I guess its Castlevania God of War style. Not really a bad thing.
User Rating: 8 | Castlevania: Lords of Shadow X360
This is the first Castlevania game I have owned since the first so I'm not going to claim to be a Castlevania afficionado. Let's just get that out of the way right off the bat. I'm not going to pretend that I know what's gone on in the series over the past 25 years. All I know is the main character is Gabriel Belmont and he's fighting all sorts of undead critters. You know, zombies, werewolves, sorcerers, demons, and of course vampires. Those blood sucking menaces just never know when to say die, ahem. I also know that this game borrows heavily from God of War and a little bit from shadow of the collosus. That's really not a bad thing because those are great games and quite frankly Castlevania LOS takes some of their best elements and meshs them nicely. It does however say that this is a derivative game that's not going to break any new ground. What does it do well? The graphics are stunning. The enivronments are nicely varied and are absolutely beautiful to behold. You will visit lush forest settings, decrepit ruins, and floating rock masses that stretch for miles. The details put into the backgound areas is awesome. The characters also look very nice and move deftly. The music is solid and appropriate. The contols are responsive and easy to learn. The story is pretty good and weaves a nice tale of revenge and redemption. It also closes out with some decent surprises. The voice acting is good too. I mean come on its got Picard in it. The combat is entertaining. You mainly use a cross that has an extendable chain. There are tons of combos to unlock and upgrades to find. You also employ light and dark magic. Light magic replenishes health, while dark magic deals extra damage. The game is full of puzzles and it does a pretty good job of using your upgrades and magic to challenge you. And while we're at it this game is fairly challenging. The enemies are many and varied so you are always dealing with new issues. And the bosses are outstanding! You will face giant titans, evil knights, werewolves, etc. and each encounter is fairly unique. The campaign is also a nice 12-15 hour affair. Things aren't all roses in vania land though. The framerate would occasionaly stutter. The combat will become a little monotonous at times, but that's common to these types of games. The worst issue is the fixed camera. You can't control the camera at all. Sometimes you end up way too far away, sometimes you end up trapped in a corner where you can't tell what's going on. The camera did result in some frustrations.
Summation: Not a "game changer", but a very fun, visually appealling action game that will entertain any fan of the genre.
