My cousin asks me how close this all is to Shadow of the Colossus. Without even pausing the game, I turn to give him a blank stare. It's okay, I'm mashing square, I barely have to pay attention anyways as Kratos twirls like a flaming top with a scowl on top of a giant monster that the series never acknowledges as his grandfather. Over the span of maybe 15 minutes, Kratos launches himself all over it's body, attacking boils, fending off skeletons, and pulling fingernails. On the back of the creature is the temple where about 70% of the original game took place, so I'm glad that's been trivialized. After stabbing his way across the thing's body, fighting a skull monster that crawls out of a boil, crawling out of the esophagus, and finally stabbing his giant forehead with a tiny magic sword the beast is at last slain. I say beast, but for the duration of the fight it was taunting and chastising Kratos, asking things like "WHY DO YOU FLEE, KRATOS?" as he crawls up the giant's arm.
This has about as much in common with Shadow of the Colossus as Transformers 2 does with Citizen Kane. They uh... both use cameras?
TWO GAMES ENTER. ONE GAME LEAVES,
Through some kind of cosmic event I happened to play and beat both of these games in the span of about a week after not being anywhere near a major console for the better part of 5 months. My cousin pushed me through God of War 3 on Christmas Eve and Day, got Lords of Shadow as a gift and beat it in the days thereafter. God of War 3 is a truly bombastic and outrageous experience. It's a livid child, reading a book on Greek mythology as loud as he can while running around a playground. One minute he's yelling about Poseidon (skimming the details) and rolling down a slide, the next minute he's moved on to Hercules while he attempts hand stands on the monkey bars. Lords of Shadow, in contrast, is a subdued experience. It's framed as classic literature and unfolds accordingly, short chapters encourage frequent breaks, and exposition comes often and in detail in the form of the Shakespearean tones of Patrick Stewart as well as found documents. So who plays host to the better experience, Gabriel Belmont or Kratos (he doesn't have a last name, but I like to pretend it's Protagonist)?
Now, on a bulleted list, God of War 3 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow look pretty similar. They become practically the same game when reduced to their most basic components. They're both defined as "action-adventure" games by wikipedia, but it's really more that style that I think has come to known as "stylish action" (You know the type, 3rd person beat-em-up type game with combos and magic, light item fetching puzzles and platforming, quick time events, etc). Both games feature whip-like implements as their primary weapon. Both games have fixed camera angles and quick time event finishers. Truthfully, it's actually a quite common style as of late that was really sparked by the original God of War, but hey Ninja Gaiden Black fits this mold and it's one of my favorite games of all time. ALL TIME.
I'm going to say right out of the gate that I prefer Lords of Shadow over God of War 3. Kratos's grand death adventure plays just fine. On the Normal difficulty I can still mash square to get through pretty much every encounter in the game, but maybe 3/5 into the game you get your hands on the Nemean Cestus which completely changed the game for me.
This has about as much in common with Shadow of the Colossus as Transformers 2 does with Citizen Kane. They uh... both use cameras?
TWO GAMES ENTER. ONE GAME LEAVES,
Through some kind of cosmic event I happened to play and beat both of these games in the span of about a week after not being anywhere near a major console for the better part of 5 months. My cousin pushed me through God of War 3 on Christmas Eve and Day, got Lords of Shadow as a gift and beat it in the days thereafter. God of War 3 is a truly bombastic and outrageous experience. It's a livid child, reading a book on Greek mythology as loud as he can while running around a playground. One minute he's yelling about Poseidon (skimming the details) and rolling down a slide, the next minute he's moved on to Hercules while he attempts hand stands on the monkey bars. Lords of Shadow, in contrast, is a subdued experience. It's framed as classic literature and unfolds accordingly, short chapters encourage frequent breaks, and exposition comes often and in detail in the form of the Shakespearean tones of Patrick Stewart as well as found documents. So who plays host to the better experience, Gabriel Belmont or Kratos (he doesn't have a last name, but I like to pretend it's Protagonist)?
