Four years after the series' 3D jump and just as underwhelming
Lament of Innocence has some things going for it. It’s got solid combat and a decent combo system, for instance. Some of the bosses are challenging and fun to fight. Using items in real-time is kind of cool. It’s got a lively soundtrack. The scenery is appropriately gothic. Ultimately though, Lament of Innocence is a watered down Castlevania experience that can be breezed through without much opposition.
Set before the events of every Castlevania, Lament of Innocence is an origin story for the Belmont clan and their quarrel with vampire lords. It puts players in the role of the whip-wielding Leon Belmont, a man seeking to rescue his betrothed who has been kidnapped by a vampire. The story is told gratingly through poorly voiced and longwinded talks about whips, castles, the night, vampires, evil and other Castlevania things. There might be something to the core story Lament of Innocence is trying to tell, it just tells it like it’s that water cooler colleague who asks you about your day, but doesn’t give you the chance to say hello before going off about his or her own, and your only option is to slip away when they’re not looking.
As bad as that all sounds, the main problem Lament of Innocence suffers from is a lack of reason to engage the enemy. Sometimes there are rooms that must be cleared of all enemies before Leon can advance, but the number of rooms that don’t require Leon to do so far exceed those that do. Enemies don’t drop anything vital, and Leon doesn’t level up or gain new abilities. There are no other weapons besides whips, and the series' trademark sub-weapons to play around with. The only reason to engage enemies in rooms that let you walk on by, is because you want to.
That leads into the other problem Lament of Innocence has. The level design is so one-note and the enemies so similarly patterned, that a combat system that might have worked in a game that was paced better grows dull, fast. There are good ideas, like a real-time item use mechanic, making eating six pork chops a little more hectic. Unfortunately, it rarely comes into play, because the game is rarely difficult enough for it to make much of a difference. The most exciting and engaging parts of the game are the boss fights, because they are more suited to the combat, and there is a challenge of some merit. Sadly, after each boss it is back to wandering the echoes of might-as-well-be vacant corridors.
There are hidden areas, hidden bosses and better whips to be to be had, but the benefits of exploring and finding secrets are trivial. Lament of Innocence is largely just that, trivial. Trivial encounters and trivial exploration are the name of the game. Fortunately, Michiru Yamane’s soundtrack is there to give players something to bob their heads to, so as to make aimless wandering and fruitless combat more endurable, perhaps even enjoyable in its own way.
Problems with level design and monotony aside, some players might really take to the combat, and there is plenty of it. If it doesn’t gravitate, there is always the option to blitz right through to see the finer parts of the game. While there are certainly things to be happy about, enough of the game lacks luster, marring what could have been another leap for an old franchise, and turning Castlevania: Lament of Innocence into something that is merely passable.
