Zero Punctuation: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Honestly I found this game more of a homage to other great games (without lingering too long on any aspect) and not so much of a ripoff.
Sure the basic combat feels like God of War initially, but once you get new moves and light and shadow magic the combat becomes very different. I'm also going to assume Yahtzee played this on the easiest setting, since attacking and dodging only does not work on higher difficulties, and really requires you to block and manage your magic more as a result. That's another thing, you gain more magic power by attacking repeatedly without being hit and critically timed blocking pretty much negates out any downtime if you do get and stuns your foes for a second or two. Light magic restores health and has defensive effects like a damage reduction shield when used with holy water and exploding fairies. Shadow magic increases your damage significantly and causes your daggers to explode on impact (required for some puzzles to hit switches from a far). Both have unique moves that become available when active.
Anyway the main reasons you should play this game is the story, visuals, Patrick Stewart, and the awesome triple twist ending. The gameplay is enjoyable and nowhere close to bad, but it's not the primary selling point of this game.
EDIT: for those who say this is nothing like Castlevania, sorry you're wrong on that note. The enemies, settings, and characters are all pulled from supernatural folklore and previous Castlevania games. We get all the same themes that Castlevania is known for on a much more refined scale and the reason Dracula doesn't appear til the Outro makes perfect sense when it is revealed.
Sure the basic combat feels like God of War initially, but once you get new moves and light and shadow magic the combat becomes very different. I'm also going to assume Yahtzee played this on the easiest setting, since attacking and dodging only does not work on higher difficulties, and really requires you to block and manage your magic more as a result. That's another thing, you gain more magic power by attacking repeatedly without being hit and critically timed blocking pretty much negates out any downtime if you do get and stuns your foes for a second or two. Light magic restores health and has defensive effects like a damage reduction shield when used with holy water and exploding fairies. Shadow magic increases your damage significantly and causes your daggers to explode on impact (required for some puzzles to hit switches from a far). Both have unique moves that become available when active.
Anyway the main reasons you should play this game is the story, visuals, Patrick Stewart, and the awesome triple twist ending. The gameplay is enjoyable and nowhere close to bad, but it's not the primary selling point of this game.
EDIT: for those who say this is nothing like Castlevania, sorry you're wrong on that note. The enemies, settings, and characters are all pulled from supernatural folklore and previous Castlevania games. We get all the same themes that Castlevania is known for on a much more refined scale and the reason Dracula doesn't appear til the Outro makes perfect sense when it is revealed.
Legacy of Darkness had like 4 characters and all it was was Castlevania 64 only NOT broken, and a WHOLE other GAME added to itEicha said:
on another note, Castlevania Judgement was... well... fun to look at, fun to watch, easy to play, great music... but not really fun to play... there IS such a thing as TOO easy people
if only they made it 4 player... then it would kick brawl off the map because it's just as complex *wark wark*
Paying homage instead of ripping offTurbo_ski said:
like duke nukem compared to darksiders
in duke nukem 3D which is very Doom-like AND you find the Doom space marine and duke says "that guy is doomed" ...but it's still a very original game
while darksiders just rips off everything that had a good run once upon a time
Uggh. I know that Yahtzee has this little game he plays every week which goes, "what's the most disgusting jizz/blowjob/scat joke I can make with a metaphor?" but this one was not fun for me. I have to remind myself over and over to never watch the Kane and Lynch 2 review again because the last gag (how appropriate) did not do good things to my stomach every time I heard it.
I guess this'll be about as effective as... something not very effective possibly involving a wall, but maybe Yahtzee could tone the gag-enducing metaphors down a little for next week? Please?
I guess this'll be about as effective as... something not very effective possibly involving a wall, but maybe Yahtzee could tone the gag-enducing metaphors down a little for next week? Please?
