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After long months of waiting, I was finally able to pick this game up last evening. Based on a few hours of gameplay (up to the third or fourth level of Chapter 2), here are my first impressions.

- The game has a great design aesthetic, obviously influenced by Guillermo del Torro (think especially Pan's Labrynth and Hellboy 2)--maybe it's a Hispanophonic preference? (I don't know if Mecury Steam handled the art or not, actually.) The early levels won't be "dark" enough for some but even the daylit maps exude primeval creepiness.

- The score ranges from good to breathtaking. Even in a world where the phrase "video game music" can no longer be credibly employed as a sneer, this music is truly top notch. The 19-track CD included in the Collector's Edition is worth the extra $20 alone. (Not much else about it is worthwhile, however: shiny box = meh?, "artbook" attached to shiny box = stupid, "free" code to download Symphony of the Night from PSN = actually pretty good. To my knowledge, Collector's and Standard game discs are the same.)

- Levels are linear. This is to be expected from an action game and I think the first successful non-linear action game will redefine the genre. C:LoS follows doggedly in God of War's blockbuster footprints, however, and you're sure of where to go 99% of the time. Otherwise, level design has been fairly middle-of-the-road: not particularly innovative but highly servicable.

- This game is hard. I don't mean it's a nutcrusher like Demons' Souls. But enemies do significant amounts of damage, bosses quickly pound you into the ground (sometimes literally), and your main line of healing is tied to tight resource management that in turn links with avoiding damage in the first place. C:LoS punishes sloppy gameplay and rewards precision timing--which longtime Castlevania fans will recognize and appreciate.

- I'm disappointed with the story so far. It's very stereotypical and superficial, consisting of the oh-so-usual imbalance between good and bad. I wasn't expecting that this game would break new ground gameplay-wise but I really hoped it would capitalize on the gothic romance potential. With a supposed 20 hours of gameplay, we will see how this pans out.

- Voice acting is brilliant--at least Patrick Stewart, who does most of it, is brilliant. What a pity that the characters' facial expressions convey almost nothing. This is an industry-wide problem (NB: I haven't played Heavy Rain) and really needs to catch up with the power games suddenly have to attract stars.

All in all, this game is very much better than good. I'd recommend at least renting it if you're a fan either or both of the Castlevania series (which it seems to be doing justice to) and action games like God of War.

Manchu wrote:- This game is hard. I don't mean it's a nutcrusher like Demons' Souls.

It's to soon, the scars haven't healed, the pain is not just a memory!

You're telling me! Anyone whinging on about games not being hard enough anymore should run their e-peen through that ringer. C:LoS could more properly be called "a challenge to master" than strictly hard. But it's not like God of War, where violent enough mashing will get you through most everything.

I wanna check this out, always loved castlevania since way back in the day when I had the original for my nintendo. Will probably have to give it a couple weeks since i don't have the spare time for another time sucker at the moment.

is it a button masher? thats one thing I didn't like about god of war. I'm old and my thumbs can't take the abuse anymore :(

There is a lot of repititious button pressing but it is not a masher in the sense of GoW much less a fighting game.

I've been watching DSPGaming's playthroughs of it on Youtube, his commentary is funny as hell. It is making me want to go get a PS3 now...

I was already considering this for SSF4 though.

As a long time Castlevania fan I am happy to see they are giving 3D another go. Honestly the last ones were acceptable IMHO but did not cut it for the majority of fans. The best part for me is the fact that the entire story is not played out in the castle, it is an important factor but does not have to be the only location used. Can't wait to get my hands on this one, only heard good things (bar the occasional quirk) about the game thus far.

I'm in 2-2 now and I can't even get past the 2nd effing Spider, so yeah...

