So I´ve returned from corona-cleaning-up my mile long list of backlog games. I´ve just finished this abomination of a Castlevania game.
To start of I´m not a super castlevania fan. I´ve played 3-4 of the games, both from the linear and metroidvania-period, and I´ve enjoyed every one of them to some degree. Nothing has been groundbreaking for me, but the sorta goofy gothic horror setting has always enticed me. It´s fun to see the japanese rendering of other countries fantasy lore.
First of all. Yes, this plays like God of War. I don´t get why so many try to act like it doesn´t. It´s a 3rd person action game where you fight with a chain, collect currency and buy new combos, get magic and health from ches.. sorry statues and you fight big monste... no titans and solve light puzzles. Now, there´s nothing wrong with playing like GoW. I´ve played almost every game in that series and enjoyed it alot. Lords of Shadows just play like an entirely inferior version and here´s why:
- The camera is straight up ass. It jitters like it´s on crack and really want to show you this wall over here while you whip monsters off screen. Amazing.
- The controls unite with the camera to form the unholy duo of ass. It´s floaty and stiff at the same time with several button pushes simply not registering (no faulty controller) or giving different results a lot of the times. Examples: I jump straight up to grab a ledge pressing only the jump button. The first to times Gabriel don´t grab while he does the third time for some reason. Another time he simply refused to climb in a direction. After I went back, jumped down and back again he suddenly would. Exact same button presses both times... Several times he would literally jump in the opposite direction of where I pushed the stick. Incredible.
- The pacing, in the beginning especially, is fucking horrendous. The first handful of chapters go on forever with little of interest happening. Also, the feel of the game is all over the place with a large portion feeling like an entirely different game. It´s like several games spliced together like Frankensteins monster.. hmm maybe appropriate after all.
- The titan boss battles are insanely boring and feel like a very inferior version of big-monster-scaling-battles from GoW or Shadow of Colossus. There´s zero tension in these sections, but there´s also zero spectacle or splendor like the previously mentioned games. They´re just there to tick off a box.
- I don´t give a shit if Patrick Stewart is voice acting if the dialogue is poopy and everyone else is mediocre or worse.
- The story is dumb and even worse it tries to play it off completely seriously. Shit just appears and happens because "it´s cool", yet it´s not at all. It tries to do both "heart wrenching love story" and "maybe you´re the real monster!?!", but without fleshing out the characters or making you feel or sympathize with any of it. It simply states these things and hopes you are braindead enough to follow along without asking questions.
I enjoyed the basic combat and progression enough to want to finish it. Sometimes it would hit a good flow and I would imagine the game would´ve helped tremendously if it got rid of all it´s fluff.
So ERA, what´s your verdict on this game?
To start of I´m not a super castlevania fan. I´ve played 3-4 of the games, both from the linear and metroidvania-period, and I´ve enjoyed every one of them to some degree. Nothing has been groundbreaking for me, but the sorta goofy gothic horror setting has always enticed me. It´s fun to see the japanese rendering of other countries fantasy lore.
First of all. Yes, this plays like God of War. I don´t get why so many try to act like it doesn´t. It´s a 3rd person action game where you fight with a chain, collect currency and buy new combos, get magic and health from ches.. sorry statues and you fight big monste... no titans and solve light puzzles. Now, there´s nothing wrong with playing like GoW. I´ve played almost every game in that series and enjoyed it alot. Lords of Shadows just play like an entirely inferior version and here´s why:
- The camera is straight up ass. It jitters like it´s on crack and really want to show you this wall over here while you whip monsters off screen. Amazing.
- The controls unite with the camera to form the unholy duo of ass. It´s floaty and stiff at the same time with several button pushes simply not registering (no faulty controller) or giving different results a lot of the times. Examples: I jump straight up to grab a ledge pressing only the jump button. The first to times Gabriel don´t grab while he does the third time for some reason. Another time he simply refused to climb in a direction. After I went back, jumped down and back again he suddenly would. Exact same button presses both times... Several times he would literally jump in the opposite direction of where I pushed the stick. Incredible.
- The pacing, in the beginning especially, is fucking horrendous. The first handful of chapters go on forever with little of interest happening. Also, the feel of the game is all over the place with a large portion feeling like an entirely different game. It´s like several games spliced together like Frankensteins monster.. hmm maybe appropriate after all.
- The titan boss battles are insanely boring and feel like a very inferior version of big-monster-scaling-battles from GoW or Shadow of Colossus. There´s zero tension in these sections, but there´s also zero spectacle or splendor like the previously mentioned games. They´re just there to tick off a box.
- I don´t give a shit if Patrick Stewart is voice acting if the dialogue is poopy and everyone else is mediocre or worse.
- The story is dumb and even worse it tries to play it off completely seriously. Shit just appears and happens because "it´s cool", yet it´s not at all. It tries to do both "heart wrenching love story" and "maybe you´re the real monster!?!", but without fleshing out the characters or making you feel or sympathize with any of it. It simply states these things and hopes you are braindead enough to follow along without asking questions.
I enjoyed the basic combat and progression enough to want to finish it. Sometimes it would hit a good flow and I would imagine the game would´ve helped tremendously if it got rid of all it´s fluff.
So ERA, what´s your verdict on this game?
