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Curious whether you should pick up the latest 3D Castlevania game, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow? Feel like watching a couple of nerds talk about it for a few minutes? If so, then check out our latest episode of Talkabouts in which our very own Christopher Monfette and Nikole Zivalich put a stake through the heart of the rumor that a good 3D Castlevania title is virtually impossible.
It's not.
Turns out, it's just really, really difficult...And not always 100% successful...
For more, check out our complete Castlevania: Lords of Shadow review and then, if you feel like it, go fight some vampires...
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ZombieKohhi
Kratos did not lose his love he killed her. And lost love in games as a plot line has been around long before God of War and Dante's Inferno. When did these two start playing games?
tarzanbboy
Being a fan that has played all the NES games, Symphony of the Night, and Lords of Shadow I have to say I was really pleased with this "Re-Boot" of the franchise. Since it was a re-boot origin story it made every sense to me to start the game outside of the castle and work your way to it. The game play though not reinventing the wheel, worked and made it easy for any current gamer to pick up the 3D version.
Anyone who has played the game will know how good it is.
But I must say that you shouldn't have some one who doesn't know her roots/foundation/history critique the story of Castlevania because you just look ignorant (talking about the girl, cute...but should have done her homework before being able to judge a game that has history as long as this one does)
JamesFinn1
Good point about Patrick Stewart being the Morgan Freeman of video games.
Cathartic Denoument
In the matters of Defense, or more specifically - Evade..
..Seems to me that you need to be a somewhat of a twitch gamer to have the required dexterity for playing a game like this.
I tried out the demo, to see what you guys were talking about, and although there was a slight, nanosecond delay in Evading, it only took me a few tries to get the timing & RHYTHM of how to Evade properly, before I got it down & got used to how Castlevania: Lords of Shadow does their Evade.
Its a matter of intuitively anticipating the AI's actions (as with many games that have come before it).
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@Nikole:
Whyy soo serious??
Loosen up a bit; its only Talkabout. LoL
Its not like its Feedback or anything.. (�_�)
And I agree with the others..a little bit too nit-picky there..
..Ease up a bit - the game plays awesomely. =)
Captain_Vyse
I respectfully, but strongly disagree with the reviewers take on the game. One could argue that God of War copied from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (though the game was not that good). The old Castlevania games, before the Metroidvania games had a lot of stages outside the castle. Super Castlevania 4 is my favorite Castlevania game, and Lords of Shadow appeared to be more like SC4, rather than Symphony of the Night. SC4 had many stages before you reached the castle. Makes me wonder how many people only started Castlevania with Symphony of the Night. The original Castlevania games were also a homage to classic horror franchises. Heck, the NES games title screens looked like film strips. The games feels more like the pre Symphony castlevania games, and I love it for that.
Admiral_Ackbar
It's cute, Nikole says she has never played a Castlevania game, and then later says it feels more like God of War than Castlevania. Hmmm!! Sounds like someone else is writing the things she says, and they are not all on the same page.
Scottyb09
I will be picking this up but would absolutely love to see a 2D/3D (e.g., Shadow Complex) version of Castlevania using current gen graphics, old school SOTN style music, and a traditional Castlevania/gothic/Halloween setting. I'd have to imagine that developing a 2D game is less than a 3D game and it would sell well on Arcade or as a less expensive ($40?) title. Look at the new Tomb Raider - totally abandoned 3D in favor of a Diablo-style game and it's fantastic (and cheap!).
Fyzban
Upgrade cost too much? give me a break at the end of the game I had them all except the 2 Ultimate . Dodge work really well, even work too well lol. I could hit the button late and was still dodging the attack. This game is easy, you can beat every boss without getting hit easily. Awesome game.
Fyzban
Even if it dosent reinvent the genre , its still an awesome quality game. I'm sorry but games dont need to be all original to be good. More and more games will copy each other like any other form of entertainment in our world.
Phantom305
I'm half way through this game and so far I've been having a blast with it, but I would've personally liked more RPG elements in the game much like Symphony of the NIght. And as wonderful as the music is in this game, it is music that perhaps belonged in another game and not so much Castlevania. You can even hear a small melody while battling the titans that practically sounds EXACTLY like the GOW theme. Don't know how they let that one by.
More Halloween and less fantasy for the next one please. Oh, and throw in more RPG elements in there and let me control the camera and I'll be more than happy to pick up the next one too.
