BonsaiForest
(4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
08/30/2013 00:00:00
I bought this game, played it for a bit, lost interest quickly and stopped. It has nothing at all to do with any Castlevania, 2D or 3D.
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StarOutlaw
Since: Nov, 2010
11/02/2013 00:00:00
Actually, the game does explain why he murdered the blonde girl at the end, if you were paying attention.
Thunder, Thunder, Thunder...
Reviewgamesh
Since: Nov, 2012
01/16/2014 00:00:00
Was this while Death was milking the invisible cow and gloating? I could barely understand what anyone was saying in that scene.
DARTHYAN
Since: Jan, 2011
02/23/2014 00:00:00
Death used the devil mask to force Gabriel to do it. Also I rather liked Gavriel's arc and the story. Either way Lords of Shadow 2 looks awesome
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Unfortunately Generic.
Lords of Shadow is barely a Castlevania game. If the hero wasn't named Belmont and a few other names changed, it would be a lot more apparent what it is: a God of War clone with some Lord of the Rings (there are Tolkienesque orcs in here for some reason) and Pan's Labyrinth influence. If you removed the Vampire's Castle segment it would be even less apparent. It would simply be a generic actioner. Which is what it is, but with the Castlevania moniker slapped on.
You play as Gabriel Belmont, a rather Emo knight tasked with defeating the three Lords of Shadow. He's equipped with a Combat Cross, sort of a clockpunk take on the traditional Vampire Killer whip. Gabriel ventures across a land that I suppose we can assume is Transylvania, even though there are few trappings that would clue you in. The Gothic Horror setting is largely replaced with a generic medieval fantasy look and feel, right down to the soundtrack being a watered down Howard Shore-alike. The combat is passable, if a little unpolished in places. The platforming is less polished than that, with a poor camera and vague hints at where to jump padding things out. The game relies on Quick Time Events to a fault. It's not as unpolished as Splatterhouse 2010, so it at least has that going for it. But it's never polished in the right places. The graphics are beautifully rendered, but the environments aren't exciting. There are precious few graveyards or gothic scenery, being more inclined toward uninspired ruins, and certainly nothing Transylvanian. The Castle segment is cool, and would have made a good climax for the game. Unfortunately the game decides it's not over, and you get a trip to an excessively brown hell.
Most egregiously though, the story sucks. Castlevania has always been big on excuse plots, but this one is more like "find me an excuse to get out of here." Patrick Stewart is great. Patrick Stewart reading purple prose that isn't interesting is not great. There are also random moments that don't make any sense as you're playing. Why does Gabriel out of nowhere murder the blonde girl? There's no explanation given.
I don't know. Maybe it's just what's new and I'm old. If this is your first Castlevania and you like God of War style games, you might like it, but I don't recommend it to Castlevania fans.