Fourth Game Beated of the Year
On the fabled lost podcast I mentioned to K that I wasn't really feeling Castlevania: Lords of Shadows. I started it playing around the same time as Darksiders and they are both third person action slashy games. But their controls, the timing of attacks and such were different enough that it was hard to switch between the two. And Darksiders was more like Zelda, so it won out. Kelley encouraged me o try it again. And I did.
And, at first, I wished I hadn't. I had stopped playing just a bit before a section that involved combatting three werewolves at once. Maybe in Act 3. It was not fun. The timing I hadn't ever gotten used to was now of utmost importance. And I was punished repeatedly for not knowing the intricacies of the game. And I hadn't played for a month or so. It sucked. I thought of restarting from the beginning, but I kept at it and I got good.
Which is good cuz the game is good. Brushing up against great, but there are some things that keep it from reaching those lofty hights. Chief amongst them is the fact that these hights were scaled faster and better earlier this year. God of War 3 came out this year. That is a great game. Castlevania can't help but come off poorer in comparison.
Support your argument, you say. Okay, sez I. GOW (God, not Gears)3 has maybe the best visuals ever seen on the PS3. And its sense of scale and cinematic presentation are second to none. So Castlevania comes in second in that race. It is by no means an ugly game. There are some lovely visas and some of the stuff they do with lighting is quite nice. It is all well done, but comes off as undercooked next to GOW3. And sometimes these great visuals are poorly framed by an unintelligent camera. Some of the camera angles/placements border on absurd, especially when fighting is thrown into the mix.
The fighting may be the one area where Castlevania holds its own. It doesn't break the mold of light, heavy, ranged attack, jump block, dodge and magic. But it expands on the magic, giving you both light and dark magics. Switching to light heals you with every strike you land and dark magic powers up each attack. Light and Dark also come with their own unique moves, they can also modify your sub-weapons.
The orbs that pop out of your smited foes ain't colour coded for health, experience and magic. Just gold orbs. Press in L3 to suck up the orbs to recharge your light magic, R3 for dark. You can only heal through using magic or finding health fountains. Experience does not need to be absorbed, you automatically accrue it through combat.
Once you get used to the combat, it is pretty darn good. Plus, of course there are quick time events. Mainly so that you can kill dudes in gory ways. And there are a couple Shadow of the Colossus style Titan battles. And defeating certain bosses gives you new special moves, speed boots, double jump wings and such.
The music, considering this is a Castlevania game is kinda forgettable. That is kinda gross. How is that even possible? Nothing is popping to mind, other than music from other, earlier Castlevania games. The voice acting is stellar. Great stuff. So let's call the game's sound a wash.
So graphics = good, gammeplay equals = great and sound = good.
As you can see, I liked the game. But now I shall discuss some of the small flaws.
Once you beat a level, a 'Trial" for that level is unlocked. "Trials" make you play through the level again, but now there is an additional requirement added. Like, kill 50 goblins, or kill five of these dudes using only grapples or don't use grapples at all, beat this puzzle in less than 5 moves. Most are fairly easy, some are kinda annoying, and some I am never, ever going to do. There are timed things that are deviously timed. When you are trying to blaze through a level, the sometimes janky camera comes to the fore. And the sometimes janky platforming as well.
Why does Belmont let go of his whip when he gets to the bottom of its length when he is climbing around? That is a ridiculous way to die. Sometimes the camera and platforming combine to make sure you have no idea where the hell you are supposed to go next.
And sometimes the story doesn't seem to know where to go next. Sometimes the storytelling is great. Nice mood, nice sense of momentum, nice character work. But sometimes you just pingpong from one location to the next with hardly any explanation, like the developers had a cool idea for a level and were going to use it no matter if it made any sense. And the pacing is way off. Those Titan fights? Both right at the beginning. And those first two Acts have tonnes of sub-chapters, later acts have one or two. And the last boss is kinda dumb.
The main bad guy reveals himself and speechifies. Then the real bad guy, who has never been mentioned before kills the speechifying dude. It is dumb, and horribly timed. And the final boss is just human sized. Fairly underwhelming end game. But then the cinema that plays after the credits is amazing. I totally want to see what the hell the next game is, this cinema changes up thing so much. Crazy.
