Castlevania kicks off with the protagonist Gabriel Belmont, as the strength of evil in the world grows more and more, the connection between earth and the gods has been severed and your wife meets an untimely death at the hands of evil, you are tasked to seek Pan for guidance on behalf of the brotherhood.
Your journey kicks off quickly, and after a little story telling (including some great voice overs by Sir Patrick Stewar) you're thrown into a village, which just so happens to be under attack by werewolves. With combat cross in hand you must fend the fiends off and protect the villagers. The combat mechanics are pretty simple, you press Square for a direct attack, and Triangle for a area attack. You can use O to throw items such as knives and holywater, and R2 to perform grapples which are great for disposing of weaker enemies, and used against stronger enemies as starters for finishing moves.
There's a good amount of moves you can unlock, and even more special moves. None of them really seemed to flow into the basic mechanics that well though, but at least they're there for those who want to play around. I found that the combat had a much greater focus on jumping and rolling from enemy attack, with timing than it did performing long combos. Many of the stronger enemies don't leave you lengthy attack windows before you'll need to break up your attacks to perform a dodge.
As you progress, and finally find Pan, the games primary focus finally unveils. It seems the only means of restoring the world, and the connection between heaven and earth will be to unite the mask held by the three Lords of Shadow, and that's pretty much it. You and uh, Patrick Stewart (Zobek) set off to reunite the pieces of the mask to unleash a power which can be used to save the world. Occasionally Zobek assists you, in co-operative fashion, however for the most part it's a solitary journey.
The gameplay mixes itself up with puzzles, combat and platforming. I've touched on the combat but it does get a little deeper as the game progresses. Shortly into the game you unlock both shadow and light magic. You can activate these at any time and they effect your attacks. With light energy magic your attacks will heal you, with shadow magic active you perform more damage. Both these magics have their own respective mana pools and need to be used strategically within combat. On top of that their are additional special moves and abilities which can only be used when you have one of the magics active. For example when you have dark magic active you can do a super-fast dash.
Further mixing up combat, is the 'mount' system. This enables you to uh, mount various large creatures in the world. It's a fun mechanic, if a little basic. At times the animals can also be used to solve puzzles, a werewolf for example can climb buildings, a spider can craft webs enabling you to cross gaps you couldn't otherwise. An of course the mounts have a basic set of combat moves, which can be used to turn the tides of battle at times. It's not one of the games biggest features but it was something fresh that helped keep things interesting.
And of course what would a Castlevania game be, or any adventure game be for that matter, without boss battles. Well, Castlevania has them in folds. Hell I can't remember a game I played that had the number of bosses as Castlevania. Albeit a lot of them are sub bosses, but there all pretty well crafted. Most of which semi-unfortunately follow similar mechanics and attack patterns, but they keep you engaged, and there are others which really stand out such as the fights with Titans. Every boss is fair, and if you're having any troubles all you need to do is take a look at there attack pattern and use that to your benefit.
The puzzles are relatively hit and miss. None of them are bad per se, it's just at times I felt as if they were wasting my time. Many of them aren't challenging and sometimes puzzles seemed to drag on longer than they should. It's a pacing issue I suppose. At times it feels there are too many puzzles... such as near the end of the game I think at one point I did three or four in a row, whilst at others there are too few... such as at the start where I only recall doing one in the entirety of the first two chapters. There are some puzzles that are are pretty good though, and many of which involve there own mini-games which can be pretty fun at times, a couple of puzzles however expected me to use abilities I didn't even know I had... so at times figuring how to interface with the puzzle was more trouble than the puzzle itself... but I guess that is supposed to be part of the puzzle? I don't know.
Platforming is the last element in Castlevanias mix, and maybe even the bulk of the gameplay? It's between this and combat anyway. For the most part the platforming isn't too satisfying. It's just a means of exploration. It is definitely fun to climb around, exploring the environments (which are linear to an extent, with occasional branching and secret paths). At times the camera can hamper the platforming sequences as you can't quite get a good angle on the surface your jumping too, but it's perfectly capable for the most part.
Perhaps where the game shines the most is in it's presentation. Everything from the menus, to voice overs by Sir Patrick Stewart are of stunning quality. The menu as I mention is done through a book, and at the start of each stage Patrick Stewart reads out a chapter from that book. This can feel a little repetitive at times as he often seems to repeat a similar thing, to what has been said before, but his voice definitely lends some class to the game. The menus taking the form of a book is great too, it includes a fully fledged bestiary and if you look at your combat moves, you can see little animated sketching of Gabriel performing them.
Of course graphically the game is top notch too. With it at times coming very close to the levels of visual quality only present in titles like Uncharted 2 or God of War 3. The game never ceases to look stunning, and some of the lighting effects are astounding.
Story wise the game is at the level of quality as a hollywood blockbuster. The only problem is that things are pretty thin on the ground. Or rather, a little thick at times. Patrick Stewart never freaking shuts up, and Gabriel doesn't get enough cut scenes. Patrick certainly lends class to the game, as I've said, but they seem to have tried to rely on that a little too much. Overall though coming out of the game I was very satisfied with the overall plot, and how it concluded. It is a game worth playing for it's story.
Something else I really loved about Castlevania. When all is said and done you can backtrack across the levels you've beaten (you can do this any time), using your new found abilities to reach areas which were previously inaccessible. This effectively serves as a neat new game+ function after you've beat the game, and on top of that there is a 'trial' added to each level. Which is effectively just a challenge, these range from time trials, to beating stages without taking damage. If you really want to get the most out of the game then there's plenty of replay value. Which is great for a game which already clocks in at 20hours in length.
Where the game does come across a little lacking, though. Is in it's third act. You're off to kill the final lord of shadow and the quality of the game just seems to drop... I mean visually everythings the same... gameplay... is pretty much the same, it's just that the pacing here seems to get really screwed up. Something I mentioned earlier... asking you to do three puzzles in a row just isn't my idea of fun. Not to mention a lot of the enjoyable parts of the game are absent. Such as mountable enemies, and environmental variety... the first two thirds of the game involved lots of Castles and forts, the final part had none at all. It wasn't too bad though, it just seemed to drop in quality compared to the rest of the game.
Overall, Castlevania manages to be a great action adventure title. With solid combat mechanics and gameplay in general, slightly spoiled at times by pacing issues... but very enjoyable nevertheless. On top of that the exploration and new game plus esque functionality adds a lot of additional replay value onto a 20 hour title. Meaning in this generation of 8hour singleplayer experiences, Castlevania packs quite a lot of bang for it's buck. You should easily be able to get 40hours out of the game before you run out of content.
Loved
- Visuals: They're stunning. High polycounts and texture resolutions
- Sound: Pretty high quality sound effects, great voice overs
- Plot: It can feel a little thick at times but it comes through in the end, and ends up being one title that'll stick in your mind for a while.
- Combat: It's pretty well done. Think God of War, not that it couldn't be improved though but I did feel engaged in almost every combat sequence.
- Boss battles: Well designed, great bosses. Fun to fight, very engaging.
Needs improving
- Platforming: Not the platforming itself, but how the camera can hamper it at time. It's an annoyance that shouldn't be present.
- Patrick Stewart: He gets annoying, or the repetition in what he has to read to you, does.
- Pacing: Too many puzzles, occasionally.
Hated
- I can honestly say that there was nothing I really hated, with Castlevania.
Verdict
A definite must-play for any Action adventure fans. I'm not sure if Castlevania fans will be too pleased with the experience considering it doesn't follow the Castlevania formula, to a tea. However if you look at it as what it is, a reboot; it's a great experience.
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