“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.

The story of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow kicks off as we discover that the wife of our hero, Gabriel Belmont, has been mysteriously slain. Naturally, Gabriel is out for revenge and searching for a way to bring his beloved back to life, but the plot grows to involve his religious order and before you know it, you and Gabriel are on the road to find and destroy the three powerful ‘Lords of Shadow,’ each of whom are in possession of one piece of the ‘God Mask.’

It’s said that whoever controls the power of the full God Mask can do most anything they please, and it’s with this power that Gabriel intends to bring back his wife. Of course, this isn’t an easy task and will test Gabriel to his limit, and take him from dark woods, ancient villages, eerie catacombs and steaming swamps, to underground cities, sprawling caverns, towering castles and mystical spires. The environments in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow are all truly astounding in realisation, detail and grandeur, and reminded me of the very best epic fantasy settings that the Lord of the Rings movies could offer, while graphically, the game easily goes toe-to-toe with anything Uncharted 2, Killzone or God of War 3 can deliver.

What adds greatly to the grandiose nature of the game is the wonderful music that perfectly accompanies certain sequences, rising to triumphant heights in perfect time, falling to melancholic lows to set the mood, and then slowly undulating to match the game’s story, fading into whispering, atmospheric melodies as though it’s merely a casual observer watching over your journey.

Another observer on your journey is Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Sir Patrick Stewart, who provides narration on Gabriel’s actions after every chapter, and plays the part of Zobek, an ally to Gabriel. This casting choice is absolutely ideal, as Stewart’s voice perfectly captures the weight and mood of the fantasy story and setting, and simply reinforces the idea that you’re wrapped up in an epic world, embarking on a grand, larger-than-life adventure.

And what would a grand adventure be without some good old fashioned action? Gabriel will be tasked with defeating all manner of demons, beasts and foul creatures from the deep, and luckily as the person controlling monsieur Belmont’s actions, you’ll have access to a vast array of combat abilities and manoeuvres. While you’re at no point in control of the camera, you’re freed up to assault enemies using combinations of the face and shoulder buttons, which results in vicious whip-like attacks, from the timid and tame, to the destructive and devastating.

One of the elements that keeps Castlevania: Lords of Shadow constantly fresh is the regular introduction of new abilities to use in combat, as well as to solve environmental puzzles. After a time, you’ll gain access to a grappling hook to make climbing and traversal more effortless and exciting, but this same ability is also used to grab onto enemies and cycle into attack combos. You’ll also get the ability to use Light and Dark Magic, both of which are powered by a single source of energy dropped by slain enemies.

It’s these two magic abilities, as well as the introduction of the combat Focus Meter, that really help to mix up combat and bring something unique to the action genre. When in use, Light Magic is used to regain Gabriel’s health after successfully attacking an enemy, while Dark Magic makes Gabriel’s attacks more powerful. Keeping an eye on both of these meters, and the available Light and Dark Magic energy, will keep your mind ticking while in an encounter with enemies, as you strategically decide when and where to use each type. The Focus Meter, on the other hand, enables you to extract more energy out of enemies than usual once it’s filled – to fill it, you’ll need to complete a number of successful attacks on enemies without getting hit, yourself.

Balancing the use of Magic, and gaining vital energy by being effective in combat, is to my mind a fantastic way to intuitively force players to constantly be thinking about every action and reaction during an encounter, as you dodge, block and dive out of the way of incoming attacks to keep your Focus Meter filled, and then knock the stuffing out of an ugly fiend to gain more energy to fill up your Light and Dark Magic meters for use later, or during that very battle. It’s a great, clever combat cycle, and combined with the wealth of interesting and easy to perform manoeuvres, I never grew tired of fighting against packs of werewolves, hordes of zombies, collections of scuttling imps, giant spiders, massive ogres, ghostly monks, swooping vampires, shambling ogres, powerful demons… or single, immense behemoths who will have you climbing and crawling over their bodies to find weak spots to stab - just like Shadow of the Colossus, and just as amazing!

Along the way Gabriel also gets a powerful Gauntlet (to better smash enemies and obstacles), boots (to bowl foes over and leap over gaps), and different objects to turn the tide during battle - throwing knives, holy water, crystals that summon a dark power, and fairies used to distract enemies. The use of this equipment can all be modified by using either Light or Dark Magic in unison, and once again helps mix up the pace of enemy encounters.

The overall pace of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow also feels expertly handled, as bouts of action-packed sequences are balanced with extended periods of exploration and environment traversal as you climb, shimmy, swing, jump, rappel and mantel your way from place to place. These sections, too, are set against the odd puzzle or two, some of which can be real brain teasers! Fortunately, the developers have included a ‘solve puzzle’ feature (where you’re either given the solution to the puzzle, or it’s outright unlocked for you) so you can get right back to adventuring and monster hacking if you wish.

While exploring, you’ll come across a few fallen soldiers who have left scrolls containing extra story details for you – you don’t have to read these narrative extras, but they all successfully flesh out each area and scenario a little better, and some of them give you clues about future encounters or hints about what to do next and which abilities to use. This brings me to the game’s main menu and hub for all of your information and statistics, which is displayed as an ancient tome from which you can read.