Castlevania: Lord of Shadows
I recently picked this game up (after I forgot about my preorder and what date the game came out! Oops!). I haven't gotten far into it because of stupid life and other obligations making it hard to focus on the game. But here's my first impressions.
The game is really good. Not as good as Uncharted or Ratchet and Clank, but good enough to hold it's own during the gaming holiday season (man I wish I had more money, there are SOOO many games coming out soon!).
Voice acting: Ok, I'll admit, I could listen to Patrick Stewart read a phone book, so not only having him narrate the game, but also have him be an active character in the game? Awesome! And his narration isn't nearly as over the top heavy handed as the narrator in Dante's Inferno (which parts of this game really remind me of). Even Gabriel isn't voiced horribly, though I'm never much of a fan of the "This is my emo voice, it's the only way I can show emotion and that I lost the love of my life". You can be sad, but not every word has to be emotionally tinged with epic emoness.
Character models: After coming off of Dragon Age, the character models are freaking awesome. I was disappointed in DAO due to the fact that the characters could have come off a Playstation 2 disc instead of a Playstation 3 disc. But the characters in this more than make up for it. The only problem I have is voice sync with the character models. It's truly awful. I expect Final Fantasy to be off some because it's coded in Japanese first (and maybe this was too, I am honestly not sure), BUT the voice acting is done in a way it at least matches when the mouths start and stop moving. This game? Not so much. It's like a bad Kung Fu movie of the 80's that everyone loved to make fun of.
Camera Angles: My biggest complaint. Fixed camera angles. I admit, I've been spoiled REAL bad when it comes to this aspect. I LOVE nearly 360 degree camera angles. I love being able to swing the camera around to look at all the environment around me, and I get sad when I play a game that has a fucking amazing visual environment but I CAN'T look at it. I spent a good few minutes in Uncharted just standing on cliffs/buildings/mountains looking out to the background because it was more than just a backdrop, it was well created 3D modeling of landscape and looked amazing. But I don't just play a game to beat it, I like to enjoy a game (which is why I never feel any guilt to use walkthroughs if I'm stuck, I don't LIKE to be aggravated at a game). Parts of this game is confusing witht he fixed camera angle. In some instances you can't SEE a hidden alcove unless you accidentally jump in that direction and then the camera switches angles on you so you can see where you are. It also makes it hard in some cases to see what you need to do because you can't swing around to see if the cliff edge is close enough to edge jump to, or do a regular jump to (yes, I've died several times due to this). Plus, I hate with the fire of a thousand suns for the camera angle to switch on me MID-fight, it screws me up so bad because everything you are doing is now changed ever so slightly. It's enough to throw off fighting flow.
Gameplay: Is pretty straightforward. I've played more needlessly complicated games (Prototype, I'm looking at you), but the gameplay in this is pretty straightfoward gameplay equal to God of War, Dante's Inferno and Batman Arkham Asylum. It's basic button mashing strategy which is good in my book. I'm not a fan of someone making an overly complex fighting system for "strategy" purposes. Complexity makes sense in RPG's like Final Fantasy and Dragon Age (which Dragon Age even put Final Fantasy to task at it's fighting complexity and the HUGE gain you could get from it!), mostly because RPG's are MEANT to be thought out, you are investing at least 60 hours of your life to RPG's. But an adventure? No way. I enjoy button mashing for an adventure, and I love figuring out combos on the spot without having to pause the game in order to make a decision (that is where Prototype fails BIG time in my book, it's more complex than what it needs to be). I don't mind the hit-dodge-jump-attack-repeat strategy for games I'm only meant to spend 10 hours max on. Those games the goal is beating levels and figuring out puzzles, not making the best character you can (because when you buy upgrades it's not really a contest on how to create an awesome character, everyone will create the same kind of character who plays the game). So this game gets an A+ in having straightforward gameplay.
Worlds: This, is a little disappointing. They look great visually, and I enjoy that it's not so linear that you go from point A to point B and no waivering inbetween. You have a freedom to decide which way to go. The problem? No overall map of the area so I have no idea if I'm headed towards the end or not. I don't mind wandering around to find everything on the world, but it's hard to do that if I blindly choose to go the direction I'm SUPPOSED to go. This without a doubt not only forces a player to HAVE to replay the world in order to get 100 percent completion, but you have to REMEMBER which forks in the road you took. And on some levels, that's really difficult. Which is why, in my book, a game that is partially free range fails. Yeah, chances are I'll return to the world to complete it, but I don't like being FORCED to do it because I took the linear path towards the end first by mistake. Either let me wander around aimlessly and give me a way to know where that point of no return is, or put me on a linear path and just forget about it.
Story: I can't say much about this because I'm honestly not far enough in to say how awesome it is or not. I mean this is a very story driven game, without doubt. And so far, it's not really different than any other story out there about a man on a mission to defeat demons (seriously, between Dante, Kratos and Gabriel women in fantasy land are dying like flies around these guys!). I DO want this story to go a different direction than what either God of War or Dante's Inferno did, but so far, it isn't really. Which isn't all bad, they both had pretty good stories (well, God of War did in the first installment, after that Kratos turned into a vengence seeking crazy man who pretty much slaughtered anyone and anything in his path, interested to see how THAT translates into movie world, because I'm fairly certain GoW and Uncharted have BOTH been picked up for the big screen), but it would be nice to see a bit of variance.
