The Review: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

The Castlevania series has had a long history beginning way back on the original Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 [The Japanese Famicom had it almost a year earlier]. It started out as a notoriously difficult platformer, creating some of the most memorable experiences in all of gaming history. As 1997 rolled around, the series saw a dramatic facelift with Symphony of the Night, which combined the style of the CV series with a Metroid layout, focusing more on exploration and new abilities, thusly dubbed by fans as "MetroidVania." After thirteen years and a total number of games well over the 30's, and Konami has seen fit to call for another reboot of the franchise, this time wiping the slate clean with a brand new canon, recruiting Spain-based developer MercurySteam to handle their titular Vampire killing series. Do they have what it takes to bring the Belmont clan back to the limelight, or will they wash the series into darkness?

STORY

You play as Gabriel Belmont, the first Belmont in the line and a member of the Brotherhood of Light. Your wife, Marie, has been brutally murdered, and her soul has been caught in limbo, unable to ascend. Not only is this a bit of a bummer for Gabriel, it's also a nasty little problem for everyone else, as a soul caught between worlds is generally a bad sign of things to come. Guided by Marie and assisted by his fellow Brotherhood knight Zobek [voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart, who additionally narrates the game as Zobek], Gabriel sets out on a quest to recover the God mask, an artifact which can ressurect the dead. It is split up into three parts, each held by a member of the Lords of Shadow, beings well beyond the powers of mortal man, and the leaders of armies of monsters which have been ravaging civilization for years. It is up to Gabriel to defeat these Lords and assemble the God Mask once more to finally set things right and get his revenge.

The story itself is, on paper, a very interesting narrative, which chronologizes Gabriel's fall from divinity and purity into depravity and bloodlust, as he is filled with rage and contempt for those who would rob him of his one love. The execution of it leaves a lot to be desired, however. While the narration is stellar, and many of the cutscenes are slickly done, we never get to see much of Gabriel actually evolving as a character. He is rendered practically completely mute for a majority of the game, and only pipes in for a few sombre lines in the cutscenes. Thankfully, the cutscenes themselves are entertaining, and offer great glimpses into various characters, even though their time and development is short. Had we seen more of Gabriel's reactions and development, it would have made a lovely tie between the narration and the great cutscenes, but as it stands, there's a strange disconnect, as the components are a bit disconnected from one another.

GAMEPLAY

Obviously, being a Castlevania game, you're going to need a few good ways to kill a heck of a lot of monsters. Gabriel himself is equipped with a Combat Cross, which acts as a chain whip that has a long and wide berth allowing Gabriel a fair amount of distance between him and his foes. One of the first things one will likely realize when first stepping in Gabriel's shoes is how familiar the gameplay feels, feeling a lot like Sony's God of War franchise, and that isn't an unfair distinction; much of the combat is handled almost the exact same way, featuring a light and heavy attack, grab move, and secondary attack, with dodging and countering handled once again very similarly. However, the familiarity wanes after a short while, as this game manages to add enough small wrinkles to make it stand out above other would-be imitators of Sony's premiere hack-and-slash franchise.

Alongside the whip, Gabriel has access to a small variety of subweapons, a staple of the Castlevania franchise, including daggers, holy water, faeries, and summon crystals. Knowing which of these to utilize against your enemies is key to surviving in battle, which the game helps to inform you, by way of an in-game bestiary which lists strengths and weaknesses against your various alternate weaponry. Alongside subweapons, you also have access to Light and Shadow magic, each of which have their own meter. You find magic orbs in the field, dubbed Neutral magic, which you can absorb into one of the two meters-- or both at the same time, if you'd like. Light magic allows you to heal a bit of your health with every strike against an enemy, and Shadow magic, conversely, adds more damage to your attacks. This system can also be utilized to alter and strengthen many of your own special attacks and subweapons. A Focus meter is added in as well, which, if filled by consistently attacking and avoiding being hit, will spout a huge wealth of magic orbs from your enemies to refill your gauges as you see fit.

The combat certainly has quite a few mechanics to look after, and is bolstered by a number of abilities which allow you far greater movement in the field, but while battling your enemies allows for a lot of creative combos, you're very rarely given reason to use a majority of your abilities. Most of the time, simply mashing on an attack button and rolling out of the way will actually spell success for you against even a lot of bosses. There's no incentive to use these abilities, either, except to get a trophy or achievement for buying everything, so even the bare minimum abilities that you have at the beginning of the game, save for some of your magical abilities, are more than enough to carry you through the rest of the game. It's a shame, too; even some of the story-related abilities, while incredibly interesting in concept, are only necessary a handful of times, and are almost completely forgotten by near the end of the game.

There are times where combat is broken up a bit nicely. A few bosses, immediately reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, require more navigation than actual fighting, and certainly push the player to be careful with each step. Though it nowhere near captures the fluidity of SotC, they don't feel out of place, and are great setpieces to add in plenty of variety. You'll also take to fighting while on horseback... or spiderback, or warthogback, or even ogreback. At various times, in order to get to the next area, you have to use your enemies against the environment to break down walls, make rather impossible climbs and jumps, and so forth. They're not incredibly frequent, but they're a good way of adding in spice to some of the longer levels.

