Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is looking to be a very good thing

[snickothemule]

Castlevania is one of those franchises you just cannot keep down. Spectacular entries into the series for consoles include Rondo of Blood and the legendary Symphony of the Night. Hiccups with 3rd person outings on the N64 however left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth and were never widely accepted by gaming audiences. Curse of Darkness and Lament of Innocence on the PS2 also failed to really give the series the much sought after boost in quality and as a result Castlevania on the console hasn't really wowed people the way it did all those years ago on the PSOne. Where Castlevania did perform strongly was on the handheld, with GBA and DS versions of the side scroller getting excellent responses from reviewers and a solid fanbase amongst gamers.

Lords of Shadow for the PS3 and 360 however looks to set all the wrongs that have been done with console editions and introduce a reboot to the series that has been long sought after. Although the developer; MercurySteam may not have the most spectacular track record (Cliive Barker's Jericho anyone), having teamed up with Hideo Kajima, they definitely look like they are onto something very very special for fans of the series.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow takes place at the end of days. The Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a dark and malevolent force - the mysterious Lords of Shadow - darkness reins the world. Across this shattered land, the souls of the dead wander unable to find peace, whilst creatures of evil roam free wreaking chaos and death upon the living.

Gabriel is a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent against the supernatural. His beloved wife was brutally murdered by the evil forces of darkness and her soul trapped for eternity. Neither living nor dead she realizes the horrific truth of what is at stake and guides Gabriel to his destiny - and hopefully salvation for the world... but at what cost?

Playing like a Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, God of War style gameplay and set in Medievil times LoS is definitely heading in the right direction. The weapon Gabriel weilds is a whip, used to kill enemies and to also navigate the game world, is upgradable and looks to kick all kinds of ass. Best of all the game is going to be long.

Cox said that - despite Hideo Kojima's involvement in LOS - cut-scenes weren't to blame. "They're pretty short," he commented. "Our longest one is 14 minutes, which is the end sequence... The game's around 24 hours long and every level's different. We have so much variety and we re-use very little assets."

The game will ship with one blu-ray disc for the PS3, and 2 dvd's for the 360, with an option to install to the harddrive to avoid having to swap. With the game lasting a day in length however, and claimed to remain unique throughout, this new Castlevania game is definitely the one that console gamers have been waiting for a very long time.

Lord of Shadows is set for a Q4 2010 release. Needless to say I am very excited about this game.

KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS "Castlevania -Lords of Shadow-"
News: Xbox's lack of Blu-ray a 'problem' for developers - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Last edited by snickothemule; August 4th, 2010 at 02:10..

[Noja87]

I wonder if Kojima was the one who persuaded them to overhaul everything. The game originally was going to be different with Alucard as main. Gameplay probably the same as the Ps2 and xbox games.

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[Strike105X]

This looks seriously awesome and its the second game that actually makes me interested in having a new gen console.

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[Noja87]

That trailer gets me pumped every time i see it. And i have seen it at least 30 times lol.

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[runawayprisoner]

Yeah, I've read that Kojima was involved in the character design somehow. His advices led to how Gabriel looks like right now (bearing a close resemblance to the voice actor) and also led to the way the story lays out.

Accordingly, they said they wanted it to suit to a darker style, and that the story should show the growth of the character rather than having a supernatural hero (Alucard) who can go in and decimate anything...

[StriderVM]

Wow, they talked about the developers Clive Barkers Jericho like it's the worse thing since Day of the Zombie......

They created pretty a good atmosphere for the game, and with Kojima helping them, it sounds like a good plan....

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Last edited by StriderVM; August 6th, 2010 at 14:57.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

[deamonhunter]

all this hype and then gamespot will grant this game a 6.5/10 , this what will happen i tell you

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[Desred]

Originally Posted by StriderVM

Wow, they talked about the developers Clive Barkers Jericho like it's the worse thing since Day of the Zombie......

They created pretty a good atmosphere for the game, and with Kojima helping them, it sounds like a good plan....

yup. I honestly thought Jericho to be majorly underrated. It was fun for me.

[Geralt Of Rivia]

Originally Posted by deamonhunter

all this hype and then gamespot will grant this game a 6.5/10 , this what will happen i tell you

I don't think so. This game has potential. I think it will get between 8.5 to 9.0

[Hiei-YYH]

kojima pro is working on it, for sure is a 9.0/10.0 game :P

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[koko]

I don't trust reviewers anyway. I just like to watch their reviews, though.

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[Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Noja87

I wonder if Kojima was the one who persuaded them to overhaul everything. The game originally was going to be different with Alucard as main. Gameplay probably the same as the Ps2 and xbox games.

I liked the look of this a lot more, it looks so generic now.. at least to me. The scene with the werewolf on his back while riding a horse was pretty cool looking though.

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[Strike105X]

To me that looks way more generic...

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[Dynamo]

I mean generic in terms of recent action/adventure released on 360/ps3.

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[Strike105X]

I mean generic as in general generic.

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[Dynamo]

Anyways, that clip to me looks like a Castlevania game. The other clip at moments seems like Gow, AC and several other games. Even though it doesn't show any actual gameplay so would be hard to base it just on that; could surprise me I guess. I really enjoyed castlevania games but have skipped some recent ones after a few disappointing games.

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[Silenus]

I actually enjoyed Curse of Darkness a lot, I think that was the best 3d Castlevania yet.

Seems this is another reason for me to get a PS3.

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[Geralt Of Rivia]

I was just reading a local game site, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair got a very, very bad review. 2/5 - dispensable
I wonder how the reviews are going worldwide.

Konami doesn't stop surprising us..... Negatively, that is. Especially now when Castlevania fans were expecting a flash of light in the end of the tunnel, their expectations entirely goes down the drain.

Announced as the return of 2D Castlevania genre, Harmony of Despair promised to bring the acclaimed Symphony of Night experience back,
but Konami decided to innovate the game and finished with all the interesting ideas that the game had promised.

Just a sample. Don't feel like translating the whole stuff.

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Last edited by Geralt Of Rivia; August 7th, 2010 at 02:48..

[Noja87]

It has 71% in game rankings. The critics are split. One side says its too frustrating and hard while the other enjoys it.

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[Xblade]

Multiplayer games always get bashed by the friendless .

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