Zero Punctuation: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Pages PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NEXT | |
Did you break your headset again? Also this would be the first legitimate time one can say "the cake is a lie". | |
As does Dragon Age: Origins. OT: I'm glad I'm not the only one who prefers a game like Symphony of the Night to some 3D knock-off trying too hard to be other games. | |
I still dont get why he always brings up super paper mario and metroid prime 3 when mentioning light/dark systems. the phazon system in prime 3 was used as a risky and temporary offensive boost and super paper mario's system merely involved the changes from 2d to 3d levels. | |
I'm sure he ment Metroid Prime 2, but knowing Yahtzee he probably never played those games and just is going on hearsay. | |
The portal thing is retard to mention as a negative or positive on any scale. It's equivalent of saying Portal failed because it had a radio at the beginning and this is supposed to be the future. It's something so incredibly minor and irrelevant most people will not even see such things while playing through it. To even see the portal reference, you have to find the corpse that has the scroll and then open up your menu, find the journal log and read the optional journal entry of a soldier going insane and it's mention as his last sentence. There is also a reference in the same fashion to Deku trees in separate entry, again optional reading that can easily be missed.
jericho suffered from awful directing and writing, visually it was impressive. Mercurystream was the sole developer and did a good job with the mess of a material they were given. LoS is co-developed by both Mercurystream and Kojima Productions, had multiple writers and more funding and a different director. There is a also the difference in publisher, as Konami is more than willing to throw money at Hideo but Codemasters ends up being far more conservative and has a robust history of bad games they've churned out.
Sorry but having played LoI and CoD, this game is leagues better than those two games. If you actually played the game and not the demo which is essentially the basic combat tutorial before it introduces the shadow and light magic and focus bar which make up the core combat mechanics. Also you gain XP from killing foes and solving puzzles to unlock new more powerful moves including all your aerial combos.
PS3 version is a single blu-ray disc, chalk it up to Xbox fail on that one. | |
The game is basically a hybrid of Shadow Of The Colossus, Super Castlevania 4, a bit of Devil May Cry (the combo buying part) and Prince Of Persia (the platforming IS taken straight out of the Sand of Time trilogy)...so I guess it is like God Of War since that's basically what God Of war is. But calling it a God Of War knock off is like calling God Of War 3 a Dante's Inferno knock off because D's I came before GOW3 on the PS3. And as for mounting monsters....it's just a coincidence that both GOW and LOS did it. If you insist that one must of copied off the other (I don't believe that is the case though) you got it backwards, the fact that you can mount enemies was announced for LOS long before it was for GOW3 and I doubt Mercury Steam had inside information on the fact that Santa Monica Studios where doing this (seriously, look it up). Besides, they control completely different. EDIT: I also noticed a lot of people think this wasn't meant to be a Castlevania game...it was. The original Lords Of Shadow trailer was shown to Konami as a 'prototype' of what Mercury Steam wanted to do with the franchise, but they didn't know if Konami would like it so they just called it LoS until Konami responded giving them permission to make it. | |
"The Castlevania franchise is like Sonic in that whenever it gets into bed with 3-D it blows its load 30 seconds in and has to sleep in the wet patch" Genius. And true. | |
Nope. I got my hands on that game years back. It's damned awesome. | |
What... no Devil May Cry references? Come on! | |
Considering that Prime 3 is a, for a lack of a better word, prime example as to why his "motion controls are unimmersive" bullshit, yeah I doubt he played the sequels as well.
