I groaned, I protested, I bled from the ears....
My one beef is that the graphics set the wrong atmosphere (like the action, the music, etc.). In one epic shot where you have to run along some metal support thing towards a hulking castle, the game is still so bright that it looks like day even when the moon is out and it is obviously supposed to be night, despite turning down the gamma. In all the levels you see everything so clearly and beautifully, but beautiful isn't what I thought they should be going for. I think the closest they came to being how I wanted it was the first mission in the rain with the werewolves. But even then, a lot of the design in the game, though truly awesome, just isn't moody enough. DMC 4 has you approach a huge castle at night, and in this case the creepy atmosphere is clinched, but not here.
2. Gameplay: Okay.
I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said. Combat is from God of War, though I like the whip better than the Blades of Chaos or whatever in GOW. Most of the whip combat is fun, and the first Lord of Shadow you face is a complete BAMF, making that my personal favorite fight. Secondary weaponry fun, but not really necessary. Game is much too linear, and oftentimes you can't even return to a previous area until you beat the stage and play it again from the beginning (what is this, the first Super Mario Bros?). I also felt held back with the titans since there is really only one pathway you can crawl on to defeat them. Fixed camera also doesn't allow you to admire the graphics of the game or feel immersed in it.
3. Sound: Voice acting was great. Sound F/X didn't stand out to me. The music, however was quite good:
I was pretty impressed with the soundtrack for this game. Most soundtracks seem go for ambient, background stuff, but this one exploded with epic choral bits during titan battles and other pieces that brought attention to themselves. This would usually be a good thing to me. HOWEVER, the problem with the soundtrack is that it just has the wrong feel. Are we taking in the sights of Middle Earth or are we descending into the maw of evil? I for one felt that the latter was what they should've been going after. The music also didn't match up to Patrick Stewart's melodramatic narration that constantly referred to the twisted evil and psychological agony Gabe was supposedly experiencing. In short, the music was going for a "whoooa….." (awe) instead of "whoa!" (fear, surprise), and it gave the game a feel unlike that of other Castlevania games. (Though I do appreciate that in one level, "the Music Box", we hear a reference to the NES Castlevania theme we all know and love. I also think the music played when you die is also reminiscent of the first one.)
4. Plot, Writing, etc.: Embarrassing.
It seemed to me that a lot of the lines for this game, often those read by Patrick Stewart, were pretty much lifted from the Lord of the Rings. The rest of it was just run-of-the-mill melodramatic angst. There were things very similar to "shadow and flame", use of the word "fell" (but not as past tense of "fall"), and pretty sure I heard a "you cannot wield it!" (or not) It was kind of like, "hey, LOTR is awesome. If we sound like it, maybe people will like this, too." I felt embarrassed for Patrick Stewart, honestly (unlike Oblivion). They should've gotten someone edgier to read (like Christopher Lee, if we want to keep to LOTR). Furthermore, what with all the references to God and all, the writers carve a path where basically the player can believe whatever they want to believe. I don't think choosing one way or the other is the important point, it's just that some of this seemed too obviously an attempt to play to everyone. Grow some backbone, Castlevania! You're not gonna hurt my feelings!
I also think that this game was in keeping with a jaded sense of good and evil we moderns have, or maybe even a joy we have with flirting with evil, that often comes out in games; hence Lords of SHADOW rather than Lords of Light and multiple references to how much of a killer Gabe is (come on, he's killing werewolves!), basically sketching out a nihilistic world where nothing matters and all we can do is feel teeny-bopper angst. Good God (or is he not?....oh, so deep), if you want to stick with the nihilism you should've made him [SPOILER] join satan's side at the end and revel in his eventual vampirism, (I was surprised the vampires didn't sparkle in the light and look like Robert Pattinson, rather than burn.).
There were also small details that just kind of interrupted the game to do silly things, like a couple cut-scenes where you see cute little opponents (I remember a scene with a little goblin and also a chupacabra) doing things like wagging their butts at you and then running away. Why have a cutscene for this!? Also, what game am I playing!? Goombas are scarier than a lot of the enemies you fight in this game (they DO have fangs, that's freaky sh*t. mushrooms shouldn't have fangs.).
Ultimately, the game lacks the look and feel I expect from a Castlevania game and reinvents the series in a bad way. If you haven't played other Castlevanias, God of Wars, or Shadows of the Colossus, you may be in for a very nice surprise. It's a good game in some ways, it's just obviously broken in other important respects.