[Konami Gamers Night 2010] Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Eyes-On
Whoa, whoa, whoa... You mean a Castlevania game not made by Konami is actually looking good? Oh yes... Very, very good.
Published: April 9, 2010
Look, let's be frank here: the idea that someone outside of Konami's own internal teams could make a game that not only lived up to the legacy but may actually make it feel right in 3D is nearly unfathomable. There have been instances where The Big K handed the development reins to someone else and the results have been... well, let's just say they didn't meet the standards set by the original in-house dev efforts.
Castlevania, though, is a series that hasn't really needed external help to dig itself a bit of a hole. Oh, sure, the 2D efforts in the same vein as the amazing Symphony of the Night have been fantastic on the whole, but they've been stuck for the most part on the DS. Whenever the series has tried to make that final leap to 3D, something is lost as sprites become polygons; the level designs don't seem to have the same sense of personality, the combat feels odd and the game just can't seem to fully embrace all that 3D really offers.
That's not to say there haven't been valiant efforts in the past -- Lament of Innocence, for example, did a decent job of stepping up to really deliver the now-classic Metroidvania feel, but it still didn't have the richness and didn't fully embrace the smoothness and visceral feel of the earlier games. Imagine our surprise, then, when the guys behind Jericho (not to mention the more open world PC adventure Scrapland) trotted out a game that actually looks -- gasp -- like a Castlevania game. In 3D! With no corners cut!
Now granted, most of the demonstration was focused on showing all of us gathered for Konami's Gamers Night the aesthetics of the world the Spanish dev house MercurySteam had whipped up in conjunction with Kojima Productions, but that was actually important. If they couldn't get the atmosphere and level design down, then no amount of seemingly God of War-esque combat would suffice for long. Well congrats, MercurySteam, your foundation is bedrock. Now we get to wait for E3 to see how it actually plays.
But let's head back to that atmosphere for a moment -- or rather what it represents, which is actually rather significant. This is a reboot, not a direct sequel, meaning Konami's desire to appeal to a worldwide audience couldn't be more obvious. Sure, you'll play as a could-be Belmont (Konami's staying mum... sorta), in something that could easily fit within the early timeline of things (again, no real indication of links, however tertiary, to the main series here), but the idea that you're trying to communicate with your dead wife in a world where the dead seemingly cannot leave this plane of existence opens up some interesting diversions. We're sure Drac's involved somewhere, but just how Lords of Shadow and its masks, communication with the dead and eerily familiar locales will tie in is still very much a mystery.
And that's fine... for now. Sure, the game was first revealed nearly a year ago, but we'll hold out hope for something playable in a few more weeks at E3 this year. In the mean time, we'll feast on the rather obvious nods to God of War (including a "combat cross" that can become all manner of things, including whip-like flails and gets upgraded via orbs). Things are staying decidedly stage-based, however, rather than a massive, sprawling world interconnected between locales, though this offers the opportunity to head back and revisit things to move beyond the 15 or so hours the team is planning to make the game.
It's hard to be sure just how solid Lords of Shadow's gameplay is right now, as all we've really seen is snippets of basic combat and a rather epic showdown with a massive beasty that, again, seemed awfully close to God of War. We probably sound like we're beating a dead horse here, but without a proper hands-on playthrough, we can only go by visual similarities, and the apparently QTE-style finishers certainly gave us Kratos deja-vu -- in all the best ways possible.
Lords of Shadow is clearly embracing the darker, more gothic nature of the series, spending plenty of time inside a labyrinthine castle, but it's also promising trips out in graveyards and plains filled with gnarled, withered tress cowering under dark, overcast skies. It's not unfair to say that the pitch-perfect mood and ambience so far are some of the strongest things the game has going for it. Of course, right now, that's about all it has going for it until we can report back with impressions of the game's sense of weight and feel, but the animations, environments and characters (including enemies) feels innately Castlevania. We can't think of a more glowing endorsement than that.
For now, feast on the screens we were able to snag, and check back in mid June as we (hopefully) finally get to see how the game plays. Maybe even with our own two hands!
Castlevania, though, is a series that hasn't really needed external help to dig itself a bit of a hole. Oh, sure, the 2D efforts in the same vein as the amazing Symphony of the Night have been fantastic on the whole, but they've been stuck for the most part on the DS. Whenever the series has tried to make that final leap to 3D, something is lost as sprites become polygons; the level designs don't seem to have the same sense of personality, the combat feels odd and the game just can't seem to fully embrace all that 3D really offers.
That's not to say there haven't been valiant efforts in the past -- Lament of Innocence, for example, did a decent job of stepping up to really deliver the now-classic Metroidvania feel, but it still didn't have the richness and didn't fully embrace the smoothness and visceral feel of the earlier games. Imagine our surprise, then, when the guys behind Jericho (not to mention the more open world PC adventure Scrapland) trotted out a game that actually looks -- gasp -- like a Castlevania game. In 3D! With no corners cut!
Now granted, most of the demonstration was focused on showing all of us gathered for Konami's Gamers Night the aesthetics of the world the Spanish dev house MercurySteam had whipped up in conjunction with Kojima Productions, but that was actually important. If they couldn't get the atmosphere and level design down, then no amount of seemingly God of War-esque combat would suffice for long. Well congrats, MercurySteam, your foundation is bedrock. Now we get to wait for E3 to see how it actually plays.
But let's head back to that atmosphere for a moment -- or rather what it represents, which is actually rather significant. This is a reboot, not a direct sequel, meaning Konami's desire to appeal to a worldwide audience couldn't be more obvious. Sure, you'll play as a could-be Belmont (Konami's staying mum... sorta), in something that could easily fit within the early timeline of things (again, no real indication of links, however tertiary, to the main series here), but the idea that you're trying to communicate with your dead wife in a world where the dead seemingly cannot leave this plane of existence opens up some interesting diversions. We're sure Drac's involved somewhere, but just how Lords of Shadow and its masks, communication with the dead and eerily familiar locales will tie in is still very much a mystery.
And that's fine... for now. Sure, the game was first revealed nearly a year ago, but we'll hold out hope for something playable in a few more weeks at E3 this year. In the mean time, we'll feast on the rather obvious nods to God of War (including a "combat cross" that can become all manner of things, including whip-like flails and gets upgraded via orbs). Things are staying decidedly stage-based, however, rather than a massive, sprawling world interconnected between locales, though this offers the opportunity to head back and revisit things to move beyond the 15 or so hours the team is planning to make the game.
It's hard to be sure just how solid Lords of Shadow's gameplay is right now, as all we've really seen is snippets of basic combat and a rather epic showdown with a massive beasty that, again, seemed awfully close to God of War. We probably sound like we're beating a dead horse here, but without a proper hands-on playthrough, we can only go by visual similarities, and the apparently QTE-style finishers certainly gave us Kratos deja-vu -- in all the best ways possible.
Lords of Shadow is clearly embracing the darker, more gothic nature of the series, spending plenty of time inside a labyrinthine castle, but it's also promising trips out in graveyards and plains filled with gnarled, withered tress cowering under dark, overcast skies. It's not unfair to say that the pitch-perfect mood and ambience so far are some of the strongest things the game has going for it. Of course, right now, that's about all it has going for it until we can report back with impressions of the game's sense of weight and feel, but the animations, environments and characters (including enemies) feels innately Castlevania. We can't think of a more glowing endorsement than that.
For now, feast on the screens we were able to snag, and check back in mid June as we (hopefully) finally get to see how the game plays. Maybe even with our own two hands!