Thankfully, the exploration aspect of the game, while minimal, doesn't suffer quite the same fate. Exploring is once again very similar to God of War or Tomb Raider, leaping from ledge to ledge, occasionally using your chain whip to rappel along walls. These segments of the game certainly make use of your abilities, and though none are particularly difficult, the guys at MercurySteam sure found plenty of ways to tuck hidden items just out of view, requiring some clever leaps of faith to get to these secret areas. There aren't a wealth of new experiences to be had in the exploration over the course of the game, save for a few moments near the end, but it holds up well for the most part, thanks to spot-on level design where each area has a strong identity. While the gameplay gets a bit samey, it's easy to tell levels apart even when they share very similar visual themes, a testament to some very strong art direction on the part of the developers. Certainly an accomplishment, since there are well over forty levels, each of which last you a good fifteen to thirty minutes each, bite-sized sections made for replayability.

Added in to break up the game a bit are various puzzles, many of which can take up an entire level. A majority of the puzzles are fairly rudimentary, solved with some basic logic or trial and error. With the exception of one puzzle, however, you're never at risk for failing these puzzles. You can find hint scrolls for nearly all of these puzzles, which can reveal the answer to you if you so choose, but it's worth it to solve on your own, as you're granted a good helping of experience. It isn't until late in the game where the puzzles start to get genuinely interesting, requiring a good mix of logic and your own abilities to succeed, but those are also the sections where you've gained all your extra spells and relics.

REPLAYABILITY

The game also tries its hand at adding in various bits of replayability: By the end, you're likely going to be missing out on a few hard-to-find upgrades. A percentage on each level will be marked on the world map, allowing you to work your way to 110% completion [as opposed to the standard 100], thanks to hidden items and, more importantly, trials. Trials give you new objectives within levels to handle alongside your normal objective. These can range from time limits, killing enough of a particular enemy, the usual things you might expect. There's no actual reward except for completion purposes, however, so incentive to tackle these sometimes particularly difficult challenges remains low except to the most hardcore of players.

GRAPHICS

What really helps the game stand apart from many other hack-and-slash games, though, is its art direction. The graphics in this game may not exactly be Uncharted 2 levels of polish, but it holds its own with variety and detail. Castles are basked in light through windows and with ancient candles, books and pages and broken furniture laid out along the floor and ravaged by time, rich, lush forests growing around the beaten trails, even the deserts are a spectacle to behold. Though the framerate can occasionally stutter, and there are the very rare graphical glitches [we're talking only one or two throughout the game's 15+ hour run], the environments are simply a joy to behold. The enemies look good and gruesome, indicative of MercurySteam's heavy Guillermo Del Toro influence, particularly with Pan's Labyrinth. The enemies are gorgeously grotesque, with some great classic designs.

The main characters can occasionally look a bit odd, however; Gabriel's hair in the cutscenes looks a little odd, and many NPCs can look downright awkward, especially the few children you see. Mouths are animated rather stiffly, and one character, who speaks to Gabriel telepathically, moves her head and body as if speaking quite enthusiastically at all times, which honestly looks a little too awkward to take seriously. Luckily, many of these characters only appear for a few levels and are gone, allowing the monsters to steal the show. Animation for both Gabriel and the creatures are handled incredibly well, with moves flowing into one another smoothly and solidly.

AUDIO

The music helps set the mood quite amicably in the game. Though there are no stand-out memorable hits, offering more ambience than something you can hum on your way to work, it is appropriately epic, capturing the intensity of some of the bigger fights. The sound effects range from satisfying to merely "okay," but nothing sounds out of place, thanks to appropriate audio balancing. The voice acting delivered in each scene is generally well done, never underselling or overstating the point for the most part, though you occasionally wish there was a bit more energy at times.

MercurySteam set out to make a brand new Castlevania, one that held true to the essence of the series while at the same time establishing its own identity. For the most part, they manage to succeed, thanks to great art direction and a very nice set-up for a series thanks to the story. However, it does falter in a number of areas, with occasionally stale combat, a mishandled narrative, and very little in the gameplay department to help it stand out. Its successes are far greater than its failures, however, and though it's debatable whether they've totally captured the spirit of the Castlevania franchise, it is an incredibly interesting beginning that certainly deserves a sequel, for once not because of there being plenty to fix, but because there is enough of a strong foundation to launch into one of the more interesting reboots of recent years.

BREAKDOWN

Pros:

+ Strong art direction

+ Smooth gameplay

+ Plenty to collect and do

+ 15+ hour experience

+ Great voice acting

+ Solid pacing and variety throughout the entire experience

Cons:

- Occasionally feels derivative

- Weak boss fights

- Broken narrative

- Low incentive to replay the game

- Puzzles are frequently lackluster

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

BUY/RENT/FORGET:

If you're merely looking for a solid action game that'll last you a good, long while, definitely buy. If you're looking for a wholly unique experience, you may want to pass on this. Castlevania die-hards may get a huge kick out of this, however, as long as they go in without thinking it's MetroidVania style. It's roughly as linear as any game within the hack-and-slash genre. A buy for them as well.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 4: Mad Dash to the End

Deciding I was close enough to the end and the chapters seemed to be fairly short, I took one final sit-down to finish off the game once and for all. I still have some extras to grab, some trophies to snag, but the main story is over and done. How did I do it? Well...