BGenious
This is, by far, one of my favorite games that I have had the pleasure to play (still playing at that) on my 360. Let me put one thing out there from the start...I am a very die hard God of War fan. I have beaten every single GOW game, so I know how the series plays, etc. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a welcome addition to this style of game in my book! Who the hell cares that it doesn't start in a damn castle!! Because the name is Castlevania, it must get docked some points because it doesn't start in a castle? Really?? Mmm, let's take a little known game by the name of Metroid real quick. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you get to see what the hell a Metroid is until around the end of the game? I remember when I started playing the first game, I could not figure out why it was called Metroid until the end. I could go and on about games that have a name that doesn't fit the game, but the game was good.
Let's talk about the gameplay, a bit. This game plays very good, to me. I actually like this more than Dante's Inferno, which I kept from Gamefly. I love that I can get my GOW style game fix on my 360 because I have yet to own a PS3 (it will happen at some point). I was more worried about how the dodging system would work, but when I started playing from the first area...my doubt flew right out of the door. I disagree with the review in that the dodging works. I feel that it is all about how good you are at playing games like this. You have to have good reflexes and be able to read the enemies you are fighting. To mention a bit about the cost of the combo upgrades....where's the problem? Remember, you can go back to an area to gain more experience to purchase whatever combo you are trying to get. As with any other game where you can go back somewhere and level up, the key is finding an area where you can rack up on points quick and not run the risk of dieing all of the time.
All in all, this is a must have for anyone who loves the action/adventure type of game. I'm still tryin' to get one of my 360 friends to get this game because he is a little uneasy about how good it is...and he is waiting for Medal of Honor (I can see where his time is gonna be pretty soon).
Theredbeard
the game is awesome. these two underrate a work of art. there will be another game coming in the series.
Lawrence123
In my opinion the game in terms of combat is better then god of war , in this game my favorite thing to do is (on 360) Y & A to launch my enemies in the air and continue with awesome attacks that can last for 15 seconds , longer depending on how many I lifted . I don't get your gripe about the the air attacks they were good for crowd control . And about the combos being too expensive , lol wow you have so little to complain about you start to knock the price of combos , I first heard that in the video review and then after I read the review to confirm what I had heard I was a little worried about that. Then I played the game and my chapter 7 I had enough XP to buy every combo from the advanced moves list and by chapter 9 I had all the Relic moves except the 2 Ultimate moves but still had 12,00 XP so by chapter 11 I was able to acquire Ultimate Light magic and it helped sooooo much against the final Boss no spoilers please . I only heard how much this borrows from other titles from so many sites but never once heard about how cool the light magic was to you can use it in combos to heal yourself or how inactivate some of the boss fights were . You knock it for being too much like god of war in that all you do is use melee attacks to string combos and that the game was made like that to appease the masses . The game is a hack and slash and you complain that its too much like a hack and slash , you either have a Sword and then it will be compared to DMC or Ninja Gaiden or you have a chain and you compare it to God of War . I remember a game called Shadow Complex in witch the game was made to be just like Metroid and Castlevania and I remember every single site giving it high praise and all sites even this one giving it a perfect score . Or how about Uncharted good game I own it but lets be real its Tomb Raider with a dude and now its the end all be all for most sites . All I want is consistency , if you're going to knock a game from borrowing then you're going to have to knock every game that ever comes out because every game borrows from aother and yes some more then other but if the game is good should that matter really
ShdwFox
@Thomas100273 (really wish this site let me reply directly :/) - You sir, have tact. You have made a point without making an enemy (that was a deviation of a sir Isaac Newton quote by the way). I do have to agree that Symphony definitely was greatly unlike previous Castlevanias. But it still had the unique charms of previous games in the series. Like the same pattern-based gameplay when it came to the fighting mechanics; but this was largely offset of by the game's overall simplicity. Which again, is a way it set itself apart from previous, harder-difficulty Castlevanias.
And no, no, your fine. I think a lot of us here are passionate Castlevania fans. And I can see your similarities between SoTN and LoS when you say that they are both Castlevanias that have differentiated themselves from their predecessors. However I would argue that in SoTN's case, they kept the same basic Castlevania charm. But LoS obviously has not, instead opting for more of a Lord of the Rings atmosphere. I think that is mostly what this video is addressing. The fact that LoS is a good game, but it certainly isn't keeping that same Castlevania appeal the series is known for.
