Castlevania Lords Of Shadow review scores smash 90% barrier

[Chaos Raiden]

We warned you it was looking a bit special. Konami's Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow has today fulfilled its promise of becoming 'the sleeper hit of 2010' - by racking up two 90%-plus reviews.

The game has been given GamesMaster's Gold Award, along with Xbox World 360's Star Player accolade. Both are only bestowed on games that crack the elusive 90% barrier.

'Water Castlevania's roots and a rollicking adventure sprouts forth," writes Xbox World 360. 'Brilliant, bloody fun... Lords Of Shadow feels like 16-bit design filtered through 20 years of innovation. there is passion here for the old ways - all buffed to a 2010 gleam.'

GamesMaster adds: 'A strong contender for action game of the year. The triumphant reimagining the series has always deserved.'

The Awards were revealed as part of a promotional insert in today's weekly industry bible, MCV.

LOS, which features 50 levels and a campaign that lasts 20-plus hours, is set in Southern Europe during the Middle Ages.

You play Gabriel Belmont, voiced by Robert Carlyle, who is looking to bring his wife back from the dead - by defeating the titular Lords and piecing together the magical God Mask.

The game wears the obvious influence by God Of War, Devil May Cry and Shadow Of The Colossus. It's been developed by Mercury Steam and overseen by Hideo Kojima.

Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow is due for release on October 8 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=266241

Awesome. More great reviews of this game and I will definitely buying it.

EDIT: A mistake on the release date. Here are the correct ones:

NA - 5/10/2010
EU - 7/10/2010
JP - 16/12/2010

 

[Meg]

*is really excited* I was already planning on buying this game. I is excited.

 

[The crazy demon]

Oc 8 O.O

Gonna save money...quickly

 

[MochaCub]

*is really excited* I was already planning on buying this game.

Same here ^___________^

October 5th can't come soon enough!!!

 

[Richtofen]

Ugh, I've been looking forward to this game for awhile now...I can't wait till Oct for it to come out!!

*starts saving $$$* :lol:

 

[aka958]

Alright! Finally another game that's not in the FPS or Racing genre for the PS3! They are really hard to find, I'm definetly buying this! 8D

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Added the correct release dates for the game for three regions.

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Another highly positive review for this game:

The Official Xbox Magazine has printed its Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow review - and given the game a whopping 9/10.

The news comes after both GamesMaster and Xbox World 360 also gave the Mercury Steam title review scores in excess of 90%.

OXM reviewer Jon Blyth writes: 'Lords Of Shadow is big. Actually, big's too little a word. It's monolithic... From the Resi 4 mood of the scarecrow puzzle to the unexpected oddity of the music box level, this is game that seemingly hasn't heard of DLC - and decides to offer you immense value for money instead.'

OXM calls the game 'huge and magnificent', pouring particular praise on its 'vast imagination' and 'ambitious scope'.

There are a couple of niggles, not least that LOS 'sometimes fails to effectively communicate where you should be going' - a bit of pain in a game whose campaign reportedly weighs in at 20-plus hours.

However, that doesn't stop OXM from calling LOS 'a huge and stylish collision of influences' - including God Of War, Shadow Of The Colossus and Pan's Labyrinth.

Tellingly, the game is labelled 'an epic and slightly unexpected triumph'.

Castlevania: LOS is due for release on October 8 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

The full, two-page review - featuring exclusive screens and info - is available to read in the new issue of OXM, which is with subscribers now. It'll be in stores next week.

Order OXM here and have it delivered to your door.

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=266613&skip=yes


Now I don't need any convincing. I will be buying this game in day one when it is released.

 

[Richtofen]

Amen to that. The trailer looks epic, these posts about reviews are great...I don't need convincing on this game.

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Another highly positive review for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow:

Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow is continuing to rack up the 90%-plus scores - with a 9/10 Gold Award from Official PlayStation Magazine UK.

The score has been revealed via online advertisements for the game - which also show off a 94 per cent rating from GamesMaster.

CVG previously revealed that both Xbox World 360 and GamesMaster had given the game 90%-plus score, but an exact number was unknown.

Yesterday, OXM's Castlevania: LOS review was unveiled - offering up yet another 9/10 score for Konami's title.

Castlevania: LOS is due for release on October 8 on Xbox 360 and PS3 - the same day as the much-fancied Enslaved, from Ninja Theory.

LOS, which features 50 levels and a campaign that lasts 20-plus hours, is set in Southern Europe during the Middle Ages.

You play Gabriel Belmont, voiced by Robert Carlyle, who is looking to bring his wife back from the dead - by defeating the titular Lords and piecing together the magical God Mask.

The game wears the obvious influence by God Of War, Devil May Cry and Shadow Of The Colossus. It's been developed by Mercury Steam and overseen by Hideo Kojima.

