“Make no bones about it, this is not a throwback to the series…this is a new direction,” begins Dave Cox, head of Konami’s UK studio. “There will definitely be homages to the old series, but people need to understand this is a different beast.”
As I grasp my 360 gamepad and dive into Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Cox – the series producer largely responsible for driving a sharpened stake through the notion that a quality console Castlevania could not be done – continues. “This is going to be a more hack-n-slash type of game rather than the traditional kind of Metroidvania.”
Yes, you play as the vampiric badass.
My hands-on session opens with Dracula sitting atop his throne, displaying a no-nonsense swagger. Swigging from an ornate goblet and sporting a cod-piece that makes Batman’s crotch-covering attire look like a skimpy Speedo, the former Brotherhood of Light knight (spoiler alert: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow concluded with Gabriel Belmont becoming Dracula) casually waits as his former sibling soldiers bust down his castle doors.
His aloofness is justified, though, as Cox reveals “Dracula is at the height of his powers.” Apparently the sword-wielding hordes, who are reducing his stronghold’s entryway into a sea of flying splinters, aren’t aware of this. When their battering ram finally breaks through, Drac greets them with a now-empty goblet and a snarky “What a timely coincidence…I’m dying for a drop of blood.” And with this begins a bloody massacre that could make Kratos soil his loin cloth.
Yes, you play as the vampiric badass.
Unleashing a combination of wide, sweeping attacks and up-close blows with the Y and X buttons, respectively, I quickly become cozy behind the appropriately dubbed Blood Whip. As the corpse count climbs, I’m introduced to a new pair of death-dealers, the Void Sword and Chaos Claws. The former doesn’t deal much damage, but siphons life from targets back to Drac, while the latter breaks down the defenses of armored antagonists; witnessing shields glow a molten red just before shattering like glass is especially satisfying.
Of course, playing as Dracula wouldn’t feel complete without the ability to drain enemies’ jugulars dry. As rewarding as it is gory, the act of feeding on foes requires attackers to be grabbed with a press of the B button; once the future snacks are stunned, matching a pair of overlapping circles as they meet (by pressing any button) tears through their necks like papier mâché.
Coupled with a faster, more responsive evasive dodge, I’m able to chain these various attacks and skills into a satisfying rhythm that recalls God of War’s best in-the-zone moments. While letting the leash of each blood-letting ability individually is a blast, switching between them on-the-fly, as I do against a sub-boss dubbed the Gold Paladin, strikes a sweet balance between button-mashing intensity and cerebral strategizing.
This new feature also makes the sequel “feel like an open-world game.”
With my thumbs properly blistered and the cobblestones bloodied, I get a brief taste of the title’s platforming elements. Outside the castle, a flurry of bats point the way to my destination. Those looking for a little more help can trigger optional, glowing anchors that highlight the platforming path. Unlike its fixed-camera predecessor, Lords of Shadow 2 allows players to freely look around the environments, taking in every goth-drenched detail. Cox claims this new feature also makes the sequel “feel like an open-world game,” encouraging players to seek out secret paths and hidden goodies. That said, those craving a more scripted experience can still count on the camera to hold its own, even during the game’s more chaotic encounters.
While my brief demo stresses the series’ new direction, Cox also promises that franchise purists can expect to encounter plenty of familiar enemies, environments, and story elements. My time with the title barely scratches the surface of its potential – or my appetite for life-giving plasma – but it definitely leaves me hungering for more.
Matt Cabral is a contributing editor who hails from New England. He's also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Follow him on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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