--

CHAPTER 7:

LEVEL 1: More standard levels. Not much to talk about here, though a puzzle at the end involves a pachinko style setup where you have to turn a series of red switches green. It took me a good five minutes to get through it, but still absolutely no real downside to failing. Should mention that every puzzle in the game has some kind of hint scroll nearby that can reveal the answer if you so choose, but you lose out on a sizeable chunk of experience if you do. They're all easy enough to figure out for yourself, so why not just do them?

LEVEL 2: A puzzle level. This one is almost entirely based around hitting switches to move electrical currents around. This is probably the first bona fide level puzzle in the game, since you really do have to stop and think to see how everything fits together. A rather nice boss, too, with an obvious weakness. This area's definitely got Frankenstein influence.

LEVEL 3: We hear a lot of narration talking about Gabriel's development, rage taking over his mind and heart, but we don't ever actually see any of this in-game, save for a few cutscenes here and there. It's a bit disappointing.

However, this level isn't. Providing a new string of puzzles and showcasing the life this game still has left in it, we now enter a room with five off-shoots, each one opened by a mixture of three lenses to open everything up. With a little bit of trial and error or knowledge of color theory, it's simple to get into these rooms. This level also features a good balance of combat versus more cerebral tasks.

The boss, however, is a bit too chaotic; three giant stuffed dolls not unlike Oogie Boogie in Nightmare Before Christmas, all attacking you at once. They're not too hard especially if you use your Shadow Magic against them, but trying to counter three surprisingly fast, very active foes is a lot to handle.

A nice cutscene afterwards, though. And that wraps up Chapter 7!

CHAPTER 8:

LEVEL 1: It's kind of odd; your light medallion will be almost a full grade BELOW your shadow medallion, despite getting light before shadow in the game.

Anyway. In the best of ways, this level is what really reminds me of God of War. There's even a segment very reminiscent of God of War II that really shows off the environment [I won't say which one], as well as GoW's usual pacing of heavy combat broken up a few times with small bits of puzzle.

LEVEL 2: This one is almost entirely an upward climb, save for a brief boss fight, a repeat with minor upgrades. The climb is nasty, largely because one of the things you need to know how to do is never discussed formally in the game save for maybe the abilities menu: when rapelling, you can jump after another jump to get even more distance between you and the wall, allowing you to leap and climb over some obstacles.

LEVEL 3: A boss level. You fight the brother of another fight back in the village just prior to entering the castle, and it is certainly a good deal tougher. Once you learn his methods, he is somewhat easy to avoid, save for a few attacks, and the last stretch can be painful, requiring reliance on getting your Focus meter filled to grab any extra magic you can.

The puzzle at the end of the level has an easy solution, but is difficult to get to. It's a bit like a wooden labyrinth, where you have to navigate a small metal ball through a maze to the hole on the other side. Difference is, of course, you're navigating blood in a stream, and you have to hop between different little checkpoints before time runs out til you reach the end.

LEVEL 4: Gauntlet of enemies plus standard boss fight plus long series of cineractives. Somehow, the game still manages to hold my attention even as the formula is starting to be worn thin, largely because of the cinematic flair, the visual design, and the ease of control. New equipment added: The Seraph Shoulders. No chance to actually use them right away, but you get access to several new abilities to unlock in the travel guide.

CHAPTER 9:

LEVEL 1: By this point in the game, you have everything you need to go back and collect every single thing you missed. If you were thorough, it's not much; only about seven or eight titles total, if that. This level focuses on utilizing your Seraph Shoulders, employing a lovely little double jump which actually is very aesthetically pleasing. New enemy: Headless Burrower. A zombie who takes his own head off and throws it at you while the body digs underground and tries to grab you like the Naiads. Destroying their heads has them pop up from underground so you can grab them and destroy them. Kind of annoying, but a fun little enemy.

This is also the third "arc" of the game, so to speak; we have two pieces of three of the Lords of Shadow mask, won from the Lycan lord and the Vampire lord. Evidently, we're going after Death himself, which sadly takes us out of the castle. Luckily, this area has a style all in its own, and some of the designs really are just gorgeous.

LEVEL 2: A combination puzzle/combat level, with a new enemy: Scarecrows. These guys are big and fast, and difficult to counter, but a good amount of space between you and them is enough to stay comfortable. The puzzle itself is actually really clever; you have to get a key held by each of the scarecrows, but in order to fight them, you have to get a flock of crows to land on them. Meaning, you have to shake a series of rigs which hold some of these scarecrows up until they eventually land on the one you want. Not exactly a stumper, but certainly interesting.

We also get to meet Baba Yaga. I've yet to find a version of this character I haven't enjoyed.

LEVEL 3: Wow. This level actually blew me away a bit, not so much for how complicated its puzzles are, but the way it's all implemented. It's a great, creative way to close the chapter, and creates a wonderful feeling of "I wonder how they'll top this." It's not the most amazing thing in the game, but it's yet another example of the amount of aesthetic variety the game likes to throw your way.

CHAPTER 10:

LEVEL 1: Well. This one's certainly different. Starting out in a crystal cave, you work your way up to a barren wasteland of titan corpses, littering the place. It's a gorgeous sight, though difficult to navigate amicably. Your task is a little less clear this time around, which makes exploration a must. The sneakiest-hidden place in the whole level is also one of the places you need to find to progress... Not sure how I feel about that.