Now, on a bulleted list, God of War 3 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow look pretty similar. They become practically the same game when reduced to their most basic components. They're both defined as "action-adventure" games by wikipedia, but it's really more that style that I think has come to known as "stylish action" (You know the type, 3rd person beat-em-up type game with combos and magic, light item fetching puzzles and platforming, quick time events, etc). Both games feature whip-like implements as their primary weapon. Both games have fixed camera angles and quick time event finishers. Truthfully, it's actually a quite common style as of late that was really sparked by the original God of War, but hey Ninja Gaiden Black fits this mold and it's one of my favorite games of all time. ALL TIME.
I'm going to say right out of the gate that I prefer Lords of Shadow over God of War 3. Kratos's grand death adventure plays just fine. On the Normal difficulty I can still mash square to get through pretty much every encounter in the game, but maybe 3/5 into the game you get your hands on the Nemean Cestus which completely changed the game for me.
Seriously, look at those things.
I remember seeing them in the original trailer and being skeptical. Who would want to get up close to enemies when they can just stand in the middle of a room and mash square? Well that's because the Cestus is incredibly powerful and, put simply, it's just awesome to fly through the game punching mythical creatures to death. Fun! I've never had such fun in a God of War game. It was almost like I was playing Devil May Cry! When I was half asleep at 3 am Christmas morning I could even half-pretend I was playing Ninja Gaiden!
I could pretend I was playing Nepeta Quest 2011
Sadly, as is par for the course, every other weapon is pretty forgetable, and even the Cestus becomes more like Kratos's trademark chain blades as they are upgraded. The head of Helios sub-weapon is pretty neat, but it serves little practicle purpose. But as much as I complain, the game is exceedingly... competent. The combat is what you do the most in the game but it is nowhere near the main attraction. This game is a knockout on graphics and presentation. From the first boss fight with Poseidon with it's lavish water effects and daunting sense of scale to the super neato perspective puzzle in the Garden's of Olympus. Everything looks fantastic (even in standard definition) and there are virtually no bugs to speak of. The developers did a great job of making the journey as pleasant as possible from beginning to end.
The problem then is the journey itself. Without a doubt, God of War 3 has one of the worst stories I've ever seen in a video game. In fact, I suspect it has one of the worst stories in anything ever. I truly liked the original God of War's story. In fact I thought it was it's greatest strength. It was a fresh setting and an interesting take on Greek mythology. Kratos had a single job, one we knew would destroy him, and at the end he rose to become the source of all the hatred in the world. He became a source of hate and death. He became a... God... of War. That got thrown out the window in the second game where he's stripped of his godhood because he selfishly tried to take over the world or some such bullshit. From there his exploits become only more and more senseless. In the third game he just goes from conflict to conflict, giving extended speeches about VENGEANCE to whoever is nearby once everything is dead. What the hell is he avenging at this point? All the bad situations he encounters are a product of his own actions, and he's really just furthering the destruction of the world with every deity he strikes down. And guess what? He strikes them all down.
When he kills Poseidon, the world floods and Kratos becomes responsible for countless deaths. From there he goes on to wreck the world even further. I don't want to be this person, no matter how badass he is. His motivations range from selfish to nonexistant, and at the risk of sounding like some arthouse idiot, this really matters. I said so in the Minecraft review, I need reason. If it's weak or just not there then everything I do, no matter how badass, is pointless.
Not pictured: motivation
Not pictured: motivation
Without any semblance of sensible plot God of War 3 is just a shiny contrivance, a roller coaster that jettisons you along from scene to scene without any rhyme or reason. Near the end there's a half-baked attempt to impart a message about HOPE or some such nonsense only minutes after Kratos says with conviction, an immutable scowl across his face: "HOPE IS FOR THE WEAK". But when you have guys like this directing the project, I suppose it's the most you could hope for in the way of characterization.
