To tell you the truth. If you want me to buy a game, get Patrick Stewart to narrate. I'll buy it. I'd probably buy two copies just in case one breaks. I'd buy Superman games if Patrick Stewart voiced him. Okay, I wouldn't. That would ruin the good knight's credibility on the spot. Elizabeth the 2nd would clap him in irons and lock him in London Tower or something like that.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way. I'm pretty late to the arena with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, since it came out two days before I tried the demo. It wowed me since it's God of War, Devil May Cry, and Final Fight... again. That sounds bad. Okay, yes, it's another stylish brawler. This time with the Castlevania nameplate on it, and Patrick Stewart reading a poorly written script between each stage. Seriously, I read a LOT of old novels (not from the 11th century, but old) and sentences run on, and on, and on, and...
At any rate the gameplay is basically the same as every stylish brawler you've ever played. Which, again, is a good thing, because if you've played any of the previous 3D Castlevania games, they always missed the mark (save, perhaps, for Castlevania 64, but only because of the awe factor). Your weapon is a multi-purpose crucifix. It can be used to stab things and when you swing it at things it lashes out to strike things in an oddly whip-like fashion. There are lots of combos to memorize (generally a turnoff to me) and probably a lot of different weapons to use.
The graphics look great in some parts, not so great in others. Mainly the humans look great, but we're only treated to the sight of two enemies. A werewolf, and a warg... which is just more wolfish and less were-ish.. and much bigger, because the werewolves ride them. They're both very dark brown... and shiny. What really looks great is the environment. The backgrounds are very detailed, and though this is just the demo, you still don't get the feeling that you're in the world of Castlevania.
While defeating both of these baddies you pick up experience just like in almost every Castlevania since Symphony of the Night. You use your experience to buy new moves and presumably other stuff. Herein lies my greatest qualm with Lords of Shadow. The menus. The menus take place in a book and as you probably could imagine the book pages flip to and fro and are covered in words. These words are all in script, sit at an angle, and are incredibly difficult to read. Perhaps Konami is on the take for 1080p TVs, but they're not on the take for 720p TVs since I'm really having a difficult time reading the flavor text on my TV.
Which brings me to my next, and final point. My wife finds flavor text to be boring. So it means I'm not capable of buying this game at full price with the aim of enjoying it. I can't wait for it to hit the $30 mark!
