Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Review

04 Nov 2010 at 00:59:56 by John Robertson
Systems used to review this title: (PS3)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is not a typical Castlevania game.  It’s decidedly more linear in its level design, the combat is faster and flashier and, most clearly, it’s played from a 3^rd-person perspective a la Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed.

Do not let that put you off though.  While hardcore fans of the series may initially feel let down by the change in direction, sticking with it and embracing it as it stands is rewarded by a deep, exciting and lengthy experience.  In short, it's a superb edition to the wonderfully rich Castlevania heritage.

The fun starts with the combat.  Once you’ve got through the opening couple of chapters and mastered the basic combat and magic mechanics Lords of Shadow comes alive and cements its status as one of the finest games released this year.  While the action may not be as complex as something like Bayonetta, it’s just as rewarding. 

When you combine your basic attacks with the accompanying magic abilities, the combo system offers a wide range of attacking options that hurt as good as they look; the emphasis centred firmly on utilising your skills in as intelligent and diverse a manner as possible. 

Simply put, this is not one for button mashers.

Your bog standard horizontal and vertical attacks become lethal weapons once you’ve acquired a few combos, practised juggling enemies in the air and mastered the timing for blocking and dodging attacks.  The enemies that stand in your way force you to experiment with different approaches, especially against larger foes and during boss fights. 

What’s also impressive is that, while enemies are adequately plentiful on most levels, encounters never feel as though they’re being used as padding to merely extend the game between cut scenes or the next upgrade.  Too often this genre throws enemies at you just for the sake of it. The fact that Lords of Shadow doesn’t improves the pacing no end and makes it difficult for you to put the controller down knowing that the next new gameplay element, enemy type or boss fight is always just around the corner.

During skirmishes enemies excrete glowing orbs which can be absorbed and transferred into either Light or Shadow Magic by pushing in on the left and right sticks respectively.  Trigger your Light Magic during battle and any damage dealt by Gabriel unto the enemy replenishes your own health bar while activating Shadow Magic inflicts double damage on the poor sod you’re up against. 

It’s a great system that gives you the freedom to spend the available magic in whichever way best suits your playing style and gives you a chance to work your way back into encounters that may have started out a little awkwardly. 

As is par for the genre, boss fights usually take a completely different form to the rest of the combat and involve lots of dodging, quick-time events and clambering over your giant adversary in search for the hallowed weak spots.  However, as is too often the case throughout other games, these moments never feel too long or too fiddly and by and large offer a visual feast that more than makes up for any difficulty you may have in working out how to defeat them and continue your journey.

All of this takes place in a beautifully designed world that oozes detail and charisma from the opening level to the last.  Your travels take you everywhere from noxious swamps to dilapidated ruins and from snowy mountains to dense jungle; each as expertly crafted as the last. 

The level design is unquestionably linear in comparison to most Castlevania titles but, as a result, benefits in that everything keeps ticking along at a steady pace and only rarely do you need to backtrack to activate routes and/or objects that were previously out of reach. 

In true 3^rd-person adventure style there’s a fair amount of clambering up walls, jumping across chasms and thoroughly putting your monkey impression skills to the test.  There’s nothing here that you’ve not seen before but the fact you’re consistently hopping up and down between various elevations and around the sides of mountains and castles allows for some interesting level design that the dev team have clearly had a good time creating. 

Dotted throughout the game are a number of environmental puzzles which do a nice job of breaking up the action and adding a little extra spice.  This being an action game first and foremost, you’ll often have a considerable wait between puzzles but those that are on offer are generally fantastic in their execution.  There’s nothing here that’ll keep you bogged down for too long but they present just enough of a challenge to give you a bit of a buzz once you’ve worked out the solution.

Magic system aside, there’s no hiding the fact that Lords of Shadow borrows the bulk of its elements from its peers but, it does so in a way that works brilliantly and - because of the expert construction - typically improves upon the original inspiration; removing any feeling that this is merely a copycat product.  I believe it was Quentin Tarantino who said something along the lines of copying from one source is called plagiarism, but copying from a number of sources is called research. Amen to that.

Still, it’s not a perfect game.  There are a couple of perspective issues resulting from the fixed camera and the story is pretty difficult to follow.  Hardcore fans of the 2D instalments are likely to be a little disappointed at the comparative lack of complexity in level design and the voice work from Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart is – surprisingly – a little dull and lacking much oomph.  Yet, when considering the big picture, these are minor concerns and will in no way prevent the vast majority of people from thoroughly enjoying the game.

It’s wonderful to play a 3^rd-person game that so effectively blends a rewarding combat system with a genuine sense of adventure.  In a way Lords of Shadow is decidedly old fashioned in its closed off level structure, combo purchasing system and predictably placed boss fights but it pulls it all off with such grace and style that it makes you question why most games shun this formula.

Quite possibly the surprise package of the year. Bring on a sequel.

Comment