Yeah that always confused me as well. I guess switching from 2D to 3D counts as dual world gameplay in Yahtzee's little world. | |
Pretty much, and the position of the analog sticks are symmetrical on the dualshock, so you don't have any trouble absorbing the magic orbs. | |
Wow. Thank you for putting in words exactly what I though about the game.Espescially gameplay wise. I have no idea why it's getting so much hate. In fact, I have to give them credit for trying to give answers to parts of castlevania that never made much sense to me. Questions like why the hell am I the only one trying to stop nightmares from taking over, why greater monsters (hell even gods) would follow and serve dracula, where did these monsters really come from,and why use a whip of all things this team tried to address. Heck most of the changes they made at least made it make a bit more sense. This game is only a good thing in my eyes. At least they're not just making more SOTN copies. In fact, I never really liked symphony. From the art style to the gameplay, it never did anything for me. | |
Castlevania always sucked... | |
Spot on review,good job. What I have noticed for "action" games on consoles is that most of them are a clone of God of War 3.The only thing different from one from another is the setting and the plot. It can work in some cases for people who like knock-offs or the plot is deep enough to keep you going through the game without minding the gameplay. | |
Wait, Gabriel Bell? | |
I hate RE4 on GC/PC/PS2 because I could only play a little bit of it before getting HORRIBLY bored and putting it down, yet at the time of it's release (and probably still now) you couldn't go around a corner without someone yammering on about how incredible it is and making you rue the day the game ever showed up on store shelves. | |
That was an image of Metroid Prime 2, not 3! Metroid Prime 2 had a Light and Dark beam and had a Light world and Dark world. The Light Dark thing is, in my opinion, a very lazy attempt at stretching out the game since after a bit there is really no story development for the vast bulk of the game till the end after beating the final boss. I don't really know what your talking about with Super Paper Mario having a light/dark system because it doesn't. The world flipping to the side doesn't count as one either. It's just a different perspective used to get past areas and solve puzzles. The Light/Dark world from the game from what I remember would probably have to do with the normal world and the world that those pixel creatures come from and having to switch between them at times. So, long story short, based on your complaints about Yahtzee's opinions about games you think he's never played, I would doubt that you or the people you quoted every actually played the games either since 1. you confused Metroid Prime 2 for 3 when that's a 'GAMECUBE' game case and 3 is for Wii, and 2. you again confused the Normal/Pixel world with the change viewpoint gameplay aspect. Maybe you should actually bother looking up information on the games you think Yahtzee doesn't know anything about before you go around proclaiming knowledge about those same games when you clearly don't know nothing about them to begin with. | |
~flaps his tonsils~ | |
This game is awesome!!! I haven't finished it yet, but it's simply gorgeous, the God-of-War-robbing combat is challenging and exciting, the colossi, er...titans are huge, the camera angles add a nice sense of scale, the platforming is a fantastic rip-off of a rip-off (Uncharted, which ripped off Prince of Persia), and the hero is refreshingly not as angry as Kratos (though he does kill everything in sight). The boss fights require some lousy tactics, but they're cool and the skippable puzzles added a nice change of pace. Although I love this game, it certainly deserved a Yahtzee tongue lashing for its derivative nature. Yahtzee, when I visit Australia, can I buy you a beer? | |
I think the problem is with a lot of people, especially reviewers, that go into a game too much pessimism in fearing that it will be like some other game, then if their is even just a very small hint that it is like another game they played, they write it off as bad a unoriginal. More people need to start playing new games with an open mind and just go with the moments and have fun. I know reviewers have to look closely at the games they review, but sometimes I think they look too close and look over the actual good and fun qualities of games. | |
Sorry, double post. It is one of those days that my internet won't register that my post went through. | |
I remember that what kept going through that shitty part was the music. For real. Crappy game, but the Frankenstein maze bit I actually appreciate, at least in basic concept.
Though not an absurd answer to your own question, it is far from being the only possible one. A team with more free reign over the design could possibly have decided to take a differente direction with that design, unless they personally loved GoW. But from witnessing a lot of inspiration throughout the years I have to say that, if they really did love GoW, this game might have turned out more like an inspired craft.
An old franchise that needs to blatantly copy styles from far more recently succesful games to survive has just about outstayed its welcome. A cow shouldn't be milked forever. It will turn saggy and dry. After all, they have everything from Dracula's origins to twenty-minutes-into-the-future. And this is from someone who loves the series for its wild concepts.
Much like the Doom-clones from yesterday. And there was a lot of them. Which I like to contrast with Space Invaders that had more than its fair share of clones, with the occasional inspiration which actually built upon the original gameplay instead of just painting over its unchanged structure.
