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CASTLEVANIA: LORDS OF SHADOW 2
Platform: PlayStation 3
74
Reviewed on PC

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Preview - E3 2013

Become Dracula and beat up some servants of the Underworld in this action sequel

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a direct sequel to the enjoyable title from 2010. Gamers will for the first time play as Dracula himself, and take on the forces of newly resurrected Satan who wants to bring about the apocalypse and get his revenge. Playing as Dracula, you’ll be faced with the task of reacquiring your powers and even make a pact with Death in order to defeat Satan once more and finally get your final rest. We had a chance to see more of the game and play it at E3.

Lords of Shadow 2’s events will take place in the modern day, although this wasn’t immediately relevant in our demo as the action took place in Dracula’s castle and the enemies we faced were not human. Starting in what appeared to be the throne room, enemies used a ram to break in and spoiled our solemn drinking. Utilizing some very familiar gameplay tactics, we hacked and slashed through the first wave of enemies with relative ease using the chains on Dracula’s arms. Singular as well as area attacks were at our disposal, bound to two separate buttons. The animations were smooth and combat felt very enjoyable, while also being more grounded compared to the previous game.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

In the next wave, some tougher foes appeared, so we were told by the game to use the special sword which restores health with every hit. It was a nice boost to our health and provided a nice mechanic to balance the difficulty. There is also another system to restore health – when an enemy has suffered sufficient damage he may enter a dazed state, giving Dracula an opportunity to grab on and suck his blood. When yet another enemy wave appeared, holding shields, we were introduced to the large metal gloves that are also swappable on the fly. This weapon is used specifically to break through enemy shields. You can see how, utilizing all three weapons that are hot-swappable, the combat has a nice flow and variety. It all does sound very familiar to God of War players, but imitating one of the best action series in the industry isn’t a bad thing when done properly.

After we dispatched the initial group of foes and got a feel for the flow of combat, Dracula headed outside of the hall to the large balcony overlooking his castle – which was under heavy attack. A large flying angel-like enemy appeared, and we had a boss battle of sorts on our hands. With no other enemies to recover health from and some very high damage attacks from this boss, it was important to dodge a lot and pick your counters carefully. But after some minutes, we beat it down enough to fly off. Unfortunately, at that moment a giant robot the size of the castle walls struck our platform, causing it to collapse and leaving Dracula no choice but to hang on and climb this machine.

As we climbed, the platforming felt very basic and we only needed to point in the general direction and jump. The only challenge came from timing our advances between moving gears. We then reached a platform where a number of enemies showed up, and our flying boss friend from earlier also entered the fray. While dispatching the regular foes, the flying boss would periodically take aim and shoot arrows at us. The goal here was to make him shoot some support clamps holding up the giant robot’s infrastructure, by positioning yourself on these points and then dodging out of the way at the last moment. It’s fairly straightforward design, but made for an engaging fight none the less. After completing that, we were able to move on and climb higher.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Here once again, this time while climbing, we had to make the flying enemy shoot supports by jumping out of the way in time, which was a bit more difficult than when on solid ground. We also had to dodge his shots all through the climb, all while also timing our jumps between moving gears. A few curse words were said due to mistakes made on the climb causing Dracula to fall to his untimely death. But eventually, we go to another platform, and had to repeat pretty much he same process. Defeat goons, while setting up the arrow shot on the support points. It was a fairly lengthy gameplay section overall, and combined the action and platforming quite well. Upon reaching the head of the robot, we were able to tear off its helm and violently puked blood into its entity, causing it to fall and collapse. This is where the demo concluded.

From our hands-on session with the game, Lords of Shadow 2 looks to be a promising entry into the franchise that already plays well and feels satisfying. It has more than a few commonalities with God of War, something the original game didn’t make so apparent, but it was perhaps due to our limited time with the game. Action fans should look forward to this sequel. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 should arrive on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this year.

Comments
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 box art Platform:
PlayStation 3
Our Review of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
74%
Good
Reviewed on PC
Game Ranking
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (PC) is ranked #905 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #62 out of 152 games reviewed in 2014.
904. Lone Survivor
PC
905. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
906. Nintendo Land
Wii U
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Screenshots

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
16 images added Mar 6, 2014 01:11
Videos
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