and such though some of these things are only revealed when you get midway into the game. Some fans of the franchise may get turned off before then and never get to those parts.
Many will have played the awful demo and also have been turned off from the start. Others may be turned off simply because its not a 2D side-scrolling Castlevania game. If you can look past these things you can have a great time with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. There in lies a great game granted one with some issues.
First off the game is gorgeous. The art style is superb and the levels are very detailed. There will be moments where you will stop to take in the scenery and detail. The enemies are very detailed, varied and all designed with great style. There are so many graphical touches that go above an beyond most games. From the werewolves whose eyes glow when they are in the shadows and you can see them to the vampires that burn when they cross into sun lighted areas from the shadow to the very detailed textures and carvings that adorn the castles its hard to ignore the graphical polish.
The polish seems to come at the price of the frame rate that is at times not smooth at all. This does occur mostly in the first three stages and oddly and thankfully almost never in battle moments. Apparently the frame rate hovers around 24fps which a bit lower than the average 30fps of most games. Although the frame rate is lower than you would hope for in no way was it a deal breaker for me as I played through the game. Hopefully the frame rate dips can be addressed with a patch because when walking around it is noticeable though some may even miss it. Its not horrible by any means and there is virtually no tearing in the game which I consider far more jarring and worse. The cut scenes are very polished, never too long and overall the book style presentation of the game is a welcome departure from the typical menu style of most games.
The sound is well mixed for surround output though it does get a bit redundant. I totally give the repetitiveness of the soundtrack a pass only because at 20 hours plus the game is long. To score an orchestral soundtrack like the one in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow with unique music for each the dozens of stages would have cost a fortune. The music that is in the game is good though not as catchy as it should have been for such an iconic franchise. I think some music from the older games should have been redone. There are a few memorable tunes but not enough. Overall the music is good, never annoying and fits nicely into the games theme.
The chapter introductions are voiced by Patrick Stewart and for the most part are very well done though there are so many stages by the end you might be over it and opt to just read the text.
I would not recommend Castlevania: Lords of Shadow as a rental. it took me over 20 hours to beat the game. Granted I played on hard mode but even if you shave off a few hours its still pretty lengthy. With over 20 hours of content I totally recommend Castlevania: Lords of Shadow as a full price purchase. There are 12 chapters with some chapters having as many as 6 stages within. Some items simply cannot be obtained and you have to go back after you beat the game or at any time you can select a past stage and go for the item with no penalty to your farthest save. The game lets you save a place in chapter independently so if your on chapter 10 stage 2 and go back to chapter 4 for an item you can quit right out of chapter 4 after getting the item and resume playing in chapter 10 stage 2 after getting the item. Its a very nice touch. Also after beating the game you keep all you items and can play any stage in any order on any difficulty level with all your items intact. Because of this going through the game again with abilities you did not have the first time is very fun and different as you can access places you did not the first.
There are some stages that are not as great as others. I personally think the first three and last two are the worst of the bunch but by no means horrible. It does create what I think is a pacing issue because the first stages are not the best an some could loose interest before the best parts of the game opens up to them. The last stages should have been the high point and because it is not it can kind of leave you with the “is this over yet” feeling as you come down from the high of being in the castle a little past halfway through the game. For this reason I think the game may have received some unfair reviews but that’s all subjective I guess. The ending is great and makes up for the slower paced final stages. Be sure to wait until after the final credits for the full twist.
The combat is very well done. There are over a dozen moves to unlock with experience points you get from slaying enemies and solving puzzles. You do not need all of the moves to beat the game but they do help and the depth of combat is there for those who are into combos and that sort of thing. The combat is fun and the game does not have to be a button masher unless you want it to be. The unlock pacing for combos is great as well and by the time you are half way through the game you should be able to unlock almost all the combat combos. The game introduces new and unique enemy’s in almost every new section of the game. The game also does “quick time events” better than God of War games. Instead of pressing randomly assigned buttons in order its about timing as you wait until a larger circle meets a smaller circle. This was is less distracting and takes you out of the game less than the God of War method. A definite evolution of sorts of that sort of thing.
After you reach about a third into the game magic is introduced and it adds an additional level of depth and strategy to the combat and game play. Light magic will cause you to gain health when you attack enemy’s and shadow magic strengthens attacks. Choosing when to use the magic and which to use adds to the combat experience. Other powers are unlocked such as a super dash, grappling hook and others that also keeps you wanting to push forward.
Like games such as Uncharted there are areas with ledge traversal and swinging mechanics. I found them to be a good change of pace and since the areas you need to get to glow it was pretty easy to know where to go next. Not many unintentional deaths which is good. The game does introduce some nice platforming and the beam balancing in particular has a very nice feel and is very well done. There are some great and some frustrating puzzles in the game though you do not have to complete them. You can always opt to unlock and skip any puzzle and all you loose is the xp bonus for not having solved it yourself.
Despite its flaws and similarities to other games when its all said and done Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a great game that may end up being better than you expected if you give it the chance. The story is good and will keep you engaged. The ending is great though the pacing getting you there is a bit off but you can tell it was with the intention of giving fans a full epic length game which is not such a bad thing. Its two discs on the Xbox 360. The full game is far better than what is represented in the the demo version and I am eager to see what they do next. It is a surprisingly good game from a not so well known studio. The potential for greatness is clearly there. Hopefully we will see it reach its potential in a sequel. If your on the fence then be sure to get it when the price drops although I totally recommend this even at full price to scratch that classic action adventure game itch.