Castlevania though, is a different beast entirely. It takes place on decidedly smaller scale than Kratos's Extraordinary Vengeance Romp, but this imparts a more personal touch on the game at large. God of War 3 is full of extreme wide angles, frequently reducing Kratos to a whirling flame dervish (of vengeance) the size of an ant. Gabriel is always front and center, well designed and fluidly detailed. What's more impressive is that he has a back story and... wait for it... MOTIVATION. The world is at stake! His wife is dead! A mystery is afoot regarding a spell cast that severed earth from the heavens! He even has a neat accent, and we're always being reminded of his determination and slipping mental state by Zobeck, Gabriel's pal in the Brotherhood of Light who also fills the narrator position. The story and world of Lords of Shadow are just so rich, managing to feel realistic and fantastical at the same time, and as I mentioned earlier, the closer camera has the added benefit of imparting greater detail.
Castlevania though, is a different beast entirely. It takes place on decidedly smaller scale than Kratos's Extraordinary Vengeance Romp, but this imparts a more personal touch on the game at large. God of War 3 is full of extreme wide angles, frequently reducing Kratos to a whirling flame dervish (of vengeance) the size of an ant. Gabriel is always front and center, well designed and fluidly detailed. What's more impressive is that he has a back story and... wait for it... MOTIVATION. The world is at stake! His wife is dead! A mystery is afoot regarding a spell cast that severed earth from the heavens! He even has a neat accent, and we're always being reminded of his determination and slipping mental state by Zobeck, Gabriel's pal in the Brotherhood of Light who also fills the narrator position. The story and world of Lords of Shadow are just so rich, managing to feel realistic and fantastical at the same time, and as I mentioned earlier, the closer camera has the added benefit of imparting greater detail.
Your average Lords of Shadow screen cap.
I will say that literally any and all NPCs that talk during the course of normal gameplay are definitely the most annoying thing this game has to offer. They each have about three lines and they repeat them every five seconds. It is terrible. Cut scenes and Captain Picard's narration, however, are excellent. Although I can't really vouch for the authenticity of the accents all the characters have, I think it's really neat that they have them. I mean, assuming the game takes place in an ancient European countryside it would sound weird if everyone sounded like Aryan Nation Johnny. Especially alongside Patrick Stewart.
I still haven't even gotten started on the combat, the games greatest strength in my opinion. There is no leveling component and there are no alternate main weapons. Gabriel has his Combat Cross the whole game and only upgrades it with extra combos (which are animated with awesome flip-book pencil sketches in the menu). Mastery of combat comes from taking advantage of two sources of magic, light and shadow. Switching on light magic allows you to replenish your health with each attack, while shadow magic maximizes damage output. Doing well in combat provides a steady flow of neutral orbs than can be used to refill either one magic source quickly, or both slowly. So combat becomes a neat exercise in the precision micromanagement of dodging, blocking, attacking and counterattacking as well as the macromanagement of maintaining the ebb and flow of your magic. Perhaps you'll want to focus on light magic if you're low on health, or maybe you want to eliminate a certain enemy quickly by doling out the dark stuff. It works pretty well and provides a breath of fresh air from other games' combo memorizing and ace-up-the-sleeve instant win magic attacks (God of War has a single magic meter tied to spells that work more like Final Fantasy summons).
Then there are sub-weapons like daggers and holy water, seemingly as an homage to the series' roots, that can feel extraneous at times, but become more useful with the help of the magic elements (for example, daggers become explosive when used while dark magic is active), and monster weaknesses (i.e. vampires are weak against holy water, etc.).
Boss fights can either be lengthy endurance tests of constant blocking and dodging, or slick combo chains that support constant magic use as you dodge attacks and punish openings. Unless you're fighting one of the Colossus enemies in the game, which are good because man are they fucking beautiful, but bad because the damn things are incredibly frustrating. The colossus sequences come off as one of those game remakes within a game similar to Little Big Planet. Lords of Shadow tries to make Shadow of the Colossus within its confines and it seriously does not work. You're constantly getting knocked off, holding random buttons, and struggling with a baffling internal logic.
So cool looking, but SO ANNOYING.
