I got this game and Enslaved this moring, and they both are freaking great, but im liking Castlevania abit more atm.
 
Im playing on Knight diifficulty and the combat is  proabably  the best I've played, Im enjoing it more then GoW3, It just feels so damn good.
The controls (360) are perfect, dodging, blocking, countering is easy and fun to do. I challange myself to kill alll the enimies without getting hit, it's that fun XD.
I'm loving the Trials they set you after completing sections of the game,  This aslo lets you grind some Xp and purchase new skills. 
I always try to complete the trials before moving onto the next section of the game, it's so damn fun.
 
The Boss fights are also amazing some huge bosses and very fun to fight and looks baddass.
The Graphics imo is the best i've seen on the 360, better then Gears3, every thing looks amazing and the art style is awesome. 
I liked all the platforming parts, I had no issues with them like some reviews said....
 
Im off to play some more....

Never knew there was alot of hate towards Castlevania: LoS.

 So dislike = hate nowadays? You need a dictionary.

Because hardcore Castlevania fans can't bare to see their beloved franchise taken in a new direction.
 
Plus... the internet dude.

I am a hardcore Castlevania fan and I find this game to the be the refreshing game the entire franchise needed. Though I did start playing the series with the first game when I was like 5 and consider Super Castlevania IV to be the best of the entire series including Symphony of the Night.  I understand that SOTN was the first for a lot of people, and probably the only, and with that they use that as the standard.  This game has much more in common with the series beginnings than the later half of post SOTN with parts of SOTN such as going back to get items and searching for all the power ups.  It is because of that I am finding this game to be incredible.

Hate? All I read so far I only heard praise.
 
Broaden your view perhaps?

" I am a hardcore Castlevania fan and I find this game to the be the refreshing game the entire franchise needed. Though I did start playing the series with the first game when I was like 5 and consider Super Castlevania IV to be the best of the entire series including Symphony of the Night.  I understand that SOTN was the first for a lot of people, and probably the only, and with that they use that as the standard.  This game has much more in common with the series beginnings than the later half of post SOTN with parts of SOTN such as going back to get items and searching for all the power ups.  It is because of that I am finding this game to be incredible. "

I don't understand it either.  I am in love with the game.  Granted now I need one heck of a break as I have been playing it all friggen day.  Ah the joys of unemployment...

how can the graphics be better than Gears 3?

I am trying to pick it up by next week!  I'm so close.   
A lot of it is probably people condemning it for having mechanics that were heavily borrowed from other games but most of it is praise.

yeah, I am thinking about picking this up soon.  I wasn't really wowed by what I saw at TGS but that must have been an old build or something, since the quick look wasn't plagued with the same slowdown and framerate problems.  However, I'd hold off on the graphics comparison to gears 3, especially since Epic just got an extra chunk of time to work on it and make it look even better.

I saw the quick look and it is mad generic as far as I can tell; obviously can't say anything definative about it, but... never really liked god of war so

The demo didn't really impress me much, but I wouldn't say I was hating it...I was just lukewarm about it.

I'm not into it, but if you enjoy it, all the better

It's just like the PS2 one! How could anyone dislike it!

It's pretty unfortunate that the early levels are the worst. It gets better and better.

"It's just like the PS2 one! How could anyone dislike it! "

Looks like a lame character action game to me. I haven't played it and I never will so whatever.

Hes referring to the "hate" as in the dislike and disappointment from castlevania fans that this is not a true metroidvania style game i.e not a 3d symphony of the night.  
 
Been playing it and i like it quite a bit.

i beat it yesterday. i'm not a true castlevania fan but i didn't like it though. some of the chapters could have been cut out or shortened and a few of the boss fights(especially the last 2) took me some time to figure out how to win. alot longer than it really should have for me to figure it out. the double jump was a bit finicky and would tend to jump too far forward at times, and the story sort of dragged on after a while IMO. i honestly couldn't  recommend this game to anyone but that's just me. i guess i was just expecting more from this game than i should have. i wish that they would just do another game like SOTN again except not like harmony of despair. again, all just my thoughts and opinions. take em or leave em.

I am midway throw chapter 6 and it is awesome, best game of the year for me personally.  The graphics are awesome, and I honestly don't remember once there being laggy framerate issues, but some places that are small and condensed are much more closer to 60fps than the usual 30fps. 
 
Thing that got me was that there are two glitches I came around accidentally...there are glitches but not many, but what makes it awesome is that when you are getting fed up, just restart to the last checkpoint. 
 
GOD I just put down the controller but I want to get back at it...the story is a little predictable but there are strong attachments to characters for me.  When something good or bad happens to them you feel them...but since its Castlevania its usually bad :(.  The trailers spoiled too much...so I already know some of the big plot twists already...but I still get shocked in some places. 
 
This is literally my favorite game I can remember playing in a long time...sad thing is that people are taking the similar gameplay to other games for what it really is, fun.  If those games like GoW/SotC were epic and fun they will love this, but noooooooooooo we won't give it a try because it isn't canon shit.

