In Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 we control Gabriel Belmont , and become Dracula who has spent several centuries at rest. Gabriel wakes up in the modern world with the petition to save the humanity from disaster with biblical proportions. Since Dracula has spent much time sleeping, will gradually regaining his powers, basically that is the game. As the story unfolds, we move through a modern city that extends around the castle , we will have to return repeatedly to different places , finding, sometimes events and different enemies. We’ll fight bosses, many of them quite interesting, and we will face some puzzles and platforms paths.
In addition to mechanical fighter hack and slash , Lords of Shadow 2 adds several elements of stealth, unfortunately, are not well made or develop a robust system. In a good stealth game usually have several options that fit our style and preferred difficulty: whatever banal rankings obtained by the skill or style, is very rewarding to have different options to make your imagination work. However, this game did not take the opportunity and stealth is superfluous incorporating solutions-often-more obvious and appear only to lengthen the playing time.
The title continues to be an ambitious project with good intentions and ideas. The problem is really the final execution. For example, the narrative is one of the most care, by far surpassing AAA productions contemporary. On the other hand, the script, in particular, fails to be convincing in the end : leaves short the voice performances of Robert Carlyle, like Dracula and Patrick Stweart as Zobek, which together could have built a great dynamic in the development of the characters.
On first impressions, mentioned that the PlayStation 3 version still had many textures and models ending and quite raw: pixelated figures, crude animations and models (mostly scenarios) that seem unfinished, but had shown a version ( PC apparently) that looked much better … what a surprise it was to discover that the final console version looks almost the same! Although the game advertises on its box that runs 1080p, little will be far from the truth even seem to be drawn to and not from 720.Additionally there are cutscenes that are not entirely well defined.
The dynamic camera system is designed to lead the player to view the world around it, relieving the feeling of a little tunnel that inevitably suffers the game. However, this is also used to disguise some problems in modeling: the camera suddenly turns sharply, producing a motion blur that sometimes remains on distant objects, then give way to the focused subject. This is a resource that we have seen since the beginning of 3D games and is not acceptable in a game with this type of production has to dip into the blur to hide the lack of detail in some scenarios .
The production design is excellent : it shows a formidable creative work by the team and great restraint on expression by the atmosphere created, unfortunately . levels execution leaves much to be desired The opening of the world that is not envisioned beyond the first few hours of the game.Arriving in half, it seems that we have seen almost everything is almost impossible to deny that we move through a sophisticated tunnel whose alternate paths already know .
The world created for Lords of Shadow 2 generates feelings: The platform action leaves us waiting a progression in difficulty never comes , at least at the pace dictated by common sense and a decent learning curve. As with the level design in general, after a few hours of play, there is much more to do and we have not memorized. I could not fault the set movements, it is noteworthy that the control is responsive enough, but what the user demand does not transcend game.
Apart from the art direction, the most noteworthy aspect of the game is the combat system, denoting more work and refinement. The hack and slash have the advantage that, following the conventions of mechanical, can create an addictive and entertaining system, it is also easy to learn. As for the attacks, for example, we can use the Void Sword or Chaos Claws , guns that feed on enemies we defeated, on the other hand, the Shadow Whip is a kind of whip of blood that can be used for almost all, such as a basic weapon.
Some enemies require the combination of certain weapons or some pattern of attack, which is a breath of fresh air because battles can be quite accurate. We will also have the option to use items to make the game more interesting as relics or, Dracula unlock some abilities, as encourage time or become a dragon.