Re: Games Discussion Thread
Alright, finally beat it today after much aggravation. Here are my thoughts on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
I'll start by saying I wasn't particularly excited for this game. Which is odd as I usually love a good hack and slash (which this primarily is) and even the bits of good platforming. Amusingly I think what kind of threw me off was the weapon Gabriel Belmont uses: the combat cross. I don't know why that threw me off, but I've always preferred a good sword in my hand, that's just the way I play. Regardless I rented this from Jumbo Video for a few days, and sat down, and beat it.
The way the game is broken down is that there are 12 chapters accessible from the menu. Each chapter has a various amount of levels within. Anywhere from 1 to somewhere around 10. I'll be mentioning these throughout so, it's good to know.
So, bad points first. I like to do these first as sometimes they stick out in my mind the most, and for others reading or glancing through bad points can be what makes or breaks a game more than the good points. I will also not be spoiling anything even when discussing later levels. So here they are:
-Fixed camera angles. I'll mention these again later as for the most part they worked okay. However, the lack of using the right stick the move my angle of sight got to be annoying in some portions of the game, especially platform heavy portions of the game that would have the camera at such an angle, that what you thought was a platform was actually the floor you were killing things on five minutes ago and ten stories below, leading to some damage. What they did do well here was that instead of falling all the way back down to start again, or dying only to reload at that spot, you are instantly brought back to right where you were about to jump, but with a little loss of health.
-An entire chapter that is utterly pointless. I know I said I wouldn't spoil anything, but the chapter I'm about to talk about is so far removed from the storyline that if it hadn't been included it probably would have made a tighter game overall. Even if some people found these levels interesting...
Anyway, the whole chapter revolves around you finding the hag Baba Yaba, and then going to a village to find the three pieces of a key to her music box, so she can put you inside so you can find a blue rose that will make her young and beautiful again. Then she will send you on your way. I think what really made me pissed at this whole thing, is that despite all the effort I went through to get this damn thing, I don't even get to see her young, I'm just scuttled along to the next level and it's as though nothing ever happened.
-Some very obtuse puzzles. Some of the puzzles in this game, are ridiculous. They had me stumped, and when I gave up and unlocked the solution in the game at the cost of experience points, I sat there thinking "That's fucking retarded." I'm not a puzzle gamer, and while some simple things here and there, and even some challenging ones that make sense, are okay with me. But when I unlock the answer and it still looks obtuse, well then there's a bit of a problem there. One puzzle even expects you to know the signs of the zodiac off by heart. Or at least have an almanac sitting nearby. Then there were the puzzles in which I knew exactly what to do, but the move required to do them was inaccurate as shit and it just drove me nuts when I kept missing this tiny little button on the floor while Gabriel fluttered all over the place like a fairy with its ass caught in a blow torch.
-The downward spiral of the leadup towards the end Heavy platforming, level progression hidden better than some of the secret areas, backtracking, getting utterly lost in a linear game, ridiculous enemies. Really the final act, the last few chapters of this game had me so damn frustrated and annoyed that I considered just giving the game back to Jumbo and never picking it up again. "That cave that looks like a dead end that's nestled away in the far corner of the map that you have to jump over water spouting poisonous fumes on an island that may or may not be shown by your camera angle depending on where you happen to be standing when you land on the one tiny piece of rock leading towards it... well that's actually the way, it's tucked away to the side there." I'm not even exaggerating that. I really wish I was. So slow and tedious combat against enemies that are easy to destroy and boring to fight (especially after some the awesome earlier enemies with excellent design) and sometimes kill you in two hits... just cause. This final act almost utterly ruined the game for me.
Now, on to good points.
-The ending. I want to say this right away because of my mini rant on the final act. The end boss was a really fun fight. The most fun I had, had with the game in fact, since the second Lord of Shadow boss fight an entire act earlier. And while the final cutscene made me cock my head a bit, I was caught off guard by what happened, despite the spoilers I had accidentally read (and which I got pissy about in the hate thread), and the epilogue after the credits was well done as well. Congrats and wrapping up the game folks.
-The combat. for the most part rather solid. There were some portions where I would dodge and get hit anyway, and arial attacks were pretty much useless against any of the larger enemies as they'd just smack you out of the air, and the smaller enemies didn't even really need to be attacked from the air. Still, it felt solid, and was pretty fun. The combat cross has quite the reach on it, and the combos were pretty easy and fluid to pull off. So for a game centered mostly around killing all sorts of ghoulies, the fact that they did this well paid off. Also, there's no combo count in this one. Instead they have a meter at the bottom of the screen that you fill by getting in repeated hits without taking any damage. When it's full every hit drops a bunch of neutral magic.
-Magic. The magic is rather simple, but interesting. The concept is this, you have light magic which lets your attacks heal you, and shadow magic, which hurts the enemies more. These are activated by the press of a button, but only one at a time can be activated. To make things further interesting, you recharge it by finding "neutral element obs". However you have to choose which bar to refill... light or shadow, which can make things interesting. The light magic is also the only way to heal aside from the occasional green gem collectible (five increases the health bar) or healing fountain, and some puzzles need magic. I liked how they incorporated it. I only wish monsters dropped a bit more of the stuff.
-the Story: Now not everyone will agree with me here. There are many portions that are rather cliche, but the way its delivered and the wrap up was very well executed. I enjoyed it all (except for that one fucking chapter). There are some strong performances from Robert Carlyle and Patrick Stewart (the two voices you hear the most), and the rest of the cast was pretty damn good in my opinion as well.
So that's my thoughts on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, in a nutshell. It was a mostly enjoyable experience with mostly solid gameplay (except the final act). The graphics and art style were well done as well (even if I think Gabriel's head is a wee bit too small for his body, which is apparantly massive as fuck when you see him standing next to some villagers), and I really liked the enemy designs, even if some of them looked like they were ripped from silent hill.
So... recommended for folks who enjoy combat heavy platformers, hack and slash titles, monster killing galore, or just get off and spray the television with jizz whenever they hear Patrick Stewart or Robert Carlyle.