@ blacklabeldomm, sorry I meant Gears 2, but what i've seen of 3 I still like this art style better. 
@ ch13696, I'm affraid it  doesn't, It's very different,  I'm not sure what Kojima influenced in this game. 
But the Gameplay is Top notch and the graphics is a great bonus. Im playing on Paladin difficulty now :) .

it's bad because it's different. 
i want another 2d metroidvania game so i can bitch about them rehashing the same ideas again.  
 
also i haven't played it but i feel the need to express how awful it is. people value my opinion on things i have no say in. 

I dont think theirs alot of 'hate' so much as disinterest and confusion.  I might get it eventually myself but the demo failed to impress me so I dunno. 
 
Enslaved on the other hand, omg is that game awesome. Will probably finish it today after playing 4 straight hours yesterday. So good.

I'm on Ch 6 and the game is awesome so far. Started kinda lukewarm but it has really grown on me. My only real complaint is how Gabriel runs through an environment. He sorta starts shaking sometimes... I dunno how to describe it.

I didn't really have a problem with the demo or the beginning, but the game really gets much better as it goes along. It's gorgeous. I mean, it's purely subjective, but if you like gothic horror, the amount of detail that MercurySteam crammed into this game is incredible. I almost wish they hadn't included the Titans, cause they don't really add much to the game, and just fuel "waaaahhhh SotC ripoff" nonsense from people who will never play the game.

I wouldn't say hate, just non-love. I'd love a 2d metroidvania every year until I die, which I'll admit is pure cheese. Gabriel does look like the concept work for all other Castlevania characters in that they've all got that creepy fashion-model small head thing going on.

I can see why people might not like it. I played the demo, and it is very deliberate If you press a button 4 times, the thing your telling the game to do will happen 4 times, even if you were just mashing it to get it to happen once as fast as possible. The attacks are also massive, but it seems like there is a lot to the gameplay even with the totally limited sco[e in the demo. It also looks really nice, good lighting and shaders and it's very crisp for sure. Its a game you'll probably really like or really dislike, irregardless of the obvious 'issues' people find with the game.

The only real dislike I can levy toward Lords of Shadow is the lack of Vampire Killer. It's been such a staple for the series that a game without it feels kinda weird, but I quickly got used to the new and rather epic music.  
 
Although there was the Music Box level...

Justin McElroy was talking some serious yang on Twitter. 

" Looks like a lame character action game to me. I haven't played it and I never will so whatever. "

Well, I probably wouldn't say "freaking awesome," but I know I am enjoying it a lot, though I still like the more RPG-ish Metroidvania ones better. But I'm totally glad I shelled out the cash for this one, and I'm hoping they make another one like this, because while I don't think they'll ever top SoTN, those ones were starting to get a little stale. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how good this game is. 

I almost posted something in this thread yesterday, but it was all so full of pet peeves and negativity that I decided against it. 
 
In short: to me the game is alright thus far (middle of chapter 2) I'm looking forward to playing more of it, but there are things about it that I'm definetly not looking forward to having more of as well. 
 
Also the part where they namedrop Rinaldo Gandolfi and the Cronqvist family in the character biographies (available from the very beginning of the game) was kind of weird.

Have you heard the latest joystiq podcast, they do a discussion on it. Seemed to lay out a pretty good case for why the game is good.  
 
The quicklook of it didn't seem all that great, but qquicklooks don't seem to be doing games justice recently.

I played the demo and was very lukewarm about it, combat felt very generic and maybe it was just me but man there was hell of framerate drops.  
I know you shouldn't judge an entire game based on a short demo but they put that demo out in order to grab customers and it did not grab me.

I've actually been hearing a lot more praise than hate. I might have to pick it up, or at least Gamefly it. 

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Looks like a lame character action game to me. I haven't played it and I never will so whatever. "

but you don't play games to begin with..why don't you buy a copy and stare at it like your infamous copy? I'm sure your imagination would probably be better than the game anyway. "

I think he's talking more about all the people being like "It's just God of War but a whip and that's stupid." Which, in itself, is stupid. 

Because I haven't played it!  So FUCK THIS GAME!!!  What a piece of shit I haven't touched.

It's kind of embarrassing that Giant Bomb neglects this game and reviews Def Jam Rapstar instead. 
 
Moneyhats?

This game is great! Plus, it has some gorgeous visuals. The cutscenes are all amazing. 

I agree with the OP, the combat is absolutely amazing. Feels fantastic.

I played the demo a half hour ago and now I'm depressed because my local rental store didn't get the game. Best visuals I've seen so far on a 360 game, and the story was pretty cool. I'm actually kind of tempted to spend the full $60 on it, but that might screw me over for Fallout New Vegas. 

" It's kind of embarrassing that Giant Bomb neglects this game and reviews Def Jam Rapstar instead.  Moneyhats? "