Regardless. Two new enemies: Creeping Corpses and Creeping Coffins. As you can tell by their name, yes, they're related. The Corpses are pretty much just crawling cadavers which have a surprising amount of speed. They're easy to defeat, but that's not where they're interesting: They hop into coffins, and suddenly has the box sprouting legs and mandibles. The Creeping Corpse is actually fairly formidable, especially considering you rarely fight just one at a time. They're large, fairly quick, and difficult to predict, though none of their moves are particularly new or unique to them.

LEVEL 2: A boss level, and probably one of the crowning moments of the game. Rather than just give you a generic boss fight, you're given a battle against a familiar face [within the context of this game, anyway], in one final trial before you are deemed worthy of your quest. The battle still employs many of the same methods, except you are without your magic for the first round or so. As the battle progresses, you are granted more and more of your magic, while your opponent adds more into his own arsenal. By the end, you have to figure out which magic will work for which situation, all while being tastefully bombarded by some rather emotionally harrowing dialog which neither oversells nor understates the point of the battle.

LEVEL 3: A bit of climbing leading into one giant puzzle. This one was a lot of fun; using points of light, you have to break three locks on a central cage to get your powers back. While you're never in a heck of a lot of danger, thanks to various health fonts, there are plenty of zombies [by the way, new enemy] which, while not tough, can swarm you pretty nastily, especially at the very end. There's one annoying tie-off to the level, where you have to ring two gongs within a few moments of each other, and there are just SO MANY ZOMBIES in the way. I almost thought this would be a great place to grind for experience; sadly, you actually can kill all the zombies in the level after a long enough attempt, so fie on that.

LEVEL 4: A gauntlet into boss fight into escape sequence. We fight the Gravedigger, a rather interesting boss fellow, whose death seems almost impossible at first. The trick is simple but fun.

The escape sequence doesn't really seem like one until you realize you're about to be set on fire. That was a bit odd, but the climb is fairly entertaining thanks to a bunch of very short ledges and frequent jumps. The escape marks the end of this chapter.

CHAPTER 11:

LEVEL 1: Probably the longest level thus far. This one borrows from Portal a bit; you have to navigate a series of small portals and mirror-like doors which transport you through a very strange sort of dimension. Navigating is like a puzzle unto itself, and presents some very interesting leaps of faith throughout.

This level also introduces the Reaper and Necromancer. The Reaper is something of a phantom bearing the visuals of its namesake. It's destroyed in just a couple of hits [if even that], but they like to appear in crowds, and if even one of them hits you, that's more than HALF your health gone. Yeah, scythes are never good news. Necromancers are the ones that can summon these guys up, which makes their rather typical strategy spiced up significantly.

It's also the last level where there are collectibles; no more gems by this point.

LEVEL 2: A boss level. And it's a big one. If some of the previous boss battles didn't scream "Shadow of the Colossus," this one will. It's a further example of MercurySteam knowing what the spirit of these elements are and employing them in a way that works for their game, even if those individual elements aren't as strong as the games they're pulling from. Though, I do have some complaints: It can be particularly difficult figuring out how to get [i]started.[/i] Navigating the beast mostly makes sense, but occasionally, you just find yourself wondering where the heck you go next. And if you fall, you have to start over [for the most part; I never fell on the latter sections of the battle, once I figured out how I was supposed to do it]. Still, despite those complaints, it was an exhilarating fight, with a very nice finish.

CHAPTER 12:

LEVEL 1: The only level in this chapter, and the very end of the game. You're pretty much only going to deal with one boss, and if you're not certain how to defeat him, he can be an incredible ordeal. He utilizes a similar strategy as a previous boss, and certainly hints at it, but I'll leave that to your own handling.

The ending was a load of "WTF." Not necessarily in a bad way, just, there are a number of twists, some expected, some certainly not expected in the least. What really ties this package off is the epilogue, after the credits; if it doesn't confuse the heck out of you, I don't know what will.

--

And there you have it. The game is complete. I'll have a concise, spoiler-free review up within 24 hours, so keep on the lookout.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 4: Putting the "Castle" in Castlevania

Just hacking away. Chapter 5 presents a much meatier segment of the game, whereas Chapter 6 seems to be fairly light, beaten in just a couple of hours, if not less. This section of the game is light on new stuff, with only one piece of equipment unaccounted for, as far as I can tell. Still, though, with this section being the formal introduction of the big, giant castle the series is known for, it's just good to see some familiar creepy environments to slaughter hordes of monsters in.

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CHAPTER 5:

LEVEL 1: Seven levels in full! An icy forest this time around, a change of pace from the sun-basked ruins and fortresses of previous levels. The snow effects are great. It's also here that I made a mistake about the summon crystal: While you can find whole ones from enemy drops, you still have to collect four shards from the crystal deposits scattered around levels to make a whole one. So, that wasn't completely removed from the game after its use was up.

There are a bunch of breakable walls here, utilizing the Shoulder Charge which you earn from the boots. There's not much to the level; think back to Chapter 1, Level 3 in the bog, where there are a bunch of branching paths all leading to the same point, then take out the latter half and the sluggish parts, and you've got the right idea. We finally get to see the Castle!

