Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - The Next Hideo Kojima Game

[LLR]

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Hideo Kojima.  I love his work, he is a fantastic writer/director of games.   If I ever met him in real life, I would probably happily shake his hand and tell him how much I enjoy his story lines and his work.  I would give it about 15 seconds before I began shaking him by the shoulders and asking him what the heck his problem is though.   "Three hours of cinema scenes with only 15 minutes of gameplay!  Come on man!"  ( although he does get cool points for letting me drive Metal Gear Rex and fight MG Ray in MGS4..... for all of 7 minutes!...grr..)  So after playing MGS4 I wondered, "Is Kojima done with games?  I mean, he milked MGS for all his worth and the other franchise never really did well.  (I liked ZOE btw but not a lot of people did)  Thinking he might make a ZOE3 I looked it up and found a quote from last year: "I'll make ZOE3 but only if enough people show they want it."  Well, I'll take that as a no.  So from out of no where I was blindsided by his new project.  And with out further spamage, I give you...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y8F0dQM1DI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y8F0dQM1DI</a>

What is this?  An epic Castlevania game that is not 2D?  I really should have seen this coming from Konami.   But anyway- The story revolves around Gabriel Belmont.  

Who is obviously a Belmont as signified by his head and shoulders being disproportionate to the rest of his body.   (wow, they've came a long way from the days of ol' Simon)
 
So, Gabriel is most probably the last of the Belmont line and Dracula has killed his wife and the world is about to end.  Gabriel believes if he defeats boss beasty he can get access to his mask of the dead.  With it, he thinks he can bring his dearly departed back to life..  But to do it he may turn evil.  Gameplay wise it looks a lot like (imo) Metroid Prime in 3rd person (grapple hook/whip = <3) and the Legacy of Kain series.  IMO that is awesome!  It will be on PS3 on a single blu ray disk and Xbox 360 on probably 30 disks.  (I kid, but srsly, knowing Kojima there will be hours of scenes...)  The game is looking pretty nice and will be ready sometime next year.  You can find a bit more here> Interview with David Cox, the guy under Kojima.   So knowing Kojima's history... how will this game end?  

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The ending scene imo (hey, I"m having fun here).  Belmont gets the mask after defeating what he thinks is Dracula and brings his dead wife back to life only to find out she is now evil and she becomes the final boss.   After killing her, Belmont stands at her grave and uses his own whip to attempt to hang him self on a nearby tree.  He is stopped just in time by Alucard pushing a small frail man in a wheelchair.  "Stop right there, Belmont.  HE is the reason for all of this..  And I am your father."   The scene then points to the frail old man in the wheelchair and we learn it is what is left of Dracula.  He is being kept alive by some primitive vampiric life support system pumping human blood into his belly.  "I shall now pull the plug."  After letting ol Drac die, Alucard too then parishes by some unknown virus carried by all Belmonts after reaching a certain age.  Belmont then hears the voice of God -played by Hideo Kojima- and tells him his Quest is over.  Belmont saves the world and lives the rest of his days as a monk.

The End


Sounds good!  Sign me up!  

-LLR

[DarkLink]

Looks like a GoW rip off to me. Good but GoW-esque. I mean, you've got the chain-linked blades and the jumping-slashing-spinning-eye gougey goodness. I'm skeptical of a lot of this game. It might be worth it but we will wait.

[LLR]

Looks like a GoW rip off to me. Good but GoW-esque. I mean, you've got the chain-linked blades and the jumping-slashing-spinning-eye gougey goodness. I'm skeptical of a lot of this game. It might be worth it but we will wait.

I must confess.  I've never played any of the GoW games.  I could be convinced to try them but the story never really interested me and just seemed to have gratuitous blood/gore scenes.   Not that this doesn't but the Castlevania games have always been dark and I do like Kojima games...  I just wish he would let me play his games more than just watch.

[DarkLink]

Looks like a GoW rip off to me. Good but GoW-esque. I mean, you've got the chain-linked blades and the jumping-slashing-spinning-eye gougey goodness. I'm skeptical of a lot of this game. It might be worth it but we will wait.

