Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

The story of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow felt familiar from the opening cut-scenes, and became more familiar as the hours went on. The story mirrors many that we as gamers have seen before, man loses the love of his life, goes to save her, can't save her, ultimately. The game play is also too familiar. A mix of God of War and Devil May Cry make the controls easy to pick up, but not always easy to execute. While the graphics are breath-taking at times, for a game that is two years old, despite the impending sequel, I'm not sure it is worth picking up.

Without spoiling the ending, more than I already have with the above comment, the main character, Gabriel, sets on a quest to save his wife, who was murdered. He is faced with many odd characters in his quest, gaining new powers and augmenting weapons as he advances through the story. The review for Gamespot had this point on, the accrual of new moves doesn't change the game play much, if at all in a significant way. I had tons of 'points' by the end of the game, not bothering to use any fancy special powers because none truly made the game easier or more fun. The enemies, at times, would really corner you and it was a lot of trial and error. The game could be punishing if you did something wrong.

The voice acting and graphics were quite amazing. I didn't recognise him at first, but Professor X, Patrick Stewart voices one of Gabriel's protégés, and all the intros to the levels and chapters. That level of class certainly brought something to the game. The backgrounds and boss battles had amazing graphical style, everything was polished and eye-catching. I'm told some of the battles resembled Shadow of the Colossus, but I haven't played that game, so I can't say.

The controls left something to be desired, at times I couldn't control Gabriel well, and the stationary camera was maddening, to say the least. While great actors can lift a weak story, it wasn't enough for me to feel bad for Gabriel for his choices, or to even care about the ending. Truthfully, I was glad I was done, which says a lot about a game.

I can't say this was an amazing game, the price has dropped a lot, but it isn't as good as perhaps it was two years ago. With the sequel to this coming out in the near future, I anticipate picking it up, though possible not on release. This game was decent, but not great: play at your own risk.