LEVEL 2: Taking place in a village near the castle, this level's new enemies are Ghouls. You finally get to fight alongside someone else, and it does take the edge off, as Ghouls can be particularly nasty. They're not much different from Lesser Lycanthropes, aside from the typical "tougher, faster" sort of upgrade, except they can EAT their fallen allies [!!] and upgrade themselves into poisonous Ghouls, which will allow them to spew noxious toxins at you. That in itself doesn't do damage, but the poison usually needs to be treated quickly, as you learn back when fighting Giant Spiders.

More usage of your new gauntlets and boots, and you get yourself a new add-on for your cross: The Stake. The only major purpose thus far is opening all those winches with no rods you see smattered across previous levels.

LEVEL 3: Once again, you've got a buddy with you the entire time. This level is more puzzle focused; none of them are really all that difficult, though the answers are just obvious enough to be completely missed for a moment. I actually spent about ten minutes on what should have been a ten second puzzle to solve simply because I wasn't paying full attention every second.

This is also the first area where you fight actual Vampires; granted, they're lowbies, but they're a little tougher than Ghouls, and can take to the air for some unblockable attacks. These guys' info in the travel book also give a little lore in just how vampires work, specifically why the lowbies are so ugly compared to the rather dashing high-level guys.

LEVEL 4: Who likes mirror puzzles? If you don't, this level isn't going to be your best friend. However, it's fairly easy, and it's mixed well with moments of combat. New enemies to fight, giant posessed suits of armor, whose shields have to be taken out of commission to really deal with. You're alone again for most of the level, no more assistance for a bit.

LEVEL 5: This one wasn't all too impressive; just a standard traversal with a tower climb. This is about the point where the game stards "equalizing," I like to call it, where there are not a lot of upgrades to get, and it's really just a different assortment of the same challenges. The last level was the reintroduction of those little devils, and they're back in bigger throes in this one.

LEVEL 6: A gauntlet level. A bunch of vampires and a big vampire boss. You're introduced to the Holy Water subweapon, which is fantastic against vampires, as it stuns every single one they hit. The boss itself isn't much to talk about, except for how it dies. It's worth it just to see how badass Gabriel is. Really, this level is just for a little extra narrative.

LEVEL 7: This is your first time dealing with Skeletons. They're annoying for the simple fact that, not only are they a bit tough, they also reanimate after you defeat them. You have to finish them off with a powerful blow [or a single dose of holy water] after they've shattered, and before they reassemble.

The last puzzle is actually something of a bit of genius. It's a stretch of hallway with a spiked floor and a gate at the end. You punch a button to open the gate, but you have to get past the spikes at the same time. The solution is a bit ingenious, though I won't go into it. It's worth solving on your own.

CHAPTER 6:

LEVEL 1: We finally get into the castle somewhat proper. We're actually still just dealing with the courtyard and some outer areas for a couple of levels. Not much to say about this level; we're dealing with a LOT more skeletons now, but the levels seem to be fairly straightforward.

By this point, I have every advanced move I can buy, with money to spare for all the concept art you can buy using the same experience points you use for abilities and such. I re-did quite a few levels early on, however, so it seems there might just be a bit of leverage toward always having a couple of abilities early on which you don't quite have. The game's done a good job of always giving me reasons to go back and check the abilities menu, however. And, luckily, there are PLENTY of relic moves to go after, somewhere around 20 or 30K in points I need to get everything. So, I've got quite a bit to look after.

LEVEL 2: The hedge maze is fairly tricky to navigate, though it makes sense after a few minutes of wandering. There's a new enemy type, the Mandragora, who only sap a small amount of health from you over time. It appears you get that health back if you can destroy them before they disappear, though. The only major enemy here is a Giant Spider, who you need to ride in order to get everything.

There's another puzzle, very similar to Chapter 1, Level 4, the ring puzzle, only you also have to pay attention to the orientation of the marks [in this case, statues], which will turn after the ring is rotated. However, it's not timed, so luck should always be something to count on.

I should also mention that whenever this game gives you a level with a lot of forking paths, or some kind of maze-like area, the developers really made sure to stow away a LOT of different items that can be easy to miss.

LEVEL 3: Now here's where things get interesting. Being a puzzle-heavy level, light becomes a huge aspect. You fight vampires in a room in the late afternoon with a whole bunch of curtains darkening up the place. However... Thankfully, Vampires in this game really ARE incredibly susceptible to light, to the point where they can actually be destroyed without even going near them. There's a rune puzzle at the end, but I still haven't figured out what the hint scroll means, so I just kept at it til I won.

The end of the level involves Castlevania's version of Chess. It's worth seeing for yourself; it really boils down to luck in the end, since you don't really get to choose which piece you wield, but it's a fun diversion, and after beating it [it CAN be skipped], you gain access to it in the Extras menu, it looks like.

LEVEL 4: You traverse a mess hall and a kitchen, as well as one giant chamber here. There's a pretty nifty if obvious puzzle [most of the puzzles in this game save for a few are fairly obvious, or merely succumb to simple trial and error], but the star of the show is the boss fight against a giant butcher. While the first half of the fight is standard, save for a few interesting attacks which are difficult to avoid and can't be blocked, the latter half can either be very tough or insanely easy depending on how long it takes you to figure it out. This also wins for having one of the best boss deaths by far. You can sort of tell by this point just how much of a hand Kojima Productions had in helping tell the story.

