I haven’t had the chance to play the other games in the Castlevania series but I have played other melee action combat games. Castlevania 2: Lord Of Shadows has some rich, stunning imagery, a fun-to-play combat system and good boss fights. But sometimes, it does get frustrating and/or boring. You play as Dracula, A.K.A the Prince Of Darkness who returns from the dead to defeat Satan again with the help of his former enemy Zobek (and some help from Dracula’s own son as well at times).
Let’s start by going over the good parts and see where the good parts could have been better. The prologue/intro is very good in my opinion. It takes you through the combat system and you get a first glimpse of the imagery, architecture of the castle of Dracula a thousand years ago. For those who pay attention to details in the environment, this won’t disappoint. As soon as the intro is over, the games seems to step down a notch and Dracula starts off working with Zobek in a modern day industrial city. Something about the prospect of working according to the instructions of your former enemy didn’t seem very motivating to me though. From Dracula’s castle to streets and alleys of a modern day industrial city, the sudden change in environment is hard to ignore. You do get to fight again in Dracula’s castle as the story progresses and Dracula recalls memories but more than half the game is in the modern industrial city. I would have preferred to have more to play in the castle, though some may not give mind to change in scenery that much.
The combat system is very simple and fun. You have three weapons-the shadow whip, the void sword and chaos fangs. Shadow whip is-well, just a whip to whip enemies with. The other two weapons have other uses as well. The void sword is for regenerating health, which can be very fun to combo-attack enemies with. Seeing that you generated a chunk of health while beating off a bunch of enemies with your sword with a fancy, aerial combo is very satisfying. The fangs are for breaking shields that some enemies use which block attacks from your other weapons. Oh, and you can’t always go around breaking shields and regenerating health. You need magic to use both the void sword and the chaos fangs. Hit enemies a few times without taking any damage ( getting ‘focused’) will help fill up your magic. In addition to that, you have several secondary weapons to use as the situation requires and some potions to drink to boost your strength in case satan’s acolytes start to gang up on you. And a variety of combos to show satan and his minions who really is the Prince Of Darkness. Finishing off enemies on low health like a true vampire- with a bite to the neck and pulling their heart never gets old.
The boss fights were my favorite thing in the game. They aren’t too long, not too complicated or difficult. Although, fighting one or more bosses may have you thinking a bit about how to defeat them but the answer is usually is just around the corner, up in the ceiling or in one of your weapons. The final blows are usually button prompts where Dracula finishes off the bosses in style. In addition to the normal combat with satan’s acolytes, boss fights and some stunning imagery and artwork, the lore around the story is also very interesting to read. For those like me who love to go into the details of the story in any game, there are memorials and soldier diaries to find and read around the corners or behind some stone pillar in the game, adding to detail about the centuries old battle between Dracula and his enemies. Each time a new enemy minion or character or some of Dracula’s servant is introduced in the game, you can read about him/her/it via in bit of detail to further pull into the world where you reign supreme as the Prince of Darkness.
The things I didn’t like about the games was the so-called stealth missions where you have to sneak around and possess the bodies or guards or scientists to infiltrate some lab or building etc. Usually, there isn’t much to do in these situations instead of waiting for the right time to possess the bodies of the guards/scientists (you can only possess the bodies when approaching from behind). The same goes for the few puzzles there are in the game. Being the Dracula, God’s chosen Gabriel, and now the Prince of Darkness, I personally would have liked to go in all-guns-blazing and kick every ass I can find. And more thing, I played the game on the easiest difficulty setting first. There were a few times when I didn’t have magic to use my chaos fangs to break enemy shields, when all around me were all enemies with shields. Or to use my void sword to heal up. It may become hard to get focused on hitting enemies continuously without taking damage to generate magic in some situations. You have potions for emergencies like this of course, to fill up your magic instantly. But without a potion, the situation can get very frustrating.You can't possess bodies during actual combat and you HAVE to go stealth-mode during those stealth missions i.e. the attack buttons won't do anything in these scenarios.
For fans of the melee-action genre, this game is definitely worth your money. For those who have never played games from the genre before, well they might have to be a bit patient in some situations in the game. But the boss fights and simple yet fun combat system more than makes up for it what it lacks in its stealth missions and puzzles.