That is the short gist of the story without spoilers for those who have yet to give the game a play or who have yet to actually finish it. But should you play it or finish it? Let my opinions try and sway you one way or another…
From the start of things, I was a little cautious on hopping into Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. To me it is a little concerning that some of the big things about the title were the voice actors and that Kojima was helping with the design of the game. Yes it is a whole new Castlevania title on the current generation consoles, that isn't a downloadable title, but this is not what sells people like me. It comes down to the game play and, in this case, the story being told through the game play. Everything else just adds or detracts to the overall experience.
All in all, Castlevania: LoS is an action platformer, and the developers don't try to portray it as anything but. It does have a lot in common with action platformers of the past, (God of War, Dante's Inferno), but somehow it feels completely new in a lot of ways. Read that as this is not a clone with a fresh coat of paint changing things just enough. It has its QTE button mashing. It has its puzzles mixed with climbing. It even has the same need to do some work for a God. But even the core of things feels a lot different. Even the boss fights that play out like a "level" of Shadow of the Colossus feel like something not played before.
From the above you should be able to get a feel for the game play its self. Take some of the best from the other titles mentioned and mix them together in a good way. Well outside of some of the QTE button presses. Some just didn't make sense. Some in the case of the scene, and others in the sense of what the hell to do. The main culprit was the grapple QTE. There was no real explanation at first, pressing square and/or a direction when one circle is in the other, but once figured out it was one of the easiest. A little frustrating at first and there should have been some explanation or a forced one as I might have skipped over it.
Moving on from game play, Castlevania: LoS is a visually stunning title. If you thought that Metal Gear Solid 4 had great graphics then you will be impressed with what Konami has brought for you here. Some creatures and angles really look like they move out of in game graphics when they don't. This of course ads to the impressive visuals that they have used to build the world in general. An impressive mix between eastern and western cultures when you break it all down.
To try and compliment the graphics and story based parts of the game play, an all star cast was selected for the voice work on the game. Something that we were all informed of back when the title was announced. It is also something I have mixed feelings on. In some cases the voice acting was superb; in others it was very robotic. I don't blame the actors though but more the script for that though. If you have issues in script it doesn't matter how great the voice actor is, it will still come out like crap.
Now would I recommend Castlevania: LoS for all of you out there? If you are a fan of the genre in general, by all means I would recommend LoS for purchase. I have yet to be as engaged to an action platforming game since God of War. Seeing as GoW has kind of wrapped things up, the new Castlevania has easily filled the void for me. In fact I really hope that there is a follow up to keep this awesome new story going. I mean the ending after the credits completely set it all up for many more great sequels.
Oh, and you who are not big fans of this genre of games, I'd say it is worth at least a rent to play the story and see where one of the greatest original franchises is heading. Maybe it will be able to bring you into the fold.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was developed by Mercury Steam and published by Konami on October 5th 2010 for the PS3 and XBox 360. The game retails for $59.99. A PS3 copy of the game was supplied by the publisher for review purposes.
