I wish to start by saying I have never written a review for a game before but for the reasons to follow, this game has compelled me to do so, even a good few months after completing it... *And I will warn you, spoilers aplenty*
I had never played a Castlevania game before and had only heard of the series, being too young to have grew up with it. Then Lords of Shadow 1 came out, i played the demo and was somewhat impressed but didn't buy the game until late last year as a process of going through my list of PS3 games to complete before moving to next-gen. I loved the first installment more than I thought I would, for the following reasons;
Story
Epic, tragic and excellently voiced by Robert Caryle and Patrick Stewart, amongst others. I Have to mention how rich the lore of this game was and how clearly it was a work of love, having included pretty much every fantasy creature and setting they could muster. It was also LONG, enough so to remind of the days of games gone by when this was almost a standard (at least in hindsight).
Music & Graphics
Both beautiful and immersive, however the music could have used a little more variety, given the scope of the game.
Gameplay
Yes, it was essentially God of War, with a different character, weapons and skill set. However the same could be said for God of War and Devi May Cry. In all cases, the style worked, very well and made me feel powerful towards the latter half of the game, especially further down the upgrade trees for Holy and Unholy powers.
Overall, the only thing I didn't really like about Lords of Shadow 1 was perhaps the fixed camera, although this was a minor annoyance, for me anyway. The DLC however were a tad disappointing and felt pretty taked on, the developer clearly had no time to explain Gabriels fall from grace in the first game and had to cover it before releasing Lords of Shadow 2, which I feel could have been introduced within the second game as a prequel of sorts. The infamous Resurrection DLC will not be discussed here, those who know, know, and those who don't... just watch the DLC cut scenes on youtube, unless you want to dramatically increase your blood pressure. The 3DS and now standalone download game Casltevania; Mirror of Fate is a harkening back to retro Casltevania with a modern take and further explains the story between LOS1 and LOS2, well worth the purchase and a refreshing experience.
OK, sorry for that prologue review but it is essential to the actual review I am about to give, because the second installment is almost everything that the first game was not and i will mostly be expressing the negatives for my three categories of judgment, followed by the few redeeming qualities.
Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2
Story
What in God's name happened here? I mean seriously. Were the same people even involved? did Satan posses the developers to avenge his defeat in the LOS1? This was the strongest feature of the game.The first story was an epic of hope, salvation and love which should have been followed up with an epic of tragedy and redemption for Gabriel/Dracula, thus bringing the Lords of Shadow saga and its main character, full circle. Instead we received, for the most part, a terribly written 'Hail-Satan!'/'Armageddon' action gore fest that could have been imagined up by a 13 year old. Gone is the beautifully imagined and rich fantasy world of dark forests, lost civilizations and towering castles, instead, we have 'Castlevania City', a modern day London with barely any character or charm, save for a glimpse of the Cathedral that our fallen hero crawls out of. On top of this, you spend a frustrating amount of time sneaking around factories and labs, literally as a rat sometimes, least you be slaughtered by the Muton soldiers from XCOM (seriously, look it up). Gone are the diverse and well crafted enemies, now replaced by generic Satanic monsters we've seen in every B movie, supported by a cast of mech-soldiers stripped straight out of a steam-punk anime. In terms of characters, Dracula's persona was most of the time solid and how it should have been and i applaud Robert Caryle for doing so well with the material he was given. It was however annoyingly punctuated by hamfisted 'BLAH! I AM DRACULA AND I AM EVIL!' moments, including a forced triple murder at the start and a slow-motion 'NOOOOOO' sequence during the final boss fight that made me want to just stop playing. Zobek was good even in his modern form and Patrick Stewart did what Patrick Stewart does. The supporting cast of Alucard, Marie, Carmilia etc were pretty good as far as it goes. I was pretty disappointed with the ending in particular and it just felt empty.. no real resolution or redemption, just a 'look's like we got the job done' moment between Dracula and Alucard and an open-ended feeling that really shouldn't be there and that I hope is not set-up for more.
