Initial impressions: Castlevania Lords of Shadow
By Oni 20 Comments
Confession time: I am not enjoying this game very much. Partly this is my own fault, I really expected the world from this game, I was kind of setting myself up for another Arkham Asylum event, and this game is not that level of quality, not even close. So for one, my expectations were literally through the roof. This was my most anticipated game of this year.
So what's the problem? Several. But let's start with the positives. The basic combat is good. There are enough combos and elements to it, like the magic stuff, that gives it a decent amount of depth and makes it more than a button masher. It does feel a lot like God of War, but I love that series so that's not a bad thing. However, the camera is not ideal and often, enemies will be just off-screen and lunge at you.
The level design is not good. They added a shitload of branching paths for no purpose other than to make you backtrack a ton for collectibles, which you want to have because they make you stronger. The game is exceedingly pretty and the backdrops look great, but that's no excuse for making you run through the labyrinthine paths several times, without a map I might add, it's just so much needless padding. This extends to a lot of encounters as well. Oh look, here's a bridge I can't cross without taming and riding a big wolf, that's cool. But why does that same scenario pop up again five minutes later?
I'm only midway through chapter 2 but there have only been 2 eventful cut scenes so far, the other missions you're just ploughing through waiting for something to happen in the story. Which brings me to the terrible, overwrought narration. It's pretentious and trite fantasy shit and Patrick Stewart seems to miss no opportunity to just ham it up in the worst way, delivering his best version of "dramatic narrator guy". A more low-key performance by him would've gone a long way, even with the overwrought writing, but they just compound each other.
My expectations got the better of me.
It really pains me, because I wanted this to be amazing so badly, but it's just not gelling for me. The pacing is just bad, there's no momentum at all, both in the story (so far) and in the level design, which is confused at best. And hearing that the game is apparently like 20 hours long, which I can easily see given the 12 chapters, each consisting of several levels, it makes me wonder why some of the needless padding wasn't cut. Quantity =/= quality.
I am very disappointed. This is what I get for getting so hyped up I guess, and why it pays to usually keep my expectations in check. Just the last few games I've been super hyped for (Heavy Rain, God of War 3, Batman) have been amazing, so I guess I had this coming.
Obviously it's not a complete shit show, all this is coming from someone with extremely mismanaged expectations, but the game clearly has some issues. To be fair, I'm not far in yet at all, so it may get better, and I'll certainly keep playing in the hope that it does, but I just thought I'd let y'all know how I feel about it thus far. Peace.