E3 2010: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Hands-On
By:
Micah Seff
|
June 17, 2010, 2:38 am

Castlevania games rock. They just do. The franchise has long been one of my favorites, and I've come back time and time again for more of that undead-whipping action. With that in mind, it was with great trepidation that I picked up the controller at Konami's E3 booth and dove into Castlevania: Lord of Shadow. I'd heard so many comments about the game merely being a God of War clone, that I really had to try it out for myself.

The demo on display on the E3 show floor showcased what seemed to be some pretty early areas in the game. The basics of the combat system were highlighted in some battles with some diminutive werewolves. I played the game on the Xbox 360, and the first thing I noticed was that Gabriel Belmont's cross-whip-chain thingy controlled almost exactly the same as Kratos's Blades of Chaos except that the horizontal and vertical attacks were reversed. This was a slight letdown for me, as it added to this unsettling feeling that was brewing this so-called Castlevania game was really just yet another hack 'n' slash action title.

After dispatching the little werewolves, a bigger one broke into the town and started mauling the townspeople until I turned my attention his way. Here, the dodge mechanic was introduced, and it felt pretty much the way I would expect, except that it required pressing Left Trigger while pushing in a direction on the left analog stick. The mechanic was ok, and actually seemed a little more fluid than what we've seen in God of War, but I actually didn't like the fact that they didn't assign that command to the right analog stick. I get that they didn't want to be exactly the same as God of War, but if you're not even going to give me camera control, then why leave the right stick with nothing assigned to it?
 
Once that town segment was over and done with, I got treated to the soothing voice of Patrick Stewart. At least I would have if the E3 show floor wasn't so loud. I had to put my ear against the television speakers in order to hear, but what little I caught sounded just as good as you'd expect from Captain Picard. The following stretch of the game took place on the back of my talking mount. I know, the whole talking mount thing threw for a loop too, but I decided to ignore it and move on. I had to ride my mount at breakneck speeds while fighting miniature werewolves that were riding larger werewolves. Yeah, it was pretty silly, and not really anything special, but it did help break the action up a little bit. If I ended up getting knocked off my horse, then I'd have to fight my way through some enemies, before the horse would come pick me up again.

Then it was over. The demo had ended, and I hadn't so much as jumped into the air once. The lack of any diversity in the demo was a pretty huge letdown for me. After talking to some people who have seen more of the game, it sounds like there are exploration and platforming elements, but for some reason none of them were present in the build that Konami had on the show floor this year. What I played through was hardly impressive, but I definitely could imagine there being substantially more to the final game to help differentiate it from the other God of War clones. As it stands now, there wasn't much about the game to be excited for (besides Patrick Stewart!), but I'm definitely interested to see what else lies in store for me.
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Background Check: Micah
I didn't discover the Castlevania series until Symphony of the Night on Playstation and immediately became a fan. I snatched up every game I could find and even went back to play the NES entries. The only 3D Castlevania I've played is Lament of Innocence and I could barely make it thirty minutes into the game. I'm a big fan of action/adventure games like the God of War series as well.

2D Castlevania games - Love 'em
3D Castlevania games - Hate 'em
God of War - Love it
Shadow of the Colossus - Love it
Dante's Inferno - Meh