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=266653&skip=yes

Holy... How many great reviews this game gonna get? I hope IGN, Gamespot, Destructoid, X-Play and other sites will be satisfied with this game.

Regardless, I am gonna get this game. Just can't decide whether I gonna get it for PS3 or Xbox 360...

 

[The crazy demon]

This game is gonna be a blow of blowing proportions for everyone.


50 levels? it is very long.

 

[moseslmpg]

Awesome. I never thought I would see the day when a 3D Vania got 90% scores. It sounds like it is epic with a capital EPIC.

This has me way more excited than DINO for sure. Your move, Capcom...

 

[Ember To Inferno]

I've played every Castlevania, this includes the 3D ones on the N64 (sadly T.T), as well as the PS2 and DS ones. I am totally pumped for this. Already have it pre-ordered actually >_>

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Another great review:

So it's happened again. Castlevania Lords of Shadow has hit well into the 90s in its latest review in PSM3.

This time it's 94 percent, with the mag describing the Kojima influenced vampire action-adventure as "a glorious, epic with incredible combat and an involving story". This is sounding better and better...

Castlevania's going to be attempting to slot into a genre alongside the likes of God of War 3 and Bayonetta, and although the mag says it doesn't turn that world upside down, there's clearly enough opportunity for praise:

"It executes all its ideas with surgical precision, wrapping them up in a presentation so polished - yet so tastefully understated - it could easily have been crafted by Kojima himself," it says.

"All the more credit to Dave Cox and Mercury Steam."

There are some gripes of course, mainly to do with the non-killing parts.

"Some puzzles travel through the realm of challenging and end up at the annoying - largely because you're lead towards one solution and then expected to do something completely different," reads the review.

The qualms, however, appear to be few and far between:

"There's a fine line to be walked between excessive hand-holding, and providing a genuine challenge: and most times Lords of Shadow gets the balance spot on. Just not every time."

All in all this one's looking like a massive sleeper hit.

35 stunning new Castlevania screenshots landed in our lap a few days ago. Go and have a look see.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow got similarly impressive scores from OPM, OXM, XBox World 360 and GamesMaster.

Order PSM3 here and have it delivered to your door.

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=266823

Damn, this game is gonna be a hit... Hell, I can't wait for it.

 

[Ember To Inferno]

Thanks for all the reviews Chaos, they pretty much sealed my buying of this game. I am going to get it first day of release, the release date is October 8th, right?

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Thanks for all the reviews Chaos, they pretty much sealed my buying of this game. I am going to get it first day of release, the release date is October 8th, right?

Ah, no. That is the wrong one. The one who made the article was mistaken. Here are the correct ones.

NA - 5/10/2010
EU - 7/10/2010
JP - 16/12/2010

You can see this in my first post in this thread as well.

 

[Ember To Inferno]

Ah, no. That is the wrong one. The one who made the article was mistaken. Here are the correct ones.

NA - 5/10/2010
EU - 7/10/2010
JP - 16/12/2010

You can see this in my first post in this thread as well.

Thanks dude, good to see I'll be getting it early next month. Already saved up money for it too, I'm sure the 20+ hours of gameplay will be worth it.

And sorry, I didn't notice the release dates in your prior post, getting late here so I'm slightly tired.

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Thanks dude, good to see I'll be getting it early next month. Already saved up money for it too, I'm sure the 20+ hours of gameplay will be worth it.

And sorry, I didn't notice the release dates in your prior post, getting late here so I'm slightly tired.

No problem.

 

[Ember To Inferno]

Hey guys, I have an AWESOME update to those getting the game on the Xbox 360. Here it is:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/26/how-disc-swapping-works-in-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-for-xbox/

If you haven't heard, the Xbox 360 version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will ship on two discs (Limited Edition pictured above). Here's a tip: You can save yourself some precious disc-swapping time if you install at least Disc One to your hard drive.

Although Lords of Shadow's story is told in an episodic, linear fashion, you'll want to revisit earlier levels to find missing collectibles and beat any additional challenges. Without installing, you'll have to swap discs every time you want to revisit earlier levels. However, if you've installed the data, you won't ever have to swap discs again; you'll be able to continue playing with just Disc Two in the drive. It's an interesting way of overcoming the DVD format's size limitation -- a clever trick that could be employed by future multi-disc releases.

This is a very, very creative and effective strategy to implement on the Xbox 360 that effectively doubles the amount of space allowed for games. This could potentially be looking at longer games in the future because of this trick. Go Castlevania go!

 

[Chaos Raiden]

Hey guys, I have an AWESOME update to those getting the game on the Xbox 360. Here it is:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/26/how-disc-swapping-works-in-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-for-xbox/



This is a very, very creative and effective strategy to implement on the Xbox 360 that effectively doubles the amount of space allowed for games. This could potentially be looking at longer games in the future because of this trick. Go Castlevania go!

Ah, nice find. This sure will help for those who are getting this game for Xbox 360. Rep+, Ember.