--

The game's still got a ways to go. We are at the halfway point in terms of chapters, and there's still a lot of castle to explore, just as the game is starting to lose a little steam, so we'll see how things pick up. It's still not afraid to mix things up every so often, thankfully, and the levels are still featuring a decent balance between heavy action and puzzles, with enough secrets in between to keep up interest.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 3: Truckin'

And we're back! The game started off strong, with plenty of abilities to run across sooner rather than later, and it certainly seemed like it wasn't going to let up much at all. We'll be finishing off Chapter 2 today, along with going after the incredibly short chapters 3 and 4. Keep in mind, all of these observations are written fresh after beating each level, with the occasional note during play.

--

CHAPTER 2:

LEVEL 4: I should probably mention that I have a soft spot for animal vehicles in games. Especially weird ones. LoS lets you ride on giant spiders, which immediately elevates it to the upper echelon of "cool shit you can do" tier games. You wind up reining in both a giant spider, as mentioned, and a large cave troll. Trolls can knock down unbreakable things; Spiders can create webs and pull trees you couldn't otherwise yank. Shadow Magic is introduced here; unlike Light Magic, which heals you as you hit enemies, Shadow Magic enhances your damage, and also opens up certain seals. Light and Shadow have their own magic meters, thankfully, and you can choose which meter to fill when sucking up magic energy. Very smart decision.

Clever use of the hook: When rappeling on one segment, I had to swing off the wall face, leap off, and hook onto a grapple point that was just around the corner. It was easy to do, but the marvel is the implementation: even having never done something like that before, I was able to get it without much coercion from the game itself.

LEVEL 5: The levels are really starting to "standardize," not having nearly the variety visually as the first chapter did. This is okay, actually; the design of each level is incredibly distinctive, and each one has its own unique secrets. This level has more stuff to ride, including Wargs. These guys are built for jumping over gaps and climbing things Gabriel couldn't normally access.

LEVEL 6: Much more focused on grappling and area traversal, this level features a lot of secret areas only accessible using leaps of faith. You encounter your first flying enemy as well, and man... Those little devils are annoying. I mean it, they're actually little devil things. They arrive en masse at times, which makes it almost impossible to tackle them in the air. While annoying, their health is low.

LEVEL 7: This one focuses entirely on gathering four shards of a large crystal. Evidently, it can be used to summon a giant beast to help destroy everything on screen, but the game didn't recommend this route. Instead, it ends with a mirror puzzle. Before you plotz, it's a very minor one that's easy to grasp and solve. Unfortunately, you lose the crystal after the level. No big loss for now.

LEVEL 8: Entirely a boss battle. Much like the last giant boss, this one employs very similar SotC tactics. It manages to change things up by employing a few new wrinkles, including countering some of the giant stones it throws. It manages to be very similar to the previous titan, and yet it is a different enough experience to never feel TOO familiar.

LEVEL 9: Again, another straight-up boss fight. This is also the only level in the game thus far that has absolutely NO findable items. It's a no-nonsense battle, and it's a bit of a toughie. Though the enemy is smaller than a titan, it's got one particular attack that can be very difficult to dodge, and it is CONSTANT. It borders on annoying, but luckily the checkpoint system allows you to pick up at a later point in the battle.

CHAPTER 3:

LEVEL 1: Finally, I can try out the summon! And... it is murder. It took out three Greater Lycanthropes in one shot. Luckily, you don't need to collect four parts of a whole shard; rather, just find one and you're okay. This level introduces fairies, which are akin to little homing missiles, or tiny, naked suicide bombers. Much more environmental exploration this time around, with loads of grappling and swinging.

Also, great moment in game design: You are given a rod and two separate winches in which you must insert the rod. You use one winch to open a gate. You can actually then TAKE THE ROD OUT and insert it into another winch. As heavy as those last statements are in innuendo, I'm just so glad there wasn't the "one time use" problem I see in a lot of other games that do this.

LEVEL 2: Very short chapter, as this is the last level in this one. Obvious from the start that it's a boss area. By this point it's painfully obvious that the narrative tries really hard not to get in the way of the gameplay, to the point where it actually becomes difficult to follow. Yet, when a cutscene happens, it makes sure to grip you, even if it can be occasionally difficult to follow. Solid voice acting, solid animations for the most part... Even early on, it's a sign of good things to come.

The boss here is the first multi-form one. First form is fairly easy; powerful, but not much of an issue. The second, however, requires much quicker reflexes to stay alive, but otherwise doesn't deviate too much from the Wargs and Greater Lycanthropes. The final isn't so much a form as it is a last ditch effort, where you must attack an alternate target.

New item, the Cyclone Boots. Basically, allows you to dash, which nullifies much of the Warg's usage as a ridable enemy, save for climbing vines. Also adds quite a few new attacks! Very nice stuff.

CHAPTER 4:

LEVEL 1: Another two-level chapter. This one manages to successfully add in quite a bit of use to your boots. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to hear someone say your full abilities aren't on full display here, which is really showing the strength of the game. There's a rather fun boss battle in the middle, which pits you against a giant ogre of sorts. While not particularly difficult, his moves are occasionally hard to avoid.

The end of the level does something a little different... I really am not going to spoil this one, other than saying it's a very strange, weird change of pace from the usual combat.

LEVEL 2: A far more vertical level. You fight a new enemy type, a ghostly swordsman. These guys are actually pretty annoying; some may enchant their swords and will do some serious damage for a short time. Luckily, a summon will take them down quick.

