Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate

[DANGERMAN]

The demo for this is up on the e-shop, I've played through it a couple of times, hard to say what I think though, but pleasingly it's not terrible

I was going to say that they really dont need the 'Lords of Shadow' suffix, but playing it, it's very much a Lords of Shadow Castlevania. Little things like some skeletons not dying, their bones rattling about on the floor until you land a ground attack. There's enemies that you don't just kill, instead you have to beat them to the point where you can trigger a small QTE, and if you mess that up on the larger enemies it's instant death. The platforming includes grappling, and swinging using your whip, again something that was a feature in Lords of Shadow

When you die, which you probably will, you aren't put back to a save point, more a checkpoint, so far these seem very generous, there was one at the midpoint of a boss battle for example. There's health fountains dotted around, although with the demo being fairly early I'm not sure if these have replaced the need to attack using light magic to recover health as in the first Lords of Shadow game.

The combat is very Lords of Shadow, or certainly a lot more involved than a traditional handheld Castlevania. You've got your direct attack and combos thereof, an area attack, which is less effective on a 2D plain than it was in the 3D games, and there's also projectile attacks via your secondary weapon. Very little is required beyond that in the demo, but if you play about then you'll find a ground pound, an air attack that fires out a short beam of light (which seems to be useless in this format), air dodges, rising uppercuts etc. There is magic, both light and dark, however they aren't open to you in the demo.

Some of the more familiar stuff, the map on the bottom screen looks like a traditional Metroidvania style map, there's secret items, progress blocked until you find the right skill, y'know, Castlevania. It seems ok so far, it's hard to say it's better than that from the brief demo, but it's better than the first taste of Lords of Shadow we got, and it's certainly better than I was starting to fear it would be

[wholehole]

I'll have to borrow my mate's 3DS so I can play this. Looking forward to the console sequel more but still want to get this, won't be worth buying another 3DS over though.

[DANGERMAN]

I've just finished the first act of this playing as Simon (I think), Alucard is up next. I feel the same as I did with the demo still, I don't think it's a bad game but it's not exactly captivating either. I can say that I've not had the framerate become an issue during play, it does fall apart a bit during some cutscenes. The game looks surprisingly decent on the tiny screen, better than the trailers, but I think I'd rather it have the same dark cartoon style of the animated cutscenes

It's not as unlike the Iga games as people have said, it's not as sprawling and there's load times between areas, but there is still a map system with some light platforming. The combat has some extra moves like Lords of Shadow but there's not so much to it that it's completely different from the hacking of past games. There's a level up system that I'm not sure what it does beyond unlocking a new move. There's hidden items that improve your magic and health, and obviously there's skill to earn that let you make further progress

I still don't know if it's good or not, only that it isn't bad

[DANGERMAN]

just finished this and I'm still not entirely sure how good a game it is. It's split up in to chapters, Trevor, Alucard, Simon, and they all pretty much have their own section of the castle to explore. Their skills are fairly similar, you have 2 sub weapons, 2 types of magic (one which heals as you attack, one which does more damage), then some random skills. Your level carries over from one character to another, so while you may not have Alucard's hover ability in Act 3 you will still have all the combos and health increases you unlocked.

Bizarrely, and commendably, the demo that's on the eshop is actually from Act 3, by the time I got there in the main game though I was way stronger than the demo sets you at. I really liked Act 3, Simon's section, and the story for this bit is great, filling in a few gaps. I quite liked Act 1 too, you're still learning and Trevor is underpowered compared to the others, but it's fairly interesting. For some reason though the only bits of the game I actively disliked came in Alucard's section, which considering his history and what he should be capable of, is a bit of a shame. I actually started liking the game more once I started making the most of the unlocked moves, things like there's a charge attack that's useful against blocking enemies, and a quick fire spinning whip attack that's really useful when an enemy leaves themselves open.

It ends well, there's a great fight against Dracula before the final chapter that I assume sets up the console game, then the story in Act 3, despite being nothing you haven't seen, is told really well. I did have some issues with controls that I'd put down to the framerate, dodging for example isn't as instant as you need it to be

[retroed]

I've just finished the first act of this playing as Simon (I think)

You think? The sexy boss prior to the conclusion of Act I says his name constantly.

I've just got back into this and am currently level 10 at the beginning of Act II, playing as Alucard. It's very by the numbers and quite simple, but I'm not having a problem with that. Controls are good and I like the range of attacks. I'm not sure I'd enjoy it as much playing on the big screen, but on 3DS it's great to dip in and out of, and it saves very frequently. The cutscenes look amazing, and the voice acting isn't that bad either. I'm glad I have it on the 3DS anyway, even better that it was a freebie download.