The Belmonts are back to their monster hunting ways and, this time, you are in the boots of Gabriel Belmont. Your wife has been slain and you are up against a huge battle with the unearthly forces known as the ‘Lords Of Shadow’. Throughout your adventure you will meet a cast of characters, including one voiced by Patrick Stewart, to help fill in story gaps. While the game’s story is solid, there are times it feels a bit confusing. In fact, there are several points in the game where the player could get lost not really knowing why they are doing what they are set out to do. Thankfully the great action in the game pulls the player back into the story and ties it up nicely. The story while not the deepest written story is still a great spin on the Castlevania franchise.
GAMEPLAY:
Imagine putting God Of War, Uncharted, and Hideo Kojima’s games in a salad bowl and then tossing them around. Do so and you will pretty much get Lords Of Shadow to serve up on your entertainment dish. The gameplay takes all the great elements from those hit games and gives them to the player in a Castlevania box. Third-person adventuring awaits you as the controls sticks move Gabriel and the camera as it would in any other in the genre. The player uses the buttons to perform jumps and attacks with the awesome Castklevania spiked whip. Remember the old days of firing off daggers and items you pick up off the ground? Those items are still here and can be upgraded via in-game menus. The great thing about the action in Lords of Shadow is that the gameplay is its character advancement. As you progress and kill monsters, you gain the ability to upgrade moves in your diary. There are certain points in the game where you come across brotherhood tomes that upgrade your physical weapons to epic proportions.
The gameplay in Lords Of Shadow is challenge at times with a ton of attacking and dodging your opponents in a frantic manner. Throw in Uncharted-like climbing and God Of War-like puzzles and you have a great all-around action game. Also fun are the boss battles, which are HUGE and provide for some anxiety-filled moments. The only downside of the gameplay is the camera. I pray to the heavens above that developers will find a way to make a 3rd person game without a messed-up, fixed camera system. There were so many moments in the game that I wanted to punch my TV because the camera was getting locked in directions where I could not fight properly.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND:
Lords Of Shadow is, hands-down, a beautiful game. It shows off the power of the PlayStation 3 and provides the player with some seriously beautiful landscapes. There were many moments in the game where you will like you are in some sort of cinematic movie, just staring at the environment. From dirty, rain-filled streets to lush forests – each area comes alive and is a pleasure to be immersed in. The character models are the equally-great and really drive home emotion via the characters faces. At times, Gabriel is seriously disturbed and you could feel the trauma that he is going through just through his expressions. The beautiful graphics do come with a price though. There were several moments in the game that suffered from huge FPS lag issues. There was one spot where things almost slowed to a halt and I thought I was going to have to turn off the system. These FPS bugs were very common in very graphically-intense areas.
The sound design in Lords Of Shadows is very well done and the voice acting plays a huge part in its story development, so adding star power like Patrick Stewart really helped. Aside from Sir Jean-Luc, the other actors also did a great job and helped make the story believable. Environment sounds and effects were spot-on, adding to the feel of being in some really tense situations. No sound errors were found during my entire play test.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Even if you are new to the series, Lords Of Shadow is an excellent reboot to the Castlevania name. It takes a different spin on things and provides some really high action moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat. While not without it’s bugs, Lords Of Shadow is worth shelling out some hard-earned dough for.