I'm curious about it too. Especial because the GoW-fanboys I have run into really made me annoyed about it. Before that, I played it for a while and got bored, that's all. Poor game, my annoyance about it is not even its' fault. =T | |
Wow, wait to completely miss the point of my posts there dumbass. Maybe you should be directing this to the guy I was replying to and not me. He made the same mistakes and you don't call him out for it. | |
That was an image of Metroid Prime 2, not 3! Metroid Prime 2 had a Light and Dark beam and had a Light world and Dark world. The Light/Dark thing is, in my opinion, a very lazy attempt at stretching out the game since after a bit there is really no story development for the vast bulk of the game till the end after beating the final boss. I don't really know what your talking about with Super Paper Mario having a light/dark system because it doesn't. The world flipping to the side doesn't count as one either. It's just a different perspective used to get past areas and solve puzzles. The Light/Dark world from the game from what I remember would probably have to do with the normal world and the world that those pixel creatures come from and having to switch between them at times. So, long story short, based on your complaints about Yahtzee's opinions about games you think he's never played, I would doubt that you or the people you quoted every actually played the games either since 1. you confused Metroid Prime 2 for 3 when that's a 'GAMECUBE' game case and 3 is for Wii, and 2. you again confused the Normal/Pixel world with the change viewpoint gameplay aspect. Maybe you should actually bother looking up information on the games you think Yahtzee doesn't know anything about before you go around proclaiming knowledge about those same games when you clearly don't know anything about them to begin with. | |
Excuse me? Where's that? | |
Just did. So clarify what exactly is your point then about Yahtzee and Super Paper Mario and Metroid Prime 2? I saw him bringing up those two games as potential examples of either a gameplay element that is being used too much or is being done generally poorly each time it's repeated. | |
I lolled hard. Awesome review, congrats. | |
But he hates Everything Valve hasn't paid him to like | |
So... the depth of the review amounted to a "poor portal reference" and saying the game is "like this game but..."? That's honestly all you're going on? Seriously? I can't be the only one to think that Yahtzee has been picking out his reviews before he even plays the game. To state that you're biased the moment you go into a review shows that you're not going to put the effort into it anyway. I think Castlevania deserves some more credit here to be honest- at least they tried to do something different. To stamp "Like God of War but.." is a stupid insult- how else can they make a 3-D game related to their franchise? How else can they kill mythological creatures using medieval weaponry- as they have in EVERY GAME they created, WAY before God of War even existed? What defines a "like god of war game", hm? Making a game 3-D and melee based while fighting mythological creatures? I'm sick and tired of hearing people complain about games "ripping off" other games all because they carry over a certain gameplay mechanic in their own way. This game had all sorts of variety in combat methods, including but not limited to the light magic healing you, the dark magic increasing your power, the four different sub weapons which change based on the magic you use, the ability to guard/dodge/parry, the abilities you unlock as you gather new relics (like a double jump attack), the wide variety of various spells and combos you can buy for experience points, and the ability to use grabs and finishing attacks. As a side note, I'm glad Castlevania did something different with Dracula, at least it gave it a fresh view of where Dracula came from... | |
Still, that was pretty much my first thought when I saw some gameplay from the game's review supplement. Yatzee was stretching it when he used it on Bayonetta, given the game's Devil May Cry roots and lack of meelee weapons that reached across the screen, but this review really did sum up all my thoughts after seeing the Castlevania reveiw supplement. | |
Oh, he does all right. He's just trolling (Note the misspellings, poor grammar, poor punctuation, gratuitous use of the F word, and complete absense of punctuation until the end of the sentence). It portrays him as dumb, ignorant, and outspoken, thus inspiring others to argue against him. | |
