Pixels and Perspectives #2: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Hello everyone! Due to the joys of having a birthday around tax time, I got myself two new games for the 3DS. One of them, a stellar title that I will discuss later. The other one... I was wondering whether or not it was going to be good. It seemed like a wild card.. This company has been trying to get this series going again by rebooting the plot lines. So, I took a shot, gathered up my money, and hoped that it wasn't a horrible night to play the next installment of the Castlevania series.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate now sponsored by Garnier Fructis.

So, in case if you don't know the background of this series, Castlevania has been a series that stems all the way back to the NES days. It has followed the journey of the Belmont family (amongst others) in their journey of defeating the dark lord Dracula. The series started as a 2D platformer, but a change happened in the mid 90s when there was a new focus in gameplay. In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, there was a non-linear change in gameplay which vaguely resembled the popular game Super Metroid for the SNES. This spawned a new buzzword called "Metroidvania", which I HATE (but I'll talk about that in a different post). Then.. there was a turn for the not-so-good. Castlevania decided to go 3D, losing that 2D feel that many fans loved. Ever since then, there has been a split in the series; one vein explores the Metroidvania feel while the other attempts to make a 3D Castlevania that doesn't suck. 

So... why did I do that? Because this is a portable Castlevania that was firmly declared to NOT be a metroidvania. The dude at Konami claimed that this game was going to be something new; a new phase in castlevania gaming! Well... the game did it... sort of. It has 2D gameplay, 3D backgrounds, and a somewhat adventurous element that the metroidvania series had. Well, onto gameplay later, as of now we need some plot!

THE PLOT

This game follows three different characters: Alucard, Trevor Belmont, and Simon Belmont. I will say, I love the character art for Simon.

No... sorry... wrong Simon... I was talking about THIS Simon Belmont.

I mean, look at him! all of his skin showing!? He is so high level. 

Of course, this is a journey that follows Simon in his defeat of the dark lord Dracula! but why? Of course... someone killed his family and stuff and he needs revenge and redemption... we get it. Well, the game is split up in 3 parts, one for each character. What's frustrating is that once they start to get the development happening they switch to the next act! It was irritating, because once I got to the point where I almost cared for Simon they switched to someone I didn't care about. Thankfully, the characters do develop a chemistry and you realize why they all know each other.

THE SOUND

I need you to do two things. One: Listen to this. This is from a previous castlevania.

Now... this is from the game itself. listen

I don't know how else to say this: the soundtrack to this game is AWFUL. I mean, did you hear the first one!? It had splash cymbals! strings! the only time I ever played air timpani! the other?... morose strings. Not only that, but in the game you're lucky to even HEAR music. See, that was one of the things that turned me on to the series: the screaming melodies that trumpeted over the speakers as you were viciously whipping through each enemy to get enough hearts so you didn't run out when you had to fight the next impossible boss! The time where you hear the most music is when you didn't die... which is never fun, mainly because the music was least orchestrated when you died in previous games.

THE GAMEPLAY

I know that if you ask anyone about the 3D castlevanias, their first response is," ISJUSAGAHDAWURNAHKAFF" (It's just a God of War knockoff). Although it'd be silly to say there is NO resemblance (stupidly slamming a button over and over to open a chest, quicktime events that could've been done with normal gameplay, "cool" cinematic kills that is done with one button) there is a different feel with this game. You have to take time with combos and the more intricate combos do more damage (Finally!). Now, Here is my beef with this game: how unreasonable the whip is. Look at this picture.

You see that?! His whip isn't even fully extended and it takes up half the screen. There are multiple combos in which the whip takes up the ENTIRE screen. To me, this is kind of ridiculous. Yeah, the stronger combos are smaller in radius, but if there are a lot of enemies on screen (or better yet, an enemy  I don't want to deal with) What's to stop me slamming Y over and over and helicopterdickin' everywhere!?

Oh I am, E-card. That's how I got through the game.

Here is my second beef with the gameplay: You have three characters. ALL of them have the same move set. There is no variance. Yeah, they look different and have different whip afterglowy stuff and have different sub weapons, but... there aren't differences with the characters themselves! One of them isn't faster or stronger than the other or anything!

THE AESTHETIC

One of the big complaints about this game that people have said is that it doesn't feel like the Castlevania games they know and love. This is a problem that many franchises have; if you establish the old school, you're considered boring, but if you create the new school you're not true to yourself. We've seen the former happen to the Megaman series (No, this time they're animals. It's totally different!), but we've seen the latter happen to Final Fantasy (EVERYTHING with FFXIII). However, There are some games that keep it interesting while adding new things, such as Metal Gear Solid, Super Smash Bros., and the Tales series. I will say that there were times that I felt like it was a game made under a different name then at the last moment they slapped the Castlevania title to it.

See? It's Alucard! GET IT!? CASTLEVANIA!

Now, I know that it's not Konami's fault for this. It's because I've been a diehard fan for so long that it's hard to imagine of the series besides what it has been all this time. I actually give them some kudos for trying something new! However, I felt that they may have drifted too far away from their origins.

THE VERDICT

This game would've been great if they kept more of what people liked about the series. If they added a killer soundtrack, more variance with the characters, and a plot that was based off of something besides revenge, this game could've been the next Symphony of the Night. However, it's not too bad. Is it worth 40$? Ehhh... it is if you're a big fan of the series. As of now, try to rent it or borrow it and it's not too bad... You know, as long as you blare other Castlevania tunes while you play it.