Overall, I'm really digging this game. I just need more hours in a day and life to stop bitch slapping me for a while!
The game is really good. Not as good as Uncharted or Ratchet and Clank, but good enough to hold it's own during the gaming holiday season (man I wish I had more money, there are SOOO many games coming out soon!).
Voice acting: Ok, I'll admit, I could listen to Patrick Stewart read a phone book, so not only having him narrate the game, but also have him be an active character in the game? Awesome! And his narration isn't nearly as over the top heavy handed as the narrator in Dante's Inferno (which parts of this game really remind me of). Even Gabriel isn't voiced horribly, though I'm never much of a fan of the "This is my emo voice, it's the only way I can show emotion and that I lost the love of my life". You can be sad, but not every word has to be emotionally tinged with epic emoness.
Character models: After coming off of Dragon Age, the character models are freaking awesome. I was disappointed in DAO due to the fact that the characters could have come off a Playstation 2 disc instead of a Playstation 3 disc. But the characters in this more than make up for it. The only problem I have is voice sync with the character models. It's truly awful. I expect Final Fantasy to be off some because it's coded in Japanese first (and maybe this was too, I am honestly not sure), BUT the voice acting is done in a way it at least matches when the mouths start and stop moving. This game? Not so much. It's like a bad Kung Fu movie of the 80's that everyone loved to make fun of.
Camera Angles: My biggest complaint. Fixed camera angles. I admit, I've been spoiled REAL bad when it comes to this aspect. I LOVE nearly 360 degree camera angles. I love being able to swing the camera around to look at all the environment around me, and I get sad when I play a game that has a fucking amazing visual environment but I CAN'T look at it. I spent a good few minutes in Uncharted just standing on cliffs/buildings/mountains looking out to the background because it was more than just a backdrop, it was well created 3D modeling of landscape and looked amazing. But I don't just play a game to beat it, I like to enjoy a game (which is why I never feel any guilt to use walkthroughs if I'm stuck, I don't LIKE to be aggravated at a game). Parts of this game is confusing witht he fixed camera angle. In some instances you can't SEE a hidden alcove unless you accidentally jump in that direction and then the camera switches angles on you so you can see where you are. It also makes it hard in some cases to see what you need to do because you can't swing around to see if the cliff edge is close enough to edge jump to, or do a regular jump to (yes, I've died several times due to this). Plus, I hate with the fire of a thousand suns for the camera angle to switch on me MID-fight, it screws me up so bad because everything you are doing is now changed ever so slightly. It's enough to throw off fighting flow.
Gameplay: Is pretty straightforward. I've played more needlessly complicated games (Prototype, I'm looking at you), but the gameplay in this is pretty straightfoward gameplay equal to God of War, Dante's Inferno and Batman Arkham Asylum. It's basic button mashing strategy which is good in my book. I'm not a fan of someone making an overly complex fighting system for "strategy" purposes. Complexity makes sense in RPG's like Final Fantasy and Dragon Age (which Dragon Age even put Final Fantasy to task at it's fighting complexity and the HUGE gain you could get from it!), mostly because RPG's are MEANT to be thought out, you are investing at least 60 hours of your life to RPG's. But an adventure? No way. I enjoy button mashing for an adventure, and I love figuring out combos on the spot without having to pause the game in order to make a decision (that is where Prototype fails BIG time in my book, it's more complex than what it needs to be). I don't mind the hit-dodge-jump-attack-repeat strategy for games I'm only meant to spend 10 hours max on. Those games the goal is beating levels and figuring out puzzles, not making the best character you can (because when you buy upgrades it's not really a contest on how to create an awesome character, everyone will create the same kind of character who plays the game). So this game gets an A+ in having straightforward gameplay.
Worlds: This, is a little disappointing. They look great visually, and I enjoy that it's not so linear that you go from point A to point B and no waivering inbetween. You have a freedom to decide which way to go. The problem? No overall map of the area so I have no idea if I'm headed towards the end or not. I don't mind wandering around to find everything on the world, but it's hard to do that if I blindly choose to go the direction I'm SUPPOSED to go. This without a doubt not only forces a player to HAVE to replay the world in order to get 100 percent completion, but you have to REMEMBER which forks in the road you took. And on some levels, that's really difficult. Which is why, in my book, a game that is partially free range fails. Yeah, chances are I'll return to the world to complete it, but I don't like being FORCED to do it because I took the linear path towards the end first by mistake. Either let me wander around aimlessly and give me a way to know where that point of no return is, or put me on a linear path and just forget about it.
Story: I can't say much about this because I'm honestly not far enough in to say how awesome it is or not. I mean this is a very story driven game, without doubt. And so far, it's not really different than any other story out there about a man on a mission to defeat demons (seriously, between Dante, Kratos and Gabriel women in fantasy land are dying like flies around these guys!). I DO want this story to go a different direction than what either God of War or Dante's Inferno did, but so far, it isn't really. Which isn't all bad, they both had pretty good stories (well, God of War did in the first installment, after that Kratos turned into a vengence seeking crazy man who pretty much slaughtered anyone and anything in his path, interested to see how THAT translates into movie world, because I'm fairly certain GoW and Uncharted have BOTH been picked up for the big screen), but it would be nice to see a bit of variance.
Overall, I'm really digging this game. I just need more hours in a day and life to stop bitch slapping me for a while!