I played every DMC. I played most every major action game since SNES. Even hit some of the late NES offerings. Kind of rules me out as a kiddo, huh? God of War was a watershed moment for the genre. Pretending otherwise is incredibly naive. When you put together an experience that feels so polished, fluid, and natural, you deservedly take the reigns of the genre. That's what happened. Everything that comes after will inevitably be compared to your game. It makes all the sense in the world to compare third person action games to God of War until something bests God of War. When such a game contains QTEs, highly similar weaponry, and a cast of enemies pulled from history/mythology, said game will be rightfully mocked as a copycat - unless it had somehow done it all better than GoW. LoS did not. Defending the game's "originality" because its ancient 2D predecessors, which play nothing like modern action games, had similar elements seems bizarre and pointless. Feel free to like LoS. A bunch of people do. Doesn't mean it's not a gigantic GoW ripoff. There's also nothing inherently wrong with that either. Darksiders is one of the most derivative games I've ever played, but I loved it. It was rightfully criticized for its lack of gameplay imagination. When I defend the game, I focus on the good and acknowledge the bad. With LoS, part of the bad is that it's a GoW clone. If the good more than makes up for that, cool. | |
Ever heard of the girlfriend test? I've got a semi-gaming literate girlfriend. She plays with me from time to time. She thought Castlevania was God of War. I play a LOT of third person action games, so it makes sense that she'd confuse them. But this is the first time she was legitimately mistaking one game for another. "Wait, this isn't God of War? I thought you just unlocked a new character or something? But he still uses whips? And you still have those little mini-games where you press the buttons on screen?" She didn't mistake Darksiders, Bayonetta, or DMC4 for GoW. Anyways, the point of this little aside? If you're capable of distinguishing in such detail the minor (but likely significant, to the hardcore player anyways) differences between the rapid flashing whips of God of War and Lords of Shadow, you're probably too detail-oriented to decide whether or not the games are overly similar. I mean at that point you're pretty much capable of differentiating anything. I think I'm gonna be done here. I feel like I'm arguing with an impassioned minority, which is exactly what you tend to find in ZP threads. I think I'll just go with the following: LoS is not a shot-for-shot remake of GoW. If that's enough for you to dismiss the charges of "GoW clone", by all means, enjoy your game. | |
True dat, at least it isn't like all Castlevanias... He bad you kill. And it reminds me more of Vlad Tepes as a tragic story than anything else (remember Bram Stoker story?). Still Castlevania is pretty much fucked in that regard (your previous point) since it's virtually impossible to make the 3D transition with a Whip (chain in most cases like the past 2D ones) fighting mythological creatures and platforming... Even taking out the QTEs everyone would cry out FOUL!!! GOW CLONE!!!! LOL and for those who played it and complained about the omission of certain monsters like the minotaur and the medusas... Well imagine what would've happen if those were included into the LoS... More GoW clone shit... In a previous post I said that Yahtzee is pretty unique here in the swamplands of the internet and although I like LoS I was looking forward to see him rape the game with a knobbly stick. But I wish he did a JustCause 2 like thing and say he's using the Stamp ironically or something since EVERY REVIEWER OUT THERE HAS DONE AND SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT THE GAME... (Or the Tomb Raider thing and challenge himself by not mention it during the entire review; Just make the disclaimer as well so everyone knows he is aware of it). You see, now Yahtzee is as unoriginal (in this review) as the game he's spewing bile about... :P Ironic. And I hope I get to see a Sequel to this game :) Oh and also Gabriel's head looks tiny because of an optical trick, his hands and feet use a much brigther color (White, Silver, Bright Bonze) than his head (dark brown). | |
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I actually have to disagree... with almost all of it actually. But then again, that's easy to do, since Yahtzee is more of an entertainer than a game reviewer (if people actually follow his "reviews" to the bone then their gaming collection would consist of Portal and Portal 2 once it's released).
Sure, a lot of people could say it's a lot like God of War, but... (no pun intended) it has evolved somewhat from that by offering a more intricate combat system. Rather than just mindlessly spamming AoE attacks like you do in the God of War Games, this game rewards feats of defense (Parries, Dodging etc) and pulling off monsterous Combos (Kind of like Bayonetta thinking about it). Also having Shadow of the Colossus style fights shouldn't really be bashed around like Mel Gibson's dignity, as it adds to the gameplay, rather than becomes it. Just to help keep that variety.
Sure there are problems with the game, the Camera for one, but there's no problems within the game that scream out to me "This will make your experience sucky". I really enjoyed almost everything the game had to offer, the Voice Acting, the Combat and for finally having a 3d Castlevania that I can call great.