The traversal upwards is easy, though I got hung up very briefly at one or two points, wondering where to go. The boss of the area is unconventional in that you don't actually attack it directly. You'll be doing a lot more fighting with some of the little broodlings the boss sends out. Redirecting the projectiles the boss fires is a bit hard to get used to, thanks to having to twirl the analog stick in a very specific direction, as you had to do against the second titan.

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Well, I am now officially one third of the way through the game, chapters-wise. The next chapter seems to be a bit beefier, at seven levels, so hopefully I can knock out two or three more by tomorrow. The game is honestly shaping up to be a heck of a lot of fun, and there was certainly a lot of care in the level design. The game holds your hand a fair amount of time, but never in an overtly pushy way. It saves you from a lot of bottomless pit deaths and tries to idiot-proof the gameplay as much as possible without making it simple, which certainly works in its favor.

Stay tuned. Looks like I might be doing a one-shot review of Comic Jumper before the week is done, so be on the lookout.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 2: The Beginning of the Journey

Note: I'll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum, but there WILL very likely be gameplay spoilers. Just keep that in mind.

CHAPTER 1:

LEVEL 1: The first level drops us in the middle of a hectic thunderstorm, complete with pouring rain and rainslick... everything, in the middle of an old village. Acting as a tutorial level of sorts (of course), this is where we come to grips with the meat and potatoes of the combat system. Those who have played God of War will instantly feel at home, and, thankfully, it shares a solid, yet smooth feel with its Sony exclusive cousin. Combat is generally tight, though perhaps just the slightest bit looser than some might prefer. Regardless, the core mechanics are fun; you actually FEEL like you're doing some decent damage.

An old wrinkle of Castlevania is back: Subweapons. No hearts this time around, however, as you now actually have a set amount you can carry with you at once, replenishing with drops from enemies. This may seem bad, but at least with daggers, the drop comes up fairly often, and they're actually quite a bit powerful, dropping Lycanthropes with a single toss. Problem, though: the number count for how many of a subweapon you have is incredibly tiny, even on an HD television. I have to squint just to see it.

The boss is a good couple of shades tougher than your usual foe, but with some smart dodging and blocking, he can be taken down somewhat easily. Slacking off can get you killed VERY quickly, however. Finishing off the fight involves lifting up a spear-like tree branch at just the right time as the Warg leaps off a small craggy outcropping after you. Impaling is SUCH a fun way to end a battle.

The game employs an experience system that acts more like a currency system: trade in points for a variety of new abilities, including but not limited to aerial combat moves, subweapon supermoves, and additional counter-attack types.

LEVEL 2: Showing off the variety in the game, half this mission takes place on horseback. You're fending off various Lycans and Wargs while trying to remain atop your valiant steed. Easier said than done, but as long as you recover after each hit with a cool head, you'll be fine.

Regardless of whether you stay atop the horse (it IS possible to be knocked off), you'll go through a couple of combat rounds with Lycans and Wargs, learning about counterattacks. They're pretty dang handy, especially when you get involved with larger crowds, as counterattacks are difficult to interrupt.

LEVEL 3: You're in a big swamp through this area. This level focuses on exploration; much of the bog involves navigating syrupy marshes that fork repeatedly for half the level. This wouldn't be so bad if you didn't move so slowly.

You net the Hook Tip for your weapon, the Combat Cross. It's essentially a hook shot, a la Zelda, save for the wrinkle that you can actually rappel on it. It's a fun addition, and actually gets utilized fairly well in this level.

The boss is a giant swamp troll in the middle of a cemetary. He uses tombstones as weapons against you, but is otherwise fairly harmless, if a bit durable. Afterwards is a platforming segment; it's almost impossible to fall unless you completely screw up a jump, which, again, is hard to do more thanks to rather spot on design and mechanics than hand-holding.

LEVEL 4: A very quiet level with no enemies. Your goal is to find five medallions with runic symbols on them. Luckily, they glow like the dickens so it's not particularly difficult. The medallions aren't exactly necessary to beat the level, but it's best to have as many as possible, as they are used to open a gate at the end. Basically, you match up the runes shown to you with the ones you have. A very easy puzzle if you explored often enough.

Another puzzle comes up: The kind where you have to turn a series of rings with marks on them, attempting to line up the marks. Moving one ring also moves another. There's a limit to how many turns you can take, though there's a Reset option. I managed to get it in five turns on my first try, something I don't think I could accomplish again purposefully.

LEVEL 5: Almost entirely a boss level. You fight a gigantic ice titan. The whole battle is very reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, even down to having to attack various runes placed on the titan's body. It's far faster paced, and the game basically tells you how to traverse his body using glowing body parts. It's easy to get thrown off, and it can occasionally be unclear when to dodge, but otherwise, it manages to capture a bit of that feel of SotC remarkably well.

It should also be noted that each mission has a trial you can undergo after beating it. The trials are essentially just tasks you can complete in order to attain more unlocks and percentage points to the level completion goal. Some are fairly easy, like Level 1's, where you have to keep just one survivor alive after the Warg fight, but some seem to be fairly tough, like Level 5's time limit mission, which I couldn't even get halfway through before time ran out. The game sets up fairly early that you're going to need to go back with beefier powers in order to complete the game 100%.