Speaking of crazy: this is a Kojima production, so where the hell is the rest of the crazy? Did he really do anything other than slap his name on the box? Cuz it kinda doesn't feel like it.
And, at first, I wished I hadn't. I had stopped playing just a bit before a section that involved combatting three werewolves at once. Maybe in Act 3. It was not fun. The timing I hadn't ever gotten used to was now of utmost importance. And I was punished repeatedly for not knowing the intricacies of the game. And I hadn't played for a month or so. It sucked. I thought of restarting from the beginning, but I kept at it and I got good.
Which is good cuz the game is good. Brushing up against great, but there are some things that keep it from reaching those lofty hights. Chief amongst them is the fact that these hights were scaled faster and better earlier this year. God of War 3 came out this year. That is a great game. Castlevania can't help but come off poorer in comparison.
Support your argument, you say. Okay, sez I. GOW (God, not Gears)3 has maybe the best visuals ever seen on the PS3. And its sense of scale and cinematic presentation are second to none. So Castlevania comes in second in that race. It is by no means an ugly game. There are some lovely visas and some of the stuff they do with lighting is quite nice. It is all well done, but comes off as undercooked next to GOW3. And sometimes these great visuals are poorly framed by an unintelligent camera. Some of the camera angles/placements border on absurd, especially when fighting is thrown into the mix.
The fighting may be the one area where Castlevania holds its own. It doesn't break the mold of light, heavy, ranged attack, jump block, dodge and magic. But it expands on the magic, giving you both light and dark magics. Switching to light heals you with every strike you land and dark magic powers up each attack. Light and Dark also come with their own unique moves, they can also modify your sub-weapons.
The orbs that pop out of your smited foes ain't colour coded for health, experience and magic. Just gold orbs. Press in L3 to suck up the orbs to recharge your light magic, R3 for dark. You can only heal through using magic or finding health fountains. Experience does not need to be absorbed, you automatically accrue it through combat.
Once you get used to the combat, it is pretty darn good. Plus, of course there are quick time events. Mainly so that you can kill dudes in gory ways. And there are a couple Shadow of the Colossus style Titan battles. And defeating certain bosses gives you new special moves, speed boots, double jump wings and such.
The music, considering this is a Castlevania game is kinda forgettable. That is kinda gross. How is that even possible? Nothing is popping to mind, other than music from other, earlier Castlevania games. The voice acting is stellar. Great stuff. So let's call the game's sound a wash.
So graphics = good, gammeplay equals = great and sound = good.
As you can see, I liked the game. But now I shall discuss some of the small flaws.
Once you beat a level, a 'Trial" for that level is unlocked. "Trials" make you play through the level again, but now there is an additional requirement added. Like, kill 50 goblins, or kill five of these dudes using only grapples or don't use grapples at all, beat this puzzle in less than 5 moves. Most are fairly easy, some are kinda annoying, and some I am never, ever going to do. There are timed things that are deviously timed. When you are trying to blaze through a level, the sometimes janky camera comes to the fore. And the sometimes janky platforming as well.
Why does Belmont let go of his whip when he gets to the bottom of its length when he is climbing around? That is a ridiculous way to die. Sometimes the camera and platforming combine to make sure you have no idea where the hell you are supposed to go next.
And sometimes the story doesn't seem to know where to go next. Sometimes the storytelling is great. Nice mood, nice sense of momentum, nice character work. But sometimes you just pingpong from one location to the next with hardly any explanation, like the developers had a cool idea for a level and were going to use it no matter if it made any sense. And the pacing is way off. Those Titan fights? Both right at the beginning. And those first two Acts have tonnes of sub-chapters, later acts have one or two. And the last boss is kinda dumb.
The main bad guy reveals himself and speechifies. Then the real bad guy, who has never been mentioned before kills the speechifying dude. It is dumb, and horribly timed. And the final boss is just human sized. Fairly underwhelming end game. But then the cinema that plays after the credits is amazing. I totally want to see what the hell the next game is, this cinema changes up thing so much. Crazy.
Speaking of crazy: this is a Kojima production, so where the hell is the rest of the crazy? Did he really do anything other than slap his name on the box? Cuz it kinda doesn't feel like it.
posted by Tyler at 9:09 AM
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