Manchu wrote:This game is hard. I don't mean it's a nutcrusher like Demons' Souls. But enemies do significant amounts of damage, bosses quickly pound you into the ground (sometimes literally), and your main line of healing is tied to tight resource management that in turn links with avoiding damage in the first place. C:LoS punishes sloppy gameplay and rewards precision timing--which longtime Castlevania fans will recognize and appreciate.

This sums it up pretty well. Mind if I use that phrasing in my review?

I'm not that far into the game, but my feelings so far are, that it'st a pretty good fantasy action game but it doesn't feel like Castlevania to me. Yet.

Monster and character desgin is top notch though. I agree with the Hellboy vibe. In fact, I think it even feels a bit like Mignolia's Gellboy comics. I mean you're just tearing through al kinds of myths in that game. Can't wait to meet the Babba Yagah.

I love how there's Werewolves riding freaking Wargs.

And people thought Thunderwolf Cavalry were dumb?

A throwaway sequence in a videogame is not the same thing as a deathstar unit in a dex that won't be touched again for years to come. Plus YOU get to ride the wargs, too, which totally makes up for it.

Still! It happened in a Hideo Kojima product!

Ride a warg and then talk to me.

Kanluwen wrote:Still! It happened in a Hideo Kojima product!

Oh yeah? Tell me weirder thing didn't happen in Metal Gear. I need Scissors 61!

Manchu wrote:Ride a warg and then talk to me.

Am just sayin', it's not GW with all the wacky ideas

The demo was pretty good, but...I can't justify it. Not with The Force Unleashed II on the way.

I'm really warming up to the fighting system. It's a bit irritating at first that you have to be good enough to not get hit to gain enough magic to reagain your health, but I like it. Once you get into the game it's not really frustrating, more like, "damn, I'm just not good enough... yet"

@Kanluwen: If you liked Force Unleashed, you will love C:LoS.

@Anung Un Rama: Yeah, that's what I meant by "challenging to master." The thing is that once you get better, you feel like a badass. Authentic Castlevania.

Oh I have no doubt I'll love it, but my gaming schedule is packed to the brim.

I sooooooo know how you feel Kanluwen.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just fought Cornell. Didn't beat him though. I put all I had into his first phase until I realised he had a second. D'oh!

On a side note: that is one awesome explanation for all the evil creatures running around.

Anyone want to talk about the ending?

My two cents:

I just beat Carmilla last night. By itself, I thought it was an easier fight than the one against Cornell but when you tack Orilox on it was pretty long. I loved the cinematic sequences, however. Very satisfying!

And I've been very good about not reading your spoilers, guys. I want to thank you for being courteous about that.

The definition of being an employed adult: you get the games first but finish them last!

Oh yeah, Orilox was tough. Carmilla, not so much.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2251-Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow

I like Yahtzee, but I don't really agree with him a lot. Well, everything he said about Metroid: Other M I would sign, but I still enjoyed Lords of Shadow.

Yahtzee is a sad, ornery little man but I keep him around because he makes me laugh. Come to think of it that sounds like something I might hear from the misses- if I had a misses...

for my .02 I have to say I found the game ridiculously hard before I got some power ups and got used to the combat. Hard enough I almost traded it in for something else. I must have died 20 or thirty times the first time I ran into a cave troll- whereas I only died 3 or 4 times to Cornell.

HiI'mYahtzeeandmyideaofajokeistospeakveryfastandthen have a grad ua lly sl ow er, dr o l l pu n c h l i n e.

That review, like most of his reviews, is a failure. I mean, it'd be fine for 4chan--just not on /vg/, where he'd be rightfully scourged for simply regurgitating commonly accepted opinions about games that have been around forever instead of actually analyzing the game in question.

I'm going to pick this up next week.

I might put up a little review as well as I am quite the fan of the series.

Well, Shadowbrand, you may be disappointed if you're a fan of what's been going on with the series since "Dawn of Sorrow." I'm not saying they are (all) bad games just that this is not the anime-fueled stuff of that era. Thank goodness. It has a more "Circle of the Moon" feel.