CHAPTER 2:

LEVEL 1: Further giving more visual variety, we're now in a more Mayan-looking area, with plenty of ruins within a slowly dying forest. New things learned here: Light Medallion, which, while you have magic active, heals you with every attack. You can get more energy for it by killing enemies without being in magic mode. You also get a Focus meter, which, for as long as you don't get hit in combat, gives you more magic energy than usual. Pretty nice incentive to learn the combat, actually.

LEVEL 2: Taking place under the rotted remains of an ancient tree, the caves are basically one really great excuse to shove spiders into a level. And I'm not talking itty bitty things there to shave off your health, I'm talking big honkin' spiders who poison you and tackle you. You fight a few of these throughout, and they're pretty fun battles. A few tight-rope walk segments which are actually pretty tolerable as well. New weapon, the Spiked Chain, which allows you to saw through some stone relics.

LEVEL 3: Though called a labyrinth, I'd hardly adjectivize this as "labyrinthine." However, it does add another cool thing: riding your enemies. Warthogs are introduced in this level, and if you can weaken them enough and rid them of their goblin riders, you can hop on their backs and lay waste to all your enemies. This is actually a very fun little segment that is probably too brief, but a great change of pace.

You also fight Greater Lycanthropes (well, one, to be exact), which are a fair deal tougher and faster than their Lesser counterparts. However, they're fought with much the same strategy, except they have unblockable attacks and, in turn, can block as well. We also get a few old cliches: rotating mechanisms that open doors. It's a little annoying, and causes confusion at the end of the level to figure out just how you're supposed to operate one, but it's a short-lived frustration, thankfully.

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TL;DR Version: There are definitely some cliches here. God of War's combat system [for the most part], Legend of Zelda's heart piece system [split into fives rather than fours], rotating winches, Colossus-style boss battles, traditional 3D tightrope walking... But here's the thing thus far: Unlike some games which purposefully ape another game or three, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow understands why some of these mechanics are fun in those games, and actually utilizes them in ways that honestly fit. The levels are just about the right length, all told, none taking up more than ten to fifteen minutes, MAYBE twenty if you're thorough. It is definitely inspired by old school Castlevania, and so far, that's nothing but total compliment.

Stay tuned for the rest of Chapter 2. Each level description's going to get shorter as time goes on as I'll have fewer new things to cover. Anything you guys want to see specifically? More plot references? More descriptions of the mechanics? Less level-by-level description in favor of something else? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: LoS Part 1: Unboxing

And right on time, the game comes in! [Enslaved: Journey to the West also came in, but we'll save that one for later.]

The first thing to notice is that it's got a rather fancy-pants cover. Rather than a 3D render of the main character, we get a rather lovely (if dark) painting of almost the exact same cover.

It's a lot more showy than the original art, and has that more "flair" kind of style akin to the Castlevania series as a whole, particularly later Metroidvania entries.

The plastic cover is so thin that I actually couldn't tell this thing loaded from the side! I nearly dropped it on my way to grab the camera. Still, though, it feels nice and glossy.

The case itself actually opens up like a book:

It starts out with a pretty decent art book glued right into the case. Unfortunately, it's a bit cumbersome to wield, but the plus side is that the print quality is gorgeous. Everything is glossy and beautiful, even if the contents are a bit paltry (30 pages, each with only one, MAYBE two concepts). There doesn't seem to be a lot of spoiler content in here; nearly everything within can be seen in any of the game's trailers, so don't worry too much about diving into it beforehand.

After that is the soundtrack, which is placed in its own cardboard sleeve on the next page (again, awkward to wield). The soundtrack listing is as thus:

1. Besieged Village

2. The Warg

3. Hunting Path

4. The Dead Bog

5. The Swamp Troll

6. The Ice Titan

7. Labyrinth Entrance

8. Waterfalls of Agharta

9. Agharta

10. Cornell

11. Maze Gardens

12. Castle Hall

13. The Evil Butcher

14. Laura's Mercy

15. Carmilla

16. The God Mask

17. Belmont's Theme

18. Final Confrontation

19. The End

20. The Last Battle

The last bit is just the typical case and manual (the latter of which features the standard edition cover art). The disc is a bit difficult to get out or even put back in, thanks to the center tab, to the point where you're less afraid about breaking the tab and more about the disc itself. A little care and extra pressure on the tab and you're fine, but this might worry some people.

Overall, this is a pretty nice setup. The soundtrack alone seems to be worth the extra $20, but the art book and packaging are definitely well done. However, with no extra game content or extra incentives, unless you've got the money to spend on luxuries like this, the standard edition might be the way to go. Still, all told, it looks quite nice on a shelf, isn't too large, and doesn't clutter much up.

Now Playing! - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3)

Coming soon! An actual blogpost! We'll be doing a playthrough of the long-anticipated Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, developed by MercurySteam with supervision from Kojima Studios.

Day 1 will involve an unboxing of the Limited Edition released in the States, as well as a three-hour (or more) play-through akin to my Parasite Eve run, though hopefully more well thought out and laid out. Spoilers will be minimal, only covering the beginning of the game. When the game is wrapped up, I'll hunker down and do a full review in its own post, so those who don't want to have gameplay mechanics and such spoiled won't have to worry.

Also stay tuned for an Enslaved playthrough and review as soon as LoS is wrapped up. I don't know about you guys, but playing as a buff monkeyman with a hot, redheaded slave-driver really gets my biscuits buttered.