Castlevania Lord of Shadows
Well, it's that time, I finally finished this game. Stupid life crap kept getting in the way, not to mention I spend time with family and Steph when I get home so I don't have as much time as I did to play games. I was even a little upset when I bougt Star Wars Unleashed for Wintereenmas and didn't get a chance to cram it in.
I didn't mind the game. It was pretty straight forward to be honest, even the "twist" at the end I pretty much called. The show pretty much followed your basic "flawed and tormented hero" storyline. I mean the hero isn't a hero unless he's tormented, so even when you get a "good" ending he still has to continue to be tormented.
Anyway, gameplay. Gameplay wise I'm kind of disappointed. I'm not a fan of making special moves overly complicated for the sake of being overly complicated. God of War and Dante's Inferno had a perfect mix of powerful moves, different types of powers, but straightforward fighting. Castlevania literally has over 40 special moves. Granted it's one move that behaves differently when you are regular Gabriel, Shadow Gabriel or Light Gabriel. I honestly can't remember that much so just ended up pounding keys and brute forcing myself through the world.
Also, and yes I complain about this often, I didn't have control of the camera. I fucking HATE when I don't have control of the camera. For one, when the camera is set it's more likely to get stuck and therefore you die because you are looking at a wall and your character is on the other side. I also never quite understand why developers go through all the work to create environments that are so amazing and well thought out, to only allow me to see 1/3 of it. I hate that.
Yes I'm spoiled by the 360 camera movements.
ETA: I forgot to mention this, some of the levels were very complex. So complex that for the first time in a long time I was wishing for a map. It was frustrating to be halfway through a level, choose a direction and realize that you could NOT go back to investigate the other direction because your path was blocked, therefore FORCING you to go back and replay the level. It was frustrating enough to have to do that to get all the weapon upgrades (these things really kind of pissed me off, I don't like to be forced to go back to get everything, I'd like to CHOSE to go back to get everything I might have missed first play through)
Storywise it was pretty straightforward. Granted the biggest portions of the story were told at the end. I get that people bitch about too many cinematics in a game, but in a game like this its almost necessary. If I'm supposed to give a damn about Gabriel it would be nice to know a little about Gabriel. I have to at least feel something or connect with the main character and I had a REAL hard time getting connected to Gabriel.
The story itself? Cliche. Man goes on holy mission due to the death of his wife, finds a friend on the path, in the end turns out man was a pawn, the death was at his own hands and was more or less given immortality in the end. I even pretty much called that he was Dracula (since this was shades of Bram Stoker throughout the story). I kind of hated that the ending was nothing more than "Hey, ya'all, come on back for the second part now, ya hear!" Ick. I'd also like a little explanation how Zobek lived since Satan burned him up after the big reveal that the puppeteer was also a puppet.
The voice acting? Better than most. Some of the characters were a little weak (Claudia I'm looking at you) but Gabriel and Zobek were spot on, Satan wasn't too bad but ALMOST over the top, and Marie was good until her final scene where you could hear the voice actress saying "Really? This is my line? I'm really saying this trash?"
It was a fun game, and definitely a point in the right direction for Castlevania. I just hope the next game tries to do something NEW in the gaming market instead of looking around at what everyone else in the market is doing.
I didn't mind the game. It was pretty straight forward to be honest, even the "twist" at the end I pretty much called. The show pretty much followed your basic "flawed and tormented hero" storyline. I mean the hero isn't a hero unless he's tormented, so even when you get a "good" ending he still has to continue to be tormented.
Anyway, gameplay. Gameplay wise I'm kind of disappointed. I'm not a fan of making special moves overly complicated for the sake of being overly complicated. God of War and Dante's Inferno had a perfect mix of powerful moves, different types of powers, but straightforward fighting. Castlevania literally has over 40 special moves. Granted it's one move that behaves differently when you are regular Gabriel, Shadow Gabriel or Light Gabriel. I honestly can't remember that much so just ended up pounding keys and brute forcing myself through the world.
Also, and yes I complain about this often, I didn't have control of the camera. I fucking HATE when I don't have control of the camera. For one, when the camera is set it's more likely to get stuck and therefore you die because you are looking at a wall and your character is on the other side. I also never quite understand why developers go through all the work to create environments that are so amazing and well thought out, to only allow me to see 1/3 of it. I hate that.
Yes I'm spoiled by the 360 camera movements.
ETA: I forgot to mention this, some of the levels were very complex. So complex that for the first time in a long time I was wishing for a map. It was frustrating to be halfway through a level, choose a direction and realize that you could NOT go back to investigate the other direction because your path was blocked, therefore FORCING you to go back and replay the level. It was frustrating enough to have to do that to get all the weapon upgrades (these things really kind of pissed me off, I don't like to be forced to go back to get everything, I'd like to CHOSE to go back to get everything I might have missed first play through)
Storywise it was pretty straightforward. Granted the biggest portions of the story were told at the end. I get that people bitch about too many cinematics in a game, but in a game like this its almost necessary. If I'm supposed to give a damn about Gabriel it would be nice to know a little about Gabriel. I have to at least feel something or connect with the main character and I had a REAL hard time getting connected to Gabriel.
The story itself? Cliche. Man goes on holy mission due to the death of his wife, finds a friend on the path, in the end turns out man was a pawn, the death was at his own hands and was more or less given immortality in the end. I even pretty much called that he was Dracula (since this was shades of Bram Stoker throughout the story). I kind of hated that the ending was nothing more than "Hey, ya'all, come on back for the second part now, ya hear!" Ick. I'd also like a little explanation how Zobek lived since Satan burned him up after the big reveal that the puppeteer was also a puppet.
The voice acting? Better than most. Some of the characters were a little weak (Claudia I'm looking at you) but Gabriel and Zobek were spot on, Satan wasn't too bad but ALMOST over the top, and Marie was good until her final scene where you could hear the voice actress saying "Really? This is my line? I'm really saying this trash?"
It was a fun game, and definitely a point in the right direction for Castlevania. I just hope the next game tries to do something NEW in the gaming market instead of looking around at what everyone else in the market is doing.