I must confess.  I've never played any of the GoW games.  I could be convinced to try them but the story never really interested me and just seemed to have gratuitous blood/gore scenes.   Not that this doesn't but the Castlevania games have always been dark and I do like Kojima games...  I just wish he would let me play his games more than just watch.

Agreed. You, sir, are looking at a GoW rip off in the making. If you watch some GoW vids on Youtube you'd understand.

[Scott Shelby]

Looks like a GoW rip off to me. Good but GoW-esque. I mean, you've got the chain-linked blades and the jumping-slashing-spinning-eye gougey goodness. I'm skeptical of a lot of this game. It might be worth it but we will wait.

I must confess.  I've never played any of the GoW games.  I could be convinced to try them but the story never really interested me and just seemed to have gratuitous blood/gore scenes.   Not that this doesn't but the Castlevania games have always been dark and I do like Kojima games...  I just wish he would let me play his games more than just watch.

Agreed. You, sir, are looking at a GoW rip off in the making. If you watch some GoW vids on Youtube you'd understand.

Wow. Completely wrong. The Belmonts have been using whips and chain blades since the inception of the series. If anyone "copied" anyone it was the other way around. And if you pause at 1:57, the monster is clearly being yanked down by its tongue, not its eyeballs.  CV did the whole long ranged weapons/ fighting colossal monsters/ undead a long time before GoW came along. Though, I am not bashing GoW because it is a fantastic series in its own right (I've beaten 1 and 2), just saying that this is the realization of a 3D transition, not a copying of any sorts.

[DarkLink]

Looks like a GoW rip off to me. Good but GoW-esque. I mean, you've got the chain-linked blades and the jumping-slashing-spinning-eye gougey goodness. I'm skeptical of a lot of this game. It might be worth it but we will wait.

I must confess.  I've never played any of the GoW games.  I could be convinced to try them but the story never really interested me and just seemed to have gratuitous blood/gore scenes.   Not that this doesn't but the Castlevania games have always been dark and I do like Kojima games...  I just wish he would let me play his games more than just watch.

Agreed. You, sir, are looking at a GoW rip off in the making. If you watch some GoW vids on Youtube you'd understand.

Wow. Completely wrong. The Belmonts have been using whips and chain blades since the inception of the series. If anyone "copied" anyone it was the other way around. And if you pause at 1:57, the monster is clearly being yanked down by its tongue, not its eyeballs.  CV did the whole long ranged weapons/ fighting colossal monsters/ undead a long time before GoW came along. Though, I am not bashing GoW because it is a fantastic series in its own right (I've beaten 1 and 2), just saying that this is the realization of a 3D transition, not a copying of any sorts.

Well I hadn't known that, not a huge Castlevania fan. Sorry.

[LLR]

Even if it borrowed certain elements from GoW, I can already think of several advantages of this title over GoW.

1) It is made by Hideo Kojima, something of a legend of a game maker.
2) It will be in 1080p beautiful high definition graphics on next gen consoles.
3) I'm a sucker (and I'm sure some of you are too) for nostalgia games that I grew up with.  I loved playing the Castlevania series as a kid! *sheds tear of joy for yet another 25+ year old series getting a nod from todays standards*
4) It has voice actors that are worth a damn.  I'm a fan of the Legacy of Kain games not only for the dark Gothic feel but also the great voice actors.  Something that series had in common with the MGS series.  The voice actors made you feel like it was a movie and not just a game.  This also = a great storyline that is not slap dash put together.
5) It has Captain Picard as a voice actor!  Srsly, GoW got Patric Stewart?  
6) Belmont is just another name for "Awesome"  ok, I made that one up
7)GoW was on PS2 and PS2 couldn't use HDMI cables!  
8.) Vampires are the new in thing, rather than bald guys with tattoos.  (Ok, I don't know much about the GoW series)
9)Kojima will probably make a few of these games and if its any good, that will be a good thing!
10) I'm srsly hoping that the music is as good as the other classic Castlevania games.  Castlevania IV had some of the most memorable music on the SNES.  Come on Konami!

