While the first Lords of Shadow was not universally accepted by the fanbase, it did sell well and had a favorable critical reception. A lot of people didn't accept the game, but a number of others accepted it on its own merits even if it didn't necessarily feel like Castlevania.
Unfortunately the sequels were not as good. mirror of fate is out of the scope of this review, but suffice to say it had its fair share of problems. Lords of Shadow 2 didn't sell that well and had a very mediocre critical reception. for a long time this scared me off playing the game.
When I finally played it i realized why it got the reviews it did, but they don't tell you everything. The truth is that Lords of Shadow 2 isn't even necessarily a BAD game, but an uneven game.
When the game stinks, it stinks. The new modern, sci-fi setting doesn't really gel with castlevania at all. The stealth sections are whack. The plot is a confusing mess that makes no sense and has an unsatisfying conclusion.
Thing is, the game has so much going for it despite that. It has the best art direction of any western fantasy game I have ever seen. The best soundtrack of any western AAA game I have ever played, and an improvement over the first game's already good score by adding awesome synths to the orchestra. The castle segments are fucking amazing. The voice acting is just as enjoyable here as it was in the first game. You can turn off qte's with an option in the menu, So Press X to Not Die is gone. When this game is good, It's easily better than anything in the first game.
If you have looked into this game you will most likely have heard the stories about its troubled production, how the director was an egotistical primadonna who busybodied the game's development and treated his employees like shit. This actually explains everything if true, because as i said the game just feels half-baked.
Even with all those caveats, at the end of the day I really, really enjoyed playing through lords of shadow 2. Even with its noticeable and gaping flaws, it was still a fun action game with great art direction, an amazing soundtrack, and great boss battles. As long as you keep your expectations in check, you might enjoy this. I just wish this game's development had been different, it could have been so much better than it is.
VideoGame Flawed, but the reviews are misleading.
While the first Lords of Shadow was not universally accepted by the fanbase, it did sell well and had a favorable critical reception. A lot of people didn't accept the game, but a number of others accepted it on its own merits even if it didn't necessarily feel like Castlevania.
Unfortunately the sequels were not as good. mirror of fate is out of the scope of this review, but suffice to say it had its fair share of problems. Lords of Shadow 2 didn't sell that well and had a very mediocre critical reception. for a long time this scared me off playing the game.
When I finally played it i realized why it got the reviews it did, but they don't tell you everything. The truth is that Lords of Shadow 2 isn't even necessarily a BAD game, but an uneven game.
When the game stinks, it stinks. The new modern, sci-fi setting doesn't really gel with castlevania at all. The stealth sections are whack. The plot is a confusing mess that makes no sense and has an unsatisfying conclusion.
Thing is, the game has so much going for it despite that. It has the best art direction of any western fantasy game I have ever seen. The best soundtrack of any western AAA game I have ever played, and an improvement over the first game's already good score by adding awesome synths to the orchestra. The castle segments are fucking amazing. The voice acting is just as enjoyable here as it was in the first game. You can turn off qte's with an option in the menu, So Press X to Not Die is gone. When this game is good, It's easily better than anything in the first game.
If you have looked into this game you will most likely have heard the stories about its troubled production, how the director was an egotistical primadonna who busybodied the game's development and treated his employees like shit. This actually explains everything if true, because as i said the game just feels half-baked.
Even with all those caveats, at the end of the day I really, really enjoyed playing through lords of shadow 2. Even with its noticeable and gaping flaws, it was still a fun action game with great art direction, an amazing soundtrack, and great boss battles. As long as you keep your expectations in check, you might enjoy this. I just wish this game's development had been different, it could have been so much better than it is.