Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3 and 360)

[Soapy]

It's planned to be released sometime in 2010 and being developed by MercurySteam(Clive Barker's Jericho) and Kojima Productions (Metal Gear series) with Hideo Kojima personally involved with the game.

You can check out the trailer and screenshots at the official website.

http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/e3_2009/castlevania/

 

[Tron Bonne]

I liked what I saw from the trailer. Looks very much like they are going in a God Of War direction, I think that'll be suitable for a 3D Castlevania. The story and cast are shaping up to excellent.

I wonder how much Kojima will be involved? I know he said he was going to basically be a 'midwife' in the birth of this new Castlevania.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, it definitely looks like they took the Castlevania lore and fit it on some GoW-style gameplay. But GoW is certainly not a bad game to model yours on, so it looks good. I've never been much of a fan of the Castlevania series, but I'll probably try this one when it comes out.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Yes, I was quite impressed by how this looked.

Maybe the crazy jumping Igor monkey guys are back.

 

[ChelseaGrin26]

Graphically this looks awesome. I'm loving the massive bosses as well. I am sorta beginning to get burned out on this GoW style hack/slash combat though.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I like what I see.

Great cast too.

 

[Brainiac 8]

They should do the upside down castle after you beat it like in SotN.

 

[DorkyFresh]

i was never really into Castlevania...i vaguely remember playing the original and a couple of stages of one of the first 3D Castlevanias but they never kept my attention, but this one is probably going to be the first. it looks like Dracula meets Lord of the Rings meets Shadow of the Colossus meets God of War....and with Kojima being involved i'm sure there will be some crazy stuff in there. Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle, Jason Isaacs, and Natascha McElhone being involved definitely helps make the game feel genuine and the music was MARVELOUS. the main character looks pretty damn cool too. i love the way this game looks to be shaping up and it still has a year to go before it's released! definitely keeping an eye on this one.

 

[ChelseaGrin26]

I'm a Castlevania noob myself. Out of all of the third person action games coming next year, Lord of Shadows looks to be the one to rival God of War. And how sweet is it that they got Robert Carlyle. I've been a big fan ever since Trainspotting.

 

[Soapy]

Yeah, I've never actually played a Castlevania game myself. I've kind of been wanting to though. Any ideas where I should start?

 

[Brainiac 8]

Belmont: "But Dracula, what do you mean I'm not really a vampire slayer?!?"

Dracula: "That's because you were genetically bred and brainwashed into thinking that's what you do!"

Belmont: "But I have all these memories!"

Dracula: "All implants I'm afraid. It's been a plan put into place years ago, and goes all the way to the president. You can never really escape the power of the la le lu li lo."

Belmont: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

This here is castlevania under Kojima.

 

[Anubis]

Wow, that looks awesome.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Yeah, I've never actually played a Castlevania game myself. I've kind of been wanting to though. Any ideas where I should start?

Symphony Of The Night is on the XBLA and PSN. I believe it's considered one of the, if not the best of the series

 

[Soapy]

I knew it was held in pretty high regard. I guess I'll check it out whenever I get my 360 back.

 

[Paradyme]

Watched this trailer last night before I got off. It looks great and now to pre-order yet another game.

 

[ChelseaGrin26]

This, Alan Wake, and AvP are my most looked forward to games of 2010 so far. Dante's Inferno and Darksiders look interesting too but i'm not sure about them yet.

 

[Drz]

I have to say i'm really happy for God of Castlevania, hope we get to fight Vampire Zeus too! Jokes aside i am really hyped. I've been a big fan of Castlevania and the last good Castlevania i played was the PS2 game Lament of Innocence or so. Really hyped about a Kojima Castlevania game!

 

[Matt]

Hmm...I'm going to be alone in this, I think but I'm a bit disappointed. Just because the plot sounds nothing like Castlevania.

The setting of Lords of Shadow is during "the end of days". The Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a malevolent force known as the Lords of Shadow. The souls of the deceased and evil creatures inhabit the dying land, and attack living people.

The main character, Gabriel, is a member of an elite group known as the "Brotherhood of Light". The group are holy knights who protect and defend innocent people against the supernatural. Gabriel's wife was brutally murdered by the evil creatures, and her soul has been "trapped for eternity". Because she is neither alive or dead, she realizes what is at stake and guides Gabriel to his destiny to save the world. He travels the destroyed land, defeating monsters in order to use their powers to bring balance back to the world. Armed with the versatile weapon, the "Combat Cross", he searches for the three factions of the Lords of Shadow to defeat them.

Where is Dracula? Where are the Belmonts? It is like they took an original title and slapped Castlevania on it to help it sell better.

That said, it looks great and the voice cast is amazing. Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle and Jason Isaacs, wow.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Hmm...I'm going to be alone in this, I think but I'm a bit disappointed. Just because the plot sounds nothing like Castlevania.



Where is Dracula? Where are the Belmonts? It is like they took an original title and slapped Castlevania on it to help it sell better.

That said, it looks great and the voice cast is amazing. Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle and Jason Isaacs, wow.

I'm actually pretty sure that's what happened. I know the title was announced in '06 (I believe or '07, it was a good while ago) as just Lord Of Shadows and there was no connection with Castlevania and, as far as I'm aware, there was never really any intended connection.

However, I'm not sure on the selling better part. Overall Castlevania has fallen a great deal in popularity in these last couple of years. It's by no means a dead franchise (It still has an occasional good selling title on the DS), but it definitely has lost a lot of it's pull. I think Konami saw the potential in this title to rejuvenate to franchise for a more modern audience.

To be totally honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the main reason Konami asked Kojima and Kojima Production to be on the product is to help assure that this does well and goes towards revitalizing Castlevania. I don't know for sure obviously but I think that's a fairly decent probabilty

 

[Brainiac 8]

You are correct. This game started as "Lord of Shadows" but slapped on the Castlevania name, and I'm assuming they did this in order to sell many more copies.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I don't think it was as much to sell more copies, but I'm sure they did it in hopes of getting the core Castlevania fans, but I think Konami is aiming for a more 'modernized' reboot for a newer and, more importantly, a broader audience.

Seemed to work for Star Trek so maybe their on to something. :/ Though I admit a Castlevania seemingly without Dracula is weird

 

[Drz]

Aslong as the gameplay and story are great i'm sold. I mean it does need abit new stuff outside dracula killing a belmont's wife or so so. =p

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Is that the plot for every Castlevania game? Dracula kills someone and then the Castlevania characters head off to (ineffectively) kill Dracula? I only played one or two Castlevanias from way back in the 16-bit era.

 

[Nathan]

I was never a fan of the Castlevania series, but this actually looks interesting.

 

[Drz]

Is that the plot for every Castlevania game? Dracula kills someone and then the Castlevania characters head off to (ineffectively) kill Dracula? I only played one or two Castlevanias from way back in the 16-bit era.

Pretty much, ofcourse one of the most (or perhaps THE most) loved Castlevania game symphony of night actually had you play as Alucard. Dracula in that game you see had possessed the Belmont hero. ^^; But yeah theres never really a original plot in Castlevania game except now apparently.