EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: castlevanialordsofshadow
The long-awaited first downloadable adventure for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Reverie, has finally received an official release date of March 30th for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners, with a foreboding trailer accompanying the announcement:
The biggest videogame surprise of 2010 (at least for me) was the excellent Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. From start to finish, this action adventure game is superb (read El33tonline’s review to find out why), and now we can look forward to more adventures in the game with the first of two downloadable content (DLC) packs.
Konami has announced that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow has shipped one million units in the United States and Europe since its release in early October.
“Castlevania has truly reinvented itself with its move to next gen platforms and we’re extremely pleased at the positive response we’ve seen toward Castlevania: Lords of Shadow globally, mainly due to the dedicated fans who have supported the series for so long,” said Shinji Hirano, President of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
It seems as though some gamers have been experiencing a bit of trouble with Mercury Steam and Konami’s excellent Castlevania: Lords of Shadows with regards to corrupt save files, or more accurately, having their save files wiped from existence.
‘No more!’ says Konami triumphantly, as a patch for the epic action adventure game has been released to take care of this peculiar error.
“Where did this game come from?!”
That was a question I put to myself over a dozen times as I played through Mercury Steam and Konami’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, an action adventure game that could be written off as a ‘simple’ God of War clone by casual observers, but once the action is experienced and the adventure completed, the game amounts to so much more than a mere ‘clone.’
There are indeed elements of God of War in this 3D iteration of the classic Castlevania franchise, but there are also pieces of Uncharted woven into the title, too, with ingredients borrowed from Zelda and even Shadow of the Colossus mixed into the concoction to form a game that may be a little unrecognisable to Castlevania fans, but is wholly unique and amazing.
“But… where did this game come from?!”
I had paid attention to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow since it was first announced, but like a few others, I wasn’t convinced that the Spanish development outfit, Mercury Steam (which had worked on ‘American McGee presents Scrapland’ and ‘Clive Barker’s Jericho’), would be able to deliver anything other than a generic ‘God of War clone,’ even with the help of Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions.
After playing the game to completion, however, and discovering a title that is anything but generic, with stunning environments, a gripping story, memorable characters and truly interesting gameplay and scenarios, I’m of the opinion that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow has outdone God of War in every way that matters, and stands alongside Bayonetta as an action game to beat.
Continue reading El33tonline’s review of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
Even in the face of a host of debut game releases all jockeying for position and aiming to become No. 1 on Chart Track’s UK Software Sales listing this week, and despite a 63% sales decrease over the week previous, FIFA 11 has managed to comfortably retain the top spot on the chart, importantly ahead of football rival Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.
A 2 GB demo for this week’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow has just gone up on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, giving everybody a chance to check out this new three-dimensional vision for the classic 2D franchise.
We’re all hoping that it’s not as poor as previous attempts at moving the beloved series into the world of textures and polygons, and if online hype and previously released media is anything to go by, Konami and Mercury Steam have created a solid entry that we don’t have to worry about!
Here’s the official description:
Not to be outdone by its cousin ‘across the pond,’ the European PlayStation Store will be updating in a few hours time, and when it does, you can look forward to crazy amounts of quality new content, the crown jewel of which must surely be the release of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
Creat’s awesome terrain-traversal platform puzzle game, TerRover, also makes an appearance on the Store today, while a host of demos will soon be available to download and play, with tastes of titles such as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, EA Sports MMA, MySims: Sky Heroes, WRC FIA World Rally Championship and God of War: Ghost of Sparta all hitting the service.
We also shouldn’t forget about new downloadable content (DLC) for Borderlands and Mafia II, or a brand new downloadable album for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
Head on down below to see the full list of content soon to become available on the European PlayStation Store:
The European and US PlayStation Blogs have respectively announced what new content PlayStation Plus subscribers can expect to show up in that special PlayStation Store tab in the relatively near (and very near) future, with word of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow content for Europe, and Lara Croft related goodies heading to the US.
Someone mail Merriam-Webster, quick! After watching this latest Tokyo Game Show trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, they’re going to need to update the meaning of the word ‘epic.’
I am not joking!
I admit I don’t know what that header means, but after looking through the latest set of screenshots, a trailer and a bunch of gameplay videos for Konami’s action adventure game, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, it’s the first thing that came to mind.
So continue on down below to see tons of gameplay footage and images from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to have your ‘jumbles’ ‘rumbled’ I guess.
It’s looking super slick and impressive, and releases in the ‘Fall’ of this year:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is Konami’s next attempt at a fully 3D Castlevania action/platformer, and by the looks of the released screenshots and previously released trailer, the developers (with the help of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima) are going to be able to deliver a game that fans of the long-running franchise have been asking for.
In a video interview included below, the game’s producer, Dave Cox, also tries to assuage the masses, ensuring us that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will be very much a Castlevania game at its heart, but with modern amenities to bring it onto the Xbox 360 and PS3 later this year ‘the right way’:
“Castlevania: Lords of Shadow takes place at the end of days. The Earth’s alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a dark and malevolent force – the mysterious Lords of Shadow – darkness reigns the world.”
“Across this shattered land, the souls of the dead wander unable to find peace, whilst creatures of evil roam free wreaking chaos and death upon the living.”
Dramatic stuff, but that’s nothing new for the Castlevania game series. What is new for the Castlevania game series is the involvement of Kojima Productions and Hideo Kojima himself, on hand to provide feedback and support for Madrid-based developer, MercurySteam, who are working on the game.
Check out the rest of the incredible screenshots from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow below:
At the Konami press conference yesterday, Hideo Kojima (he of Metal Gear Solid fame) confirmed that he and the team at Kojima Productions will indeed be providing production support to Madrid-based developer, MercurySteam, as they work on a next-generation Castlevania game, Lords of Shadow.
Additionally, Kojima announced development work on something called Metal Gear Arcade, which is essentially Metal Gear Online repurposed for coin-op arcade play and using 3D goggles. Metal Gear Arcade will be out in Japan later this year.
These two announced games then take the tally of Kojima’s current projects up to four, with Metal Gear Solid: Rising (for home consoles) and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (for the PSP).
Also commenting on the series of teasers found on the Kojima Productions website over the last few weeks, Kojima said that the clouds represent “what the current status nowadays [is] in our real lives,” continuing on to say that the entertainment business is “here to clear up this storm, and we need to work together.”
Inspiring words, Kojima! Watch the debut trailer for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow below:
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