ShdwFox
@Thomas100273 - I don't see how you can say Symphony of the Night was a "blatant" rip off of Metroid. If anything, I'd say Symphony was a blatant rip off of role playing games. Symphony introduced many RPG elements that Castlevania didn't have until Symphony; such as experience points & leveling, buying and selling items, and equipping items. Additionally, unlike previous Castlevania's, it even mildly introduced an RPG-like storyline through several cut scenes. For example, the beginning of the game where Richter defeats Dracula, or Alucard's talks with Death, Maria, and Dracula. All these elements just screamed RPGs.
Even the more metroid-y elements like exploring the map, finding secret rooms, using special powers to get into those rooms; could be related back to previous Castlevania games. Rondo of Blood for example didn't require special items, but it had several secret rooms that contained either alternate pathways or hidden loot similarly to Metroid. And even back in the day, the frustratingly annoying NES Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, required you to have special items (such as the wooden stake or the red crystal) to advance to future stages of the game.
ShdwFox
To say this game is copying God of War, Danate's Inferno, or Mario in regards to the whole "saving the princess" theme is absurd. The theme is actually called "damsel in distress"; and it's a theme that has been used throughout the ages of story telling. Remember all those stories we heard when we were kids? Snow White, Cinderella, Repunzel, Sleeping Beauty, etc... They all had the same damsel in distress theme.
While I respect you two guys, at least think outside the box. Even if the game is heavily taking some ideas from other video games, not necessarily all of those ideas have to be just from other video games.
Thomas100273
I don't want to burst anyone's God of War bubble here but it borrowed HEAVILY from Devil May Cry, Rygar, Mario 64 and Resident Evil 4 (context mini-games, anyone?) so I don't get why it gets this reverential pedestal treatment. Was it a great series? Of course. Did it push the boundaries? Not really. There were tons of 3-D platformers on the PS2 and GOW was arguably the greatest but it was not the most original. As for Castlevania, I did love it and am going through it a second time now that I have all the collectables. The goofy thing is, the Castlevania most revered is Symphony of the Night, which was a BLATENT rip off of Metroid. What I really want to know is if you review a game 4 out of 5 and feel it deserves a Talkabout why would you spend most of the fifteen minutes griping about the little things that annoyed you. You barely touch on the graphics, you do NOT mention the sheer number of enemies you face, or the musical score which is often subtle and haunting (though I admit, not perfect). The Shadow of the Colossus boss fights are amazing and a nice reminder of those games for those of us who don't have PS3 to get the re-issue. The scene where you walk the massive chains to get to the Vampire's castle is almost stunning. Oh, and the horse's accent was Pan. It was the same voice as his humanoid and eagle incarnations and as for it not being like Gabriel's (admittedly, an odd Scottish brogue) he was an ancient being speaking a learned language like any other. Nitpicking here was just too much, guys. The sawing motion bugged you??? Really? Like any other Castlevania you get upgrades to go to previously unreachable areas. I was surprised that the barbs that let me saw stone didn't make the whip any deadlier but what can you do? As for the price of upgrades I had all but the two last ones when I beat the game. I have no idea what you guys are talking about there and besides, don't you want to EARN upgrades? You want them handed to you right at the beginning? As for getting the upgrades after 50% of the game I can only ask when did you get the Force of Wolf or Beryl Circlet in Symphony of the Night. I swear, I wonder if you guys could even beat the original Castlevania or Mega Man. I have one more thing before I drop off this soapbox. If you played the original 8 bit Castlevanias you used the whip. Other weapons were good (when the game didn't drop a clock on me when I had my level 3 boomerang, grrrrrrr...) but you really relied on the whip. There. I have said my peace. If you've read this far, I salute you!
Jak62
Not saying to sound all dickish but Rinaldo Gandalfi was in Lament of Innocence, and you guys had gripes with the dodge mechanic. It's sloppy on a PS3 controller, but a game like Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2 required you to always hold the block/dodge button just to survive a regular enemy encounter. I know people have their problems with Lords of Shadow but I think everyone is getting way too over critical of it just because it strayed from Metroidvania. I was getting tired of it.
paddy8
Wow I used to watch Nikole on "The Game Show" she is great ! much more than a pretty face .
SadExchange
Honestly, the cons against this game are pathetic and I really don't believe that the girl knows too much about games. Those of you who judge by her looks, honestly, how about we get people with knowledge of games on this site. I hope that she doesn't do much in the future.
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