TGS '10: Castlevania Lords of Shadow Hands-On

[Fintan Monaghan]

TGS '10: Castlevania Lords of Shadow Hands-On

​

Well, it ain't your grandpappy's Castlevania ...

After the nostalgic re-issuing of Symphony of Night and the flawed experiment of Harmony of Despair, Mercury Steam and Kojima Productions are taking Castlevania in a whole new direction. We tried out the upcoming Lords of Shadow at TGS.

When you hear Castlevania, you think puzzles, platforming and exploration. None of these were anywhere to be found in the section we played. Cutscenes led us from one set-piece fight to the next with an emphasis on pure hack-and-slash action.

Starting out in a dark woodland village under werewolf attack, Gabriel Belmont must use his trusty whip to fend off several waves of baddies before confronting a big (bad?) wolf boss. The combat instantly recalls DMC and Ninja Gaiden: The guard button blocks, guard plus a direction makes you dodge, several attacks can be delivered in mid-air on a single jump, the wolf boss involved quick-time events ... they may as well have called it "Medieval May Cry."

It didn't feel like an old Castlevania game, but it may well find an audience. Battles are fast and enjoyable, success coming more from well-timed dodges than mindless flailing of the whip. Also, the dark and gloomy setting mixed with frantic over-the top monster fighting recalls 2004's horror cheesefest Van Helsing (a true guilty pleasure).

Meanwhile, the trailer doing the rounds at TGS listed a host of characters, yet still no sign of Dracula. At least there's still a castle ...

TGS 2010 reporting is done jointly by Fintan Monaghan and Lisa Gay.

Permalink

 

[SantoUno]

cutscenes led us from one set-piece fight to the next with an emphasis on pure hack-and-slash action.

So... it's basically another generic japanese game like Devil May Cry were the emphasis is on the cutscenes instead of the gameplay...

*sigh* and I was actually excited for this game.

 

[chromewarriorXIII]

It does seem to have some cool enemies, but that was about the only thing that seemed interesting. Shame that there won't be any real exploration, that's what kept me playing Symphony of the Night.

 

[JaredXE]

There's a Dracula. You hear him in the trailer, he's voiced by Jason Issacs (yay!).

 

[Worgen]

I dont know why they keep trying to make castlevania a 3rd person game, 2d is where its at

 

[Harshael]

I lost all interest in what you had to say when you called Harmony of Despair 'flawed'.

Yeah, it would have been awful to have been challenged by an opinion different from your own. You really dodged a bullet there.

 

[CK76]

4:32 death sounds like Jiraiya.

This may be odd, but I have this deep attachment to the 2D games and have bought all the GBA and DS titles gladly, but the 3D? I'm not bothered if they change a great deal because of some bad to average experiences with previous attempts (N64...shudder).

 

[WittyInfidel]

I've lost all interest in Castlevania games since Symphony of the Night. None have come close to it since. That game fulfilled all my needs when it came to that franchise. All that have followed strike me as flawed and mediocre. And I think Castlevania 64 helped bury my feeling for it in a shallow grave. I'm sure there are a few good ones in there for other people, but I just can't get excited about the franchise anymore.

/sigh

 

[mythgraven]

The trailer looks more like a movie, which, hey, Im not complaining, but as was previously stated, Id have liked to see an equal amount of actual gameplay in there.

I also saw a whole lot of Belmont talking to monsters, instead of whipping them, which we all know is good, and proper.

I also noted elements of tons of other games. I saw fairies who will doubtlessly exclaim "Hey!" "Listen!" I saw demon pets, and little girls with huge suits of armor protecting them. Some Shadow of the Colussus action in there too. (Of course all of this is out of the video I saw. Its all conjecture at this point.) I also saw spiders. Eww... spiders.

Game looks like it COULD be fantastic. Fingers crossed.

(Also, you can always tell a dyed in the wool villainess in a game, because she has just about every square inch of breast exposed. Conversely, the good girls will always have the hint of a scoop top, and be barefoot from the knee down. Just an observation.)


Whiskey Echo!!
Mythgraven

 

[Mysnomer]

[No puzzles, platforming and exploration] were anywhere to be found in the section we played.

Cutscenes led us from one set-piece fight to the next.

involved quick-time events

I really have to thank game developers. In this economy, I thought I might have trouble with my budgeting, but they make it so easy.

 

[Amnestic]

Might consider picking this up, but I hope they don't neglect the Metroidvania style of games, as I still enjoy those a fair bit.

Dawn of Sorrow's bullshit 'symbol' system to finish bosses can go fuck itself though. Julius mode was a bloody blessing when it got rid of those.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I've lost all interest in Castlevania games since Symphony of the Night. None have come close to it since. That game fulfilled all my needs when it came to that franchise. All that have followed strike me as flawed and mediocre. And I think Castlevania 64 helped bury my feeling for it in a shallow grave. I'm sure there are a few good ones in there for other people, but I just can't get excited about the franchise anymore.

/sigh

Have you played the DS games?

OT:

I'll definitely pass on it now, Castlevania May Cry just ain't my style.

 

[StriderShinryu]

The devs have said in the past that there will be some exploration, but more in the sense of going back to previously completed levels and being able to do and see more in them with abilities you learn later on.

I dunno.. I like the PS2 3D Castlevanias, particularly Lament Of Innocence. LoI was really only let down by it's terrible looking level design as the concept and execution otherwise was pretty solid. It would have been nice if they just would have kept evolving the 3D Castlevania games from that point.

Oh, and not everyone thinks "puzzles, platforming and exploration" when you hear the word Castlevania. Some of us actually recall the early action platformers that defined the game throughout the 8 amd 16 bit era. Sure most of them had at least a little bit of exploration built in, but mostly they were just extremely solid action platformers that stole your lunch money and made you cry. Personally, I relish a bit of a return to that over the repetitive can't tell one title from the next pile of sameness the series has become since SoN.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

I lost all interest in what you had to say when you called Harmony of Despair 'flawed'.

With me it was with the words Kojima Productions. I just plain don't like the guy and never liked any of his games so I'm not putting money in his pocket.

 

[Electrogecko]

As far as I know, this is Castlevania's first 3d outing, and instead of doing something special with it like Metroid Prime or Ocarina of Time did for their series, we're gonna get another hack n slasher.

 

[Sevre]

It looks good...but it's not Castlevania at all. I didn't like the protagonist, looked like a Americanized Juste Belmont to me. Death was cool though. Death's always cool.

 

[StriderShinryu]

As far as I know, this is Castlevania's first 3d outing, and instead of doing something special with it like Metroid Prime or Ocarina of Time did for their series, we're gonna get another hack n slasher.

Castlevania's been in 3D several times before, first on the N64 and then again on the PS2 and Xbox. The N64 games were more along the lines of 3D action platformers, and the PS2/Xbox games were, for the most part, like SoN but in 3D just with a heavier emphasis on combat.