 :

[DarkLink]

10 Reasons

I'll give you all those... except for 6. Thats just cheesy

[LLR]

Doesn't this game come out soon?  Anyone excited?   Any new nifty details?  So far I've only seen some hand held shaky videos of game play and this:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyzhjKVFxbI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyzhjKVFxbI</a>
Reminds me a lot of the Legacy of Kain series..  I likey! 

[LLR]

Comes out tomorrow!  Am I the only one that is excited?   

[LLR]

Just played the Demo on XBL.  I loved it!  Fantastic demo.. A bit dark but I can dig it.  It is suppose to be.  My decision is should I pick the game up on Xbox or PS3?  I've owned 2 Xboxes though... one crapped out on me... I like the controller better though.. I picked up the PS3 controller and tried pulling off some of those moves.... My fingers slipped off of L2 and R2...  That sort of bugs me.  I wanted to try the demo on PSN but there isn't one?  That just seems like a bad marketing decision to me.

The demo had a nice voice over from Patric Stewart asking "What drives a man.."  It was nice!  The voice acting is quite polished and feels natural.. Nothing seemed forced in the demo.   About graphics, there was some slow down in the graphics but there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the demo that claimed things like that are only in the demo.  The controls, well - not having played the God of War games (which I'm told is very similar to the controls of this game)  I enjoyed it very much.  I fancy a game that lets you feel like your a bad ass and the moves are hard enough so you feel like your earning it.  To me, it feels like Devil May Cry (the first one) mixed with Legacy of Kain 2 and 3.  This = two thumbs up in my opinion.  I will mull it over tonight which version I will buy..  Only pros I can' think of for the Xbox is the controls and achievements.  Cons are my Xbox may die on me (again), the graphics might not be as good and there are 2 disks.  Pros for the PS3 are possibly smoother graphics, reliable system and one disk.  Cons... no achievements (which wont show up in my sig.. lol) and I don't like the controller as much.

[LLR]

Alright!  I'm a few hours into the game an I have some opinions I thought I might share with you guys.  I know all of you are just dieing to hear about this game..  No srsly?  I'm I the only person on The Hylia that was excited about this game?  BAH!

Anyway!  So far I really like the game!  It feels dark, foreboding and ... much like a Castlevania game!  A Castlevania game that had been spiked with a few other games but hey, it works and the end result (so far) is enjoyable.  Having never played any of the God of War games (nor do I really want to)  I will have to compare this game to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Devil May Cry (but no guns)  The weapon of choice in the game is the trademark whip... and it is awesome.  Being able to hit many enemies on the screen at one time with a few combos is very enjoyable.  Corner a werewolf in a corner and whip him to pieces and see 2 more sneaking up behind you, just mash the triangle button and do the "around the world" move to knock them back.  Sure it doesn't hurt as bad but it knocks them backwards and gives you enough time to finish what you were doing.  That battling feels a bit like Soul Reaver in a way... only with no sword.  And when jumping into the air and unleashing combos and you just sort of hang there for a moment kicking butt.. well that feels like Devil May Cry but with no guns...  closest thing to guns you have are silver daggers and you can only hold 5 to10 at a time..  (At least until I get those naked, kamikaze fairies... wtf?)  You earn experience points by defeating enemies and you cash that in for more moves.. just like Devil May Cry.  It works well and fits the game perfectly.  The world its self and the way you get through it reminds me a LOT of Soul Reaver.  Being able to repel up walls and hang from edges and jump to the next feels natural and enjoyable.  So far nothing is driving me crazy.  I game over'd a few times on my first mini boss...  I didn't realize how to combo during event moments.  After I had my aha moment I took the mini boss down no problem.  I like!

The storyline is good.  You start off not knowing much.. (and it is suppose to be that way)  Your Gabriel Belmont and his wife was just murdered 2 days ago by demons.  He is a Belmont and wants revenge...  The world seems to be ending and dark forces are taking over the world and killing off the last of the human race.  Mr. Belmont is more than willing to take a crack at ol Drac and give the world back its light. 

