E3 2010: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Preview
M.Josette Camilleri
We get our hands on the combat cross for the first time at this year's E3.
While IGN recently sat down with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer David Cox and developers Mercury Steam, Konami waited until this week to debut a playable build of the title at E3. As a wary Castlevania fan burned by its transition to 3D, I steeled my nerves and walked over to Konami's booth to see how the character-action-based reimagining of Castlevania is shaping up, and left more hopeful than I've been in years that someone might finally be doing the series some third-person justice.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at IGN.com
The E3 demo for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow starts in the rainy village from recent trailers, where Gabriel has come to find leads regarding whereabouts of a powerful entity with answers to haunting questions. As Gabriel rides up on his horse, he sees a number of villagers leaving the town; once Gabriel enters the village square, he finds out why, as waves of werewolves attack.
The demo went through Castlevania: Lords of Shadow's control basics, which should be familiar to anyone who's played a God of War or similar title in the last few years. You've got your strong attacks and your light attacks, your grab, and a button for Gabriel's subweapons. This demo only included the dagger subweapons, which behaved exactly as any Castlevania fan would hope, flying speedily toward their targets in rapid succession.
The demo went through Castlevania: Lords of Shadow's control basics, which should be familiar to anyone who's played a God of War or similar title in the last few years. You've got your strong attacks and your light attacks, your grab, and a button for Gabriel's subweapons. This demo only included the dagger subweapons, which behaved exactly as any Castlevania fan would hope, flying speedily toward their targets in rapid succession.
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While Castlevania: Lords of Shadow looks a bit rough right now, with a framerate that was all over the place and some low-poly character models here and there, it's still managing a very strong Castlevania vibe. The atmosphere is particularly strong, and the violence and gore that's only been sort of hinted at over the years in Castlevania was much more present in Lords of Darkness (particularly in the quick-time sequence that had me impale a giant werewolf with a wooden post).
My battle in the town square was followed by a semi-scripted chase sequence, as Gabriel rode a magical horse (yes, a magic horse) while being pursued by werewolves riding bigger werewolves (it wasn't as silly as it sounds, I assure you). The demo ended shortly after, and I was genuinely surprised to find that I was a little sad things were over so quickly. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is in good shape, and with a fair bit of time left before its recently announced late 2010 release, I'm bullish on it turning out to be a fitting rebirth for the venerable franchise on consoles.
Source: IGN.com
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