Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Developer: MercurySteam
Price: $60
Platform: PC, PS3, & Xbox 360
A PS3 code for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 was supplied to us
A few years ago developer MercurySteam came out and delivered a sort of reboot of the Castlevania franchise which was met with some mixed reception from the hardcore fans of the series. I quite enjoyed it. With Lords of Shadow 2 they somehow fumble with the solid footing they had established with their previous title and deliver a game that improves quite a bit in the combat department but falters everywhere else.
Lords of Shadow 2 opens up with a huge exposition dump that chronicles everything from the first game, the story based DLC that showcased how Gabriel became a vampire, and the 3DS game Mirrors of Fate as well. It does this while showcasing a massive battle against a robotic titan and the game doesn’t really give you a moment to digest all the information it’s throwing at you while you’re learning the basics of combat. The game feels really similar to the first in that they both had incredibly weak openings with the games not getting interesting (in terms of story and combat) until a few hours into it. Lords of Shadow 2 felt incredibly lackluster until I reacquired the chaos claws which is when the game pulls out its first actual interesting boss battle as well. After that the story (although still pretty weak overall) gets a bit more interesting and it’s when the combat really starts to shine. Now I don’t usually comment on this sort of thing but I felt the art design was worth mentioning. The quality of it is just so damn inconsistent with the modern day areas being the most bland and generic grey alleys or industrial zones. The castle areas though, while still not as visually interesting as the fantastical environments of the first game, are much more interesting to look at and explore.
Unlike the previous game which was incredibly linear, Lords of Shadow 2 sports a bit more of a non-linear world. It’s not really an open world, but you can freely travel to various environments either by walking or using the fast travel system. It’s a solid addition to the game but it doesn’t feel very well thought out. You travel between areas through these white wolf portals but it’s up to you to remember where that portal is going to take you since they don’t mention a thing. The map rooms are a lot more helpful in this regard but not by much. There’s also a world map but it’s just an illustration of all the environments; I would’ve really liked to have seen a proper world map so that I can see how to travel between all these areas and what spots I may have missed.
The main objective an action game should set out to accomplish is having good combat and Lords of Shadow 2 is pretty fun once the game gets into the swing of things. I really enjoyed the combat in the first game but felt it was missing a few things to really make it great which have been mostly remedied here with a much tighter and faster paced combat system. Gabriel Dracula’s whip returns once again but this time it’s a shadow whip which is cooler or something; I’m not going to get into an argument with a vampire on whether a whip made of blood or metal is better. If you’ve played any action game that gave you a whip type weapon then you know exactly how it’s going to feel here and you likely even know the moves it’s going to have. Basically you swing it around and occasionally do a spin move with it. In the previous game Gabriel could turn his whip into a light and dark version which would either give him health for each hit he landed on an enemy or deal more damage. This time around you’ve got actual weapons to represent those two modes. Your health gaining weapon is the void sword and the other is the chaos claws which let you shred through enemies. These two weapons are fueled by two separate magic bars that are refilled by either finding a magical shrine or by hitting enemies while in focus mode. Hitting enemies without getting hit yourself will slowly build up a focus meter that, once filled, will cause magical orbs to spill from enemies when hit; absorbing these by clicking either analog stick will refill that specific magical weapon. You can switch between all three weapons on the fly and in the middle of combos which is fun but it’s slightly annoying that doing so will cancel out your focus meter.
You also have some sub-weapons like daggers that you can toss at enemies for some pathetic damage or the more helpful bat swarm which lets you stun a single enemy for a short time. The void sword and chaos claws also have special projectiles that will come into play with certain puzzles or boss fights. You’ll sometimes be required to use the void sword to freeze a waterfall for you to climb or freeze the arm of a giant boss. The chaos claws on the other hand give you these bombs you can use to open up hidden areas or just to quickly toss at a group of enemies in a fight.
The skills menu is where you’ll purchase new moves for the three main weapons and certain skills can also be upgraded. Besides purchasing new skills you’ll also be investing in something called a mastery point. Whenever you perform a specific attack (like the light attack launch for example) it will contribute to that attack’s overall mastery; fill it all the way and you can then transfer that “mastery” to the overall mastery level of that weapon. Mastering all the skills for a weapon is key to bumping up its strength which will in turn make your life easier later in the game. Simply spamming the same few moves will leave you with weaker weapons when you have to face off against some tougher foes. It’s an interesting mechanic that incentives you to use all the attacks at your disposal.
Every once in a while the game decides to throw you into these terrible stealth moments. The reason for them is that Dracula is apparently too weak to take on the guards patrolling the area with this excuse instantly falling on its face when you take out a massive boss on the other side of the door who I’m sure is stronger than the dudes outside. Shapeshifting into a pack of rats is neat the first time, but all these moments feel too similar and it’s not very well done in the first place. It also doesn’t help that sometimes the solution isn’t very clear which makes these already poorly designed segments feel even worse.
Now while the core game isn’t revolutionizing anything in the genre, the option to turn off the quick-time events is something that should definitely be copied by other games. I was able to play through an action game without having to mash a button to open a door and I could focus on what was happening on screen during those cinematic kill animations instead of focusing on glowing button prompts. If that’s not some amazing shit then I don’t know what is.
Besides the main campaign to go through you’ve also got the Kleidos Challenges which should keep you busy. These challenges offer a decent distraction from the main story, especially with the four objectives you can try to complete before the waves end. You’ll get things like keeping your focus meter up for a certain amount of time or not using a certain weapon.
The Final Word
Lords of Shadow 2 is a competent, and sometimes great, action game that’s unfortunately bogged down by some horrid tacked on stealth moments and a story that doesn’t really seem to know what it wants. Fans of the previous game will likely enjoy the game though and I’m sure anyone who’s looking for a solid action game will find something enjoyable here if they can rough it through the shaky opening.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
