Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

While I finished Castlevania: Lords of Shadow a few weeks ago, I've had yet to write up my official review of the game.  So here goes.

Lords is an action game, through and through, and leaves you little time to rest easy during its intense, and lengthy campaign.  You play as Gabriel Belmont, and orphan who was inducted into the Brotherhood from a very young age, and your mission is simple.  Find out what is upsetting the balance of the world.  Things get more complicated as you realize that Gabriel's wife was killed only a couple of days ago and that he burns with vengeance, anger, sorrow, and other not so happy-feely emotions.  Soon enough, you discover that the Lords of Shadow are the cause for all of the baddies coming out of the woodwork and it becomes your goal to kill them all.  That's pretty much the premise of the game, although I will say that the story gets much more interesting and Gabriel is a great character who evolves with his actions.  Also, Patrick Stewart voices one of the main characters, which is just awesome.

Lords is also one of the most beautiful games I have ever played, with highly detailed character models and environments that change consistently throughout the game.  Never did I feel wearied by the settings, which was a relief after a few previous iterations of 3-D Castlevania games came to disappoint in that department.  Sweeping landscapes and ominous ruins expand the world of Castlevania beyond the mere castle-crawl, and reminded me of some of my favorite elements from Super Castlevania IV.  The music and sound effects are of top-notch quality as well, with new soaring anthems that have left the traditional Castlevania scores in the dust.  That's not to say that there aren't elements from some of the songs we know and love from the past, but they are hardly recognizable in the fully orchestrated symphony that blesses your ears.

In a way, Castlevania returns to some of its roots in action gameplay.  Leveling and inventory, which have been so popular since Symphony of the Night, have been stripped away.  Instead, a greater focus is lent to fighting enemies using your combat cross and an array of secondary weapons and skills.  The pace is more linear, with less wandering and more swinging, climbing, jumping, and beast-riding.  The camera cannot be controlled by the player, but it does an excellent job of showing you where you can go while maintaining a cinematic perspective.  I read several reviews complaining about the play controls, but I'm a bit baffled by them.  They reported issues with repeatedly falling off of cliffs, but if run to the edge of a cliff you cannot fall off until you press jump, and while hanging from walls Gabriel tends to look at where he will be jumping to.

In conclusion, I loved Castlevania.  The game was challenging without being frustrating (with the exception of one particular stage with some re-animated coffin creatures and no room to fight in). It provided me with around 20 hours of gameplay, and I am still meaning to return to it to play through on Paladin difficulty and unlock all of the hidden items, so it is truly a generous package.  I can't wait for the next one in the series and hope you find this review helpful in making your decisions.