Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 review on PC

The Castlevania franchise delivered a huge amount of great side-scrolling adventures in the early ages of gaming but, more recently, Konami tasked Spanish developer MercurySteam with delivering a 3D title that reboots the whole series and its characters.

The result was a pretty good game that brought forth a clever story but was weighed down by a few design choices.

Now, with Lords of Shadow 2, MercurySteam wants to improve upon the original while continuing the story that started with the first game and with the more recent Mirrors of Fate.

Does the game manage to honor the Castlevania name or should Dracula and his adventures be laid to rest forever? Let's find out.

Story

For those who didn't play the last two games, I'm going to talk about their stories, so be warned that spoilers are present.

Lords of Shadow really impressed through its plot, which saw Gabriel Belmont become Dracula, the Prince of Darkness and the main antagonist of the series, who's hunted by his own clan. Mirrors of Fate saw his son, Trevor, and his grandson, Simon, team up to take him down.

Now, the famous vampire is back in a new adventure that sees him ally with old nemesis Zobek, in order to stop Satan from invading the real world. What follows is a pretty convoluted plot that sees Dracula explore industrial facilities and buildings in the real world while also going back to his glorious castle and fighting all sorts of monsters.

While you certainly empathize with the protagonist, the different characters he meets along the way seem like cardboard cutouts and those who try for some emotion, like the bosses, come out as cartoonish.

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You are Dracula ...
... and must defeat big foes

Gameplay

The gameplay of Lords of Shadow 2 is polarizing, to say the least. On the one hand, there's a pretty great combat system that relies on Dracula using his Blood Whip, but also his Claws of Chaos and his Void Sword, each with different roles.

The upgrade system further enriches the weapons and forces players to keep things varied if they want to unlock new abilities and master their existing ones. You don't have any reason not to do this, as the whip can be used in regular and area-of-attack moves, while the claws are needed to break through enemy shields, and the sword in order to steal life from them.

All the weapons are also subjected to a special move system that rewards Dracula with power globes depending on how many hits he can land upon enemies without getting hit in return. This sounds good in theory, but in practice the enemy attack animations aren't that refined so you don't exactly known when you're going to get hit with regular attacks. They also don't stop if you're attacking them, so be prepared to see opponents slash at you even if you're stuck in your own combat animations.

On the other hand, there are the forced stealth sections that are mandatory in the real world, as Dracula must sneak around facilities owned by Satan's acolytes in order to avoid their detection and the attention of hulking guards armed with rocket launchers. While this makes sense in the beginning, when Dracula is still in a relatively weakened state, it continues throughout the story to an annoying degree. Bonus mechanics, like possessing rats, are also thrown in, but they don't exactly feel right for the Prince of Darkness.

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Pull off great combat moves ...
... and face off against peculiar enemies

Enemies are pretty varied, but most of their attacks aren't properly signaled and many only let you get a few hits before unleashing special unblockable attacks that force you to dodge and get as far away as possible.

Exploration is handled relatively well, especially since the game signals your intended path at the press of a button, so you won't get lost. Unfortunately, some of the levels you'll get to explore have a convoluted layout, and almost always when entering a new room the camera will pan and tilt and zoom in on different things in order to highlight the appropriate route but only ends up confusing you in the process.

Difficulty-wise, the game is pretty challenging, delivering aggressive enemies even on the Normal setting. Throw in their rather annoying animations and you'll certainly grit your teeth at some of these encounters.

Visuals and Sound

In terms of graphics, Lords of Shadow 2 delivers a really impressive experience with pretty good textures and some fluid animation work. Some character models aren't exactly the best and the textures in the real world are a bit too bleak to discern a lot of details, but the overall style is a good one for the new title.

The game has a good soundtrack with a booming orchestral score, but the voice acting isn't exactly the best, largely because no amount of voice work can save the cheesy dialog, not even that of Robert Carlyle as Dracula and Sir Patrick Stewart as Zobek.

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Improve your skills ...
... and turn into a rat

Conclusion

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a good game when it tries to deliver a hack and slash experience. Unfortunately, when it attempts to go for a stealth-oriented design, it fails miserably and provokes only frustration and confusion. The fleshed out combat system and the presentation make up for it to some degree, but it still ends up a lackluster game.

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story 7
gameplay 6
concept 7
graphics 9
audio 8
multiplayer 0
final rating 7
Editor's review
good
 
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