Graphics wise.. well.. I was impressed and not at the same time.  I played both the Xbox and PS3 versions and I ended up buying the PS3 version.  Reasons were clarity.  I could see a better picture with the PS3 BUT this is a two way street.  When it is raining... the graphics become something different.  Picture if you will, (or do it) Fire up Smash Bros. Melee and go to options and turn the sharpness all the way up, then go into your TV settings and turn those sharp settings up too.  When rain is falling and reflecting off of every surface it feels like the images are so sharp that my eyes might bleed.. It sort of hurts a bit... I didn't get this on the Xbox version.. the rain looked better (if just more dull fits better but it was better with no eye bleeding)  But as long as the game has no rain... it is beautiful.  Some parts look almost real with Gabe strutting around in his over sized torso and neck.

Things that bug me....  The goblins, srsly - Kojima? WTF?  WRONG GAME, DUDE!  I arrived at stage 2 in the bog and was greeted by a tribe of goblins.  I chuckled at the fact they looked lilke they just walked off the set of Lord of the Rings and then they threw a hand grenade at me..  Yes, a hand grenade.. in the year of our lord in 1093.  I happen to know grenades weren't invented for another 600 years... someone is in error here.  Well anyway, after playing a game of "hot potato" and tossed it back and destroyed a tree my new path was opened to my first mini boss.

Anyone else out there picked this up?  It is good on both Xbox and PS3!  Anyone?

[Adam]

I'm actually strongly considering picking this up.  I'm not a big Castlevania fan (only ever played Circle of the Moon, but it was fun), and I've never played God of War or similar style games, but this looks like fun.  As long as I can semi-strategically beat up some monsters, look like a badass, and learn new moves to more efficiently beat up monsters in an even more badass fashion, that's really all I want.

[LLR]

You want bad ass?  You'll get plenty of it here.  I'm liking this game more than I thought I would. It is hard as hell!  I thought on normal mode is what I should start out on.. I did fine for awhile...  I got to this part in Stage II where you fight about 20 werewolves and one huge spider.  The werewolves weren't that strong.. problem was dodging the spider AND killing off the wolves first!   If you get hit in the middle of a combo it knocks you out of it.. also, (for bad ass factor) you learn light magic and when you turn it on you heal your wounds and cures you of poison and makes your attacks hurt more.... awesome... problem is you don't have much OF this magic.. to GET it.. you have to hit enemies in succession with out ever getting hit to make the magic gauge fill. So the game repays you for being a bad ass.  The spider would poison you and while you were trying to bring the huge 8 legged problem down the wolves would interrupt your combo and you would get owned in mid air.  Ouch.  My problem was I game over'd like 10 times there because I couldn't get the combos down right.  I started getting it and it feels more natural the more you play.  You get experience points for killing enemies and you use that experience to learn more moves or build onto moves you already know.   The first boss.... I was very impressed with..  The

(click to show/hide)

Ice Titan.  The thing is HUGE...  So huge you have to use your whip as a grapple hook and pull your self onto it's arms, there you have to destroy these weak sections of the ice to bring the beast down.  The fight takes you all across the thing, from it's arms, it's chest , it's back and neck and then the side of the face.  Very satisfying battle.

I shudder to think what the other locked difficulties are like...

Tips I can think of so far (That the game didn't tell me about) is there is a health gauge option for enemies that you can turn ON.  This helps out A LOT.  See which enemies are hurt the most and take them down before starting a combo on a fully healed werewolf.   Also, daggers?  You can only hold 5 and then 10 later on, I thought they were useless.  The daggers are made of SILVER (reading the scrolls help) and silver hurts werewolves.  It is much easier to just throw your daggers at the wolves rather than combo the heck out of like 5 of them at a time.  About 2 daggers should bring one down.  Most enemies drop then too so you'll refill quick.


One last thing, Demos are available on XBL and PSN now. (PSN ver. just came out Sunday)  Give it a download and see what you think.  (And yes, your not crazy in the demo - the werehog DOES refill his health everytime he gets up on that tree stump and howls at the moon.. Were creatures regain all their health in full moon light... you have to impale that sucker on the first try.)