Now its not all apocalyptic, there is 30% or maybe 40% of a decent story in here amongst the blood soaked ruins. The first half-hour or so is incredible, as you play a fully powered Dracula fighting an army of The Brotherhood besieging your castle, slaughtering knights and solely bringing down a Titan before defeating a Holy Warrior with his own prayer that he uses against you. This is pretty much the peak of excitement and power in the game, where you truly feel like Dracula, crushing all those before you with bitter hatred and scorn. No wonder they used this as the demo and during the various forced and awful stealth sections of the game, you will be pining to be back here. Afterwards for some portions of the game, you return to Dracula's castle, or more accurately, his past, in the form of dream-like flashbacks in order to remember something very important that will unlock your salvation. These segments are what the game was destined to be, the castle is a Gothic masterpiece with a haunted overcast across it. You spend your time traversing and fighting against the castle itself, which is does not wish you to leave and corrupts your various monstrous servants to stop you. You frequently encounter your son and long-dead wife, Trevor and Marie. These make for genuinely touching moments which bring out Dracula's deeply buried humanity and inspire you to pursue the path of redemption. The first encounter with Marie stayed with me long after the game, despite only lasting 5 minutes, which shows how badly this almost 3 hour tale was handled. There is also a bitter-sweet sequence later on to do with the Toy Maker's story, presented in the form of a puppet performance that I have also not forgotten and further acts as a dramatic contrast to the modern-day story. If it were not for these portions of the game, I would have likely put down the controller and given up, which would be a first for me. The jarring feeling of being pulled out from these moments back into the modern-day just show's how much of a mistake was made.
It seems there was some sort of creative struggle and then divide at the studio, with those who wanted a story of Gothic redemption with a more emphatic Dracula and a side who wanted to play out a vampiric Armageddon power fantasy against the hordes Satan which unfortunately casts a shadow over the whole thing, punctuated by a few rays of light.
Music & Graphics
Again, these were pretty much flawless throughout and the game and graphically was even more impressive this time, within the Castle portions anyway, which you can tell were painstakingly crafted and rendered. The characters and creatures were also very well done, even those of which I did not agree should have existed. Musically however there was one thing which really stood out to me, in the form of a track named 'The Throne Room'. This was used for the 'Draculas Vengeance' trailer and is a powerful orchestral flurry of fury, bitterness and rage that for some odd reason never plays in the game, aside from when the very starting cut-scene that ends as soon as the 1 minute movement tutorial is done. It then plays as you are casually traversing the castle or the city... totally out of place. This was clearly the best track and yet was more or less cast aside after the trailer, when it could have been used for various epic sequences in the game.. such as the siege, where it dies just as the knights smash down your door.
Gameplay
In terms of combat mechanics, this was flawless. It doesn't take very long to attain a good portion of your powers and once you do, you truly feel like the Prince of Darkness. Core attacks are brutal and heavy, with the Void Sword and Chaos Claws making excellent stand-ins for the Holy and Unholy powers, allowing various flared and devastating ways to defeat your enemies. The fact this system is so well done again points how as to how poor the story and setting is most of the time, none the less, it is always fun to carve through your foes, be they knights and vampires or mutant rat men and mechs.
Overall, I was deeply disappointed with how much wasted potential this game had and feel very sorry for those in the studio who clearly wanted the excellent portions to be the standard and were shoved aside for whatever reason. Would I recommend you to buy this game? yes, if you have played the first and loved the lore and the mechanics and would like *some* more, followed up with a conclusion, as poor as it was. I cannot speak for longterm Castlevania fans as I know Lords of Shadow 1 was a different beast and not to some of the core fan's liking. This was probably more of a vent then a review I suppose, but I had to get the poison of me and found it interesting that the other reviews on here did not feel the same and I wonder if many other people did? It will never happen, but I hope one day this game could be redone the way it was meant to be, so Gabriel can truly get the ending he deserved.