As I said a few days ago, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is the game that I was looking forward to more than anything this year.  Yes, that did have a lot to do with the fact that the word “Castlevania” is in the title.  In fact that’s a question I asked myself before, during, and after playing this.  Would I have bought this game had it not been associated with my favorite series of all time?

Honestly, no, I would not have bought this game.  That’s not to say I don’t like it, I do, I just wonder what sort of attention it would have gotten had it not had Castlevania in the title.

At a quick glance, the most positive thing you can say about this game is that it is gorgeous.  Environments, enemies, the music; all of it is beautiful.  I will admit it kind of has that feel that the level designers made a random assortment of areas and then tacked them on together, sort of like Final Fantasy XIII, but wow, they are too stunning to care.

So aside from the look, what is this game anyway?  Well, it’s a God of War clone at its core.  That means lots of hack and slash gameplay, combos, all that fun that has sold millions of copies for Sony.  It doesn’t take long to realize that this game has something Kratos, Dante and Bayonetta never had: depth. 

First of all the combat gives you more than just orbs (although you still get plenty of those) as you also get experience points.  Now instead of these points upgrading you to new levels which get you more HP, MP, and other P's, you choose where you want to allocate these points, and they are mostly only allocated towards combat skills.  HP upgrades are done through a “heart container” type system, as is your magic.

One element of combat I enjoy is the magic system, which is introduced in Chapter 2.  Essentially when you defeat enemies, you receive orbs that fill up your magic meter.  However, if you turn your magic on, you can use different abilities and now when you defeat enemies instead of receiving MP orbs your HP goes up.  So it’s a sort of risk/reward system that works very well and has you hopping in and out of the two different modes depending on if you need MP or HP or if you need to unleash some more powerful moves against enemies.

Another highlight of the combat are the titans.  This is essentially the part of Castlevania that was taken from Shadow of the Colossus.  Each of the Titans, which are essentially extremely gigantic enemies, have these glowing spots on them which need to be destroyed so the entire titan goes down.  Like I said, very much like Shadow of the Colossus, however a welcome element in the game, one that hasn’t really been done elsewhere, and one that doesn’t seem like it will be overused. 

It was also nice to see some puzzles, but sadly through the first chapter and a bit into the second, there has only been one.  In this particular one you have three discs, each with a piece of a platform on it, and you have to turn them so that they’ll all line up.  It would have been nice to see more of this, at least as a way to space out all the combat.

Speaking of the pace of combat, it is reasonably spread apart.  It doesn’t feel like you’re going battle to battle at all, in fact there is a good amount of exploration in between, one that I was afraid might not happen after playing the first couple sections of the game.  While not like a Metroidvania at all, you do have the choice of two to three different paths in certain areas, and each way will involve some platforming which I would say is on par with series like Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider.  There are also some spots where it flat out tells you "you can't reach this spot yet until later."  Backtracking is quick with the world map, one that tells you your complete percentage per area and offers you additional challenges to go back and try out after you've completed it the first time.

The story so far has been pretty choppy, not that Castlevania has been known for it’s lore, although for this game they have completely distanced themselves from the timeline that IGA has worked so hard on.  As far in as I am, the story feels nothing like you’d get from a Castlevania game at all, which is kind of sad.  So far we have a guy with a sort-of chain whip named Belmont and he’s fighting evil creatures.  I know eventually Death makes an appearance, but who knows if the Prince of Darkness is sitting in his throne at the end.  I haven’t even reached a castle yet, but I know there is plenty more game left, all of which I’m looking forward to.

My biggest fear though is that this is the end of Castlevania as we know it, and Konami will adopt the franchise to become their God of War clone.  I really hope that isn’t true, unless of course they decide to let IGA continue with his 2D line of Castlevania titles.  If anything, I do hope this is a reinvigoration of the franchise, because it really deserves it, although I would love to see this style of gameplay combined with the Metroidvania style.  That might just lead to an entry in my overall top ten list.