 

[LLR]

Alright, I've had it.  I've been playing this game on and off now for about a month, my reactions to it have changed dramatically.  In the beginning (Stages I and II) I was enjoying it and it felt very much like a Castlevania game.  Using the whip to grapple hook onto platforms made me think of SNES CVI.  I was happy!  Then Stage III came around..  Now I'm riding spiders, trolls and hogs bareback..  waffles?  The more the game made me grab a troll and ride it like a giant donkey I started getting the feeling... this doesn't feel right....  The opening scene where you are riding the horse was pretty cool!  I enjoyed that and bought into it...  after Stage III though....I just don't know where this game is going.  I'm now fighting my second Titan, don't get me wrong, its pretty cool...  it just seems out of place... the game is very hard - I'll give you that, it is just no Castlevania that I grew up with.  I read that many songs from the older games are remixed into this one.. so far... I can't think of one I have heard so far...  Enemies?  Werewolves come in 3 sizes...  Small, medium and jumbo.  Trolls come in 2 sizes, small and extra large.  Vampires come in.... oh wait... I haven't seen any yet...  No vampires, no zombies, no skeletons.. I've not seen any classic examples of enemies of the past yet.  So far I recently have been pushing my self to play (when I've had time) that makes me think this game is going south after Stage III.

My advice?  RENT it first...

[DarkLink]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2251-Castlevania-Lords-of-Shadow

Ben Croshaw is with you LLR.

[LLR]

Yikes!  Brutal review but I'm inclined to agree with some of it.  It just doesn't feel like Castlevania!  GAH!  I'm so pissed at that.  I was so stoked about this game, too.  Bummer.  Things I saw but didn't know from watching that video - There is a portal reference?  Hadn't seen that one yet.... what were they thinking?  THERE IS NO DRACULA?  You have to be kidding me.....  That is just insane...  Castlevania with out ol Drac?  Replace him with Satan?  Is this true?  That just really took me out of wanting to finish this game then.  Grr....   I'm surprised that video didn't mention riding trolls and spiders like some circus clown.  That is pretty silly...  I shoulda just got Kirby instead....

Rent it if you want it...  See if you like it first..  Whole lotta wrong with this game imo.

[Adam]

Just finished it.  I'd recommend you do the same thing.  Even with the weird "Satan, not Dracula as the final boss" thing, and the kinda boring whirlwind exposition getting there in Chapter XII, the final cut scene is really, really...something else.  Being a hardcore Castlevania fan, you might not appreciate it, but It thought it was pretty worthwhile.

Enemies?  Werewolves come in 3 sizes...  Small, medium and jumbo.  Trolls come in 2 sizes, small and extra large.  Vampires come in.... oh wait... I haven't seen any yet...  No vampires, no zombies, no skeletons.. I've not seen any classic examples of enemies of the past yet.  So far I recently have been pushing my self to play (when I've had time) that makes me think this game is going south after Stage III.

The vampires come later.  So do the skeletons.  And the zombies.  And the giant animated suits of armor.

All in all, this game turned out to be exactly what I was expecting.  It's a pretty linear, straightforward game, with a relatively lame excuse for for a plot stringing things along.  But along the way, you get cool powerups, learn nifty moves, and have a hell of a time beating the shit out of anything between point A and point B.  And brutally murdering giant monsters is a pretty good time any way you slice it, so I was entertained.

So yeah, I liked it.  But then again, I never played God of War, which I would imagine does all the gameplay better, and I never really played much Castlevania, so I didn't have any expectations there.  So it goes.

[LLR]

Great to hear!  I've never played GoW either but if I can just get over "this isn't an old school Castlevania game" I'll be good to go.  So vampires and skeletons come in later, eh?  Fantastic.   I was missing those, in all fairness I've not had a lot of time to get through very far.  I'm maybe in the middle of Stage 4?  I just killed my second Titan a while back.   Good to know it gets awesome later.   Thanks for the feedback.  Much appreciated.