Castlevania Lords of Shadow Review

I have always been a fan of the Castlevania series since the super nintendo, but this one puts the icing on the cake. Castlevania Lords of Shadow takes a different spin on the original games by combining castle wall climbing, and using your whip to swing through the forest like in Ninja Gaiden and Assassins Creed. The creators of this game did an excellent job staying true to the Castlevania game play, while adding new the wall scaling features.

The castle climbing isn’t as intricate as Assassins Creed, but it does add a lot of fun to the game. I mean seriously, haven’t you ever had the feeling of staring at a giant castle and just wanted to strap on a harness and spider man that shit?! I know I have.

Anyways, Castlevania Lords of Shadow also did a great job on the storyline for this game. I felt like I was watching a movie during the cut scenes and did I mention that Christopher Lee (Saruman) does the narrating?
Freakin sweet! Who else would you want to read you a bed time story about devils, demons, vampires, and chasing after a fallen love rather than Saruman himself? (Maybe Morgan Freeman, but I don’t think they had that kind of budget).

In Castlevania Lords of Shadow, you play as Gabriel, one of the earliest members of the Belmont family. The story takes you through forests, swamps, cliffs, and castles searching for answers about the death of Marie. Throughout the campaign you gain artifacts from defeating bosses such as Lycans, Vampires, Necromancers, and giant Golems, which aid Gabriel in defeating the devil. The fighting controls in this game are seamless and  integrated well. Of course, one of Gabriel’s main weapons is the whip, which is quite fun to use, as well as some artifacts he obtains along the way. The graphics in this game are amazing! I would spend a couple minutes staring at waterfalls and castles trying to figure out if I will ever be able to draw that well one day.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow is a great addition to the Castlevania series and I definitely recommend playing this game. I hope Konami keeps up with this style of game play for the series and makes a few sequels.
What do you guys think about this game?
Do you like the new style or the 2-D side scrolling better?

Castlevania Lords of Shadow rates:

Gameplay 8/10 This game switches back and forth between action, solving puzzles, and castle climbing, all the while integrating an epic storyline. What more can you ask for?

Graphics 9/10 Lords of Shadow did an excellent job on the graphics. I had to give this game a 9 out of 10 when I realized that I stopped playing just to admire the background.

Audio 7/10 If the soundtrack would have been as epic as the other Castlevania games, then this game would have been easily a 9 out of 10 overall, but the music was pretty average.

Replay Value 8/10 Normally in these kind of action adventure games, you will be satisfied playing them through once. Not true for this game, I haven’t played since last December but I’m dying to pick it up again.

If your a fan of Castlevania or this kind of genre of gaming, then I would definitely buy this one.