I still haven't even gotten started on the combat, the games greatest strength in my opinion. There is no leveling component and there are no alternate main weapons. Gabriel has his Combat Cross the whole game and only upgrades it with extra combos (which are animated with awesome flip-book pencil sketches in the menu). Mastery of combat comes from taking advantage of two sources of magic, light and shadow. Switching on light magic allows you to replenish your health with each attack, while shadow magic maximizes damage output. Doing well in combat provides a steady flow of neutral orbs than can be used to refill either one magic source quickly, or both slowly. So combat becomes a neat exercise in the precision micromanagement of dodging, blocking, attacking and counterattacking as well as the macromanagement of maintaining the ebb and flow of your magic. Perhaps you'll want to focus on light magic if you're low on health, or maybe you want to eliminate a certain enemy quickly by doling out the dark stuff. It works pretty well and provides a breath of fresh air from other games' combo memorizing and ace-up-the-sleeve instant win magic attacks (God of War has a single magic meter tied to spells that work more like Final Fantasy summons).
Then there are sub-weapons like daggers and holy water, seemingly as an homage to the series' roots, that can feel extraneous at times, but become more useful with the help of the magic elements (for example, daggers become explosive when used while dark magic is active), and monster weaknesses (i.e. vampires are weak against holy water, etc.).
Boss fights can either be lengthy endurance tests of constant blocking and dodging, or slick combo chains that support constant magic use as you dodge attacks and punish openings. Unless you're fighting one of the Colossus enemies in the game, which are good because man are they fucking beautiful, but bad because the damn things are incredibly frustrating. The colossus sequences come off as one of those game remakes within a game similar to Little Big Planet. Lords of Shadow tries to make Shadow of the Colossus within its confines and it seriously does not work. You're constantly getting knocked off, holding random buttons, and struggling with a baffling internal logic.
So cool looking, but SO ANNOYING.
The short list of Lords of Shadow's flaws comes to a close with a bit of wonkiness pertaining to the platforming sections that punctuate combat. I didn't have any major issues with it, in fact I rather enjoyed some of the camera angles that the game pull in its later stages, but there's a certain air of "game-logic" that surrounds environment traversal here. You're really only supposed to go where the game intends, and anything off the beaten path will drain your health. It feels very rigid and pretty rough around the edges. Of course this relaxes a bit once you acquire more tools of traversal (like running boots and double jump wings) but little quirks like not being able to jump over assorted small objects still annoy.
One last thing that I suppose could be construed as a flaw is an almost complete disconnect from every other Castlevania game. There are nods here and there to the other games but otherwise this is an entirely different beast. This is, I think, where it triumphs over God of War. Castlevania games have been playing it safe since Symphony of the Night. Even my current favorite iteration, Order of Ecclessia, clung to the Metroidvania levelling system and backtrackery. God of War was content with playing it safe, yet it did so lavishly and almost entirely without flaw. You have to hand it to Sony Santa Monica, they are expert crafters of this particular medium. But their work ends up like a perfect sphere, admirable in its creation but ultimately quite boring to look at. Lords of Shadow on the other hand is like a messy work of art. It dared to be different from its progenitors but at the cost of some rough edges and material some might find objectionable.
For all style yet no substance, and worse yet no heart, God of War 3 gets a zero out of one.
For daring to dream, even at the cost of its waking life, Lords of Shadow gets a one out of one.
One last thing that I suppose could be construed as a flaw is an almost complete disconnect from every other Castlevania game. There are nods here and there to the other games but otherwise this is an entirely different beast. This is, I think, where it triumphs over God of War. Castlevania games have been playing it safe since Symphony of the Night. Even my current favorite iteration, Order of Ecclessia, clung to the Metroidvania levelling system and backtrackery. God of War was content with playing it safe, yet it did so lavishly and almost entirely without flaw. You have to hand it to Sony Santa Monica, they are expert crafters of this particular medium. But their work ends up like a perfect sphere, admirable in its creation but ultimately quite boring to look at. Lords of Shadow on the other hand is like a messy work of art. It dared to be different from its progenitors but at the cost of some rough edges and material some might find objectionable.
For all style yet no substance, and worse yet no heart, God of War 3 gets a zero out of one.
For daring to dream, even at the cost of its waking life, Lords of Shadow gets a one out of one.
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