I want to see him review Minecraft, I feel like the only one that doesn't like it and I'm sick of everyone around me telling me I suck for not liking itdudeman0001 said:
ugh it's like Runescape all over again...
on the other note: I don't know why but some people think Super Castlevania 4 is the "last" castlevania game because it was the last linier NON-rpg one
and their whole arguement for why SotN sucks (I LOVE IT) is "it's too haaaaaaaaaaard... waaaaaaaaaaahh it's too haaaaaaaaaaard!.. this game suuuuuuuuucks it's actually challenging! booooooo hoooooo"
worst part is I actually made that sound more mature then the person I know who said that...
just litter it with many many unneeded F-bombs, and add a PS1 controller being thrown across the room (with the rest of the PS1 attached) and you'll have a good recreation
Or it could be that almost every castlevania game in recent memory follows the formula "something of something"Zenode said:
Symphony of the Night slightly plays with it. Otherwise, Rondo of Blood, Lament of Innocence, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia.... hell, most follow the form "term for a kind of musical piece" of "something bad/gothic".
But seriously, you think they ripped off God of War by using the word "of"?
It's not a remotely fair criticism of this game. I've played God of War and I've played Castlevania, and they don't feel any more alike to me than any two games you could pick from *any* gameplay genre.Kermi said:
Sure, Kratos's main weapons are whiplike, just like Belmont's. Would you rather Belmont *not* use a whip? Gordon Freeman's weapons are all vaguely gun-like. So maybe it's a massive rip-off of Doom.... except that's stupid. But this is literally all they share in common. Same basic genre (action game) and a vaguely similar primary melee weapon. Even the QTEs, which permeate this and other genres, aren't very GoW-like other than that they exist. They remind me more of the rings from Lost Odyssey. So sure, Castlevania is "like God of War.... but" for the fact that it really isn't.
I fully agree on the camera issues, can't fight what you can't see and all that. Plus I missed the Portal reference in-game, the knight scrolls are all generaly "woe is me, i'm a goner" junk, so I didn't bother with them.
The only problem I've had with it is that it corrupted a save but I was barely into chapter 3 so I didn't mind reliving it and getting extra life gems on where I'd missed them previously.
I've played about 3 other castlevania games (including SOTN) and I still found it to be an enjoyable game. The combat isn't button mashing all the time thank goodness as some tact is required to dodge, evade and counter enemy blows.
There are a few quicktime events but they don't always mean certain death and like most QTE, you'll at least remember where they were. They don't even need to be button specific, just decently fast reactions.
I've given myself a wide berth from 3rd person games as I found a lot ended too quickly but this isn't the case as it really is a mouthful and seconds too. I found myself revisiting areas with newly acquired powers and relics to smash down that extra door for the odd hidden item and so on. I'll stand by that it is quite an adventure, even if it does borrow some GOW aspects
I've played about 3 other castlevania games (including SOTN) and I still found it to be an enjoyable game. The combat isn't button mashing all the time thank goodness as some tact is required to dodge, evade and counter enemy blows.
There are a few quicktime events but they don't always mean certain death and like most QTE, you'll at least remember where they were. They don't even need to be button specific, just decently fast reactions.
I've given myself a wide berth from 3rd person games as I found a lot ended too quickly but this isn't the case as it really is a mouthful and seconds too. I found myself revisiting areas with newly acquired powers and relics to smash down that extra door for the odd hidden item and so on. I'll stand by that it is quite an adventure, even if it does borrow some GOW aspects
Please define a "real" game as Castlevania might not win the original crowd over but it's no less deserving than the next game to be critiquedMetalhandkerchief said:
It seems that I'm not alone in noticing the difference in microphones between episodes.
I hope he makes up his mind soon.
Some of them are just... awful.
I hope he makes up his mind soon.
Some of them are just... awful.
Played the demo on my mate's Xbox and I can't say it felt like a true Castlevania game.
Maybe I'm too used to the retro ones. =/
Maybe I'm too used to the retro ones. =/
Am I the only one who liked Castlevania more before it became Metroid-only-not-as-good? They've made SEVEN IDENTICAL GAMES in the Metroidvania format, and yet there are people pissed because they haven't made another in a while.