Next-Gen Reviews

Castlevania has mostly, always been a success because it has a gripping story-line with pretty – Gothic scenes and fluid hack-and-slash gameplay mechanics. This time round nothing has changed. The outside environments are filled with thunder, rain and a sense of death, and the inside is a beautifully designed, strange and eerie unloved castle with nothing but misery in every corridor and flame lit walls. There aren’t enough games that offer this style and substance together in one title, let alone an arcade release and with the addition of some of the best music in a game, it was a pleasure to be chilling with Dracula!

 

Combat is easy to learn but hard to master.  You’ll be slashing enemies constantly with your whip with different brutal combinations. The more you level up, the more moves and combos you have at your disposal but the problem is it never feels like it gets really powerful nor does it progress aggressively enough. I never felt like a complete-combo-badass. Having access to bombs and a throwing axe is good for the harder to reach enemy but again, it’s still a little bit of an annoyance because in order to get the real benefit out it you have to charge it before the throw.  Anyway, the combat works but it could be a little better *cough* God of War *Cough*.

 

Finding and accessing scrolls will allow you to level up and there are a few to collect. The scrolls are actually a good read and towards the end I found myself more excited about finding one of these short story parts that actually engaging in combat.  On top of the scrolls, you can access special areas allowing you to get the biggest benefit rewards, Magic and health increase chests. These are vital and worth going back to once you’ve unlocked the grapple.  

 

On your tracks throughout the castle grounds you will come across some very frustrating enemies and scenarios. Maybe there is a ledge that you want to climb but you can’t because you need the grapple tool (comes a little while into the game) knowing you’ll have to back track, and then there’s the odd enemy that leaves you clueless on how you deal with it because you didn’t realise that you hadn’t followed the ‘sometimes seems to be wrong’ map.  But, there are teleporters scattered throughout the castle that will teleport you closer to where you need to be, whether it be back-tracking or moving forward. I personally feel that the teleporters take away some of what the game is about, exploring but after an hour or two of realising back-tracking is a necessity, I can see where some people might think of them as being vital to their progress. These little annoyances can put a real drain on your game experience but after a little break you’ll be back up and moving onto the next bit that pisses you off. Great!

 

I consider myself to be a strong gamer that cannot often be beaten by video games but the boss battles are very tough at times, but hey, they’re not meant to be easy, that’s why they’re called boss battles…. But, I was playing on normal!!!!!!! Luckily, each boss has a certain way about them that you can soon work out and counter, but make sure you go into a fight with full health and magic otherwise it’s a restart for you. However, with the added help from spirits that you gain quite early such as the lady who blocks enemy attacks and the male that shoots crossbow bolts at enemies you will be able to alleviate some of the stresses that Catlevania will put on you.

 

Despite its flaws, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is very good.  Yes, it’s very annoying at times and yes, I had to have breaks in order to keep sane but everything as a whole is solid and makes up for a brilliant arcade release.  If you’ve played it on the 3DS, play it again without the worry of your battery dying and with better controls. And if you haven’t played it at all, you’re missing out on a great title at a great price.

 

 

7/10