Just finished Castlevania: Lord of Shadows. The platforming and combat of this game is really wonky. For starters, there's this stiffness that reminds me of Devil May Cry 1-3 - maybe it was just DMC1 & 2 -, from what I remember: God of War 3 and if so, then all the GoWs before it, Final Fantasy X, and probably a ton of more games that have this "stiff" feeling when moving. Why is this an issue? Well, this game has platforming and expects you to explore. In games like DMC, this isn't much of an issue since the combat is well-designed, but when the stiff movement happens in combat as well, it makes everything feel weird. Super Mario, Jak & Daxter, and tons of other platformers along with tons of other games, old and new, don't have this stiff feeling. Anyway, this just leads to unfortunate deaths like Gabriel not moving quick enough to dodge or Gabriel having little momentum while jumping and therefore landing in hazards.
Still, the voice acting, landscapes, and musical score are really well-done, despite the fact one track is used for pretty much 70% of the game. It's just Gabriel feeling so sluggish and the odd hitbox on him here and there that makes the game feel no up to par as other action-adventure and hack n' slash games. This also, by the way adds a "hidden" difficulty to the game.
Well, I hope I can finish Bayonetta before Bravely Default comes out. Apparently, I left off at Chapter 11 or so and have about 4 chapters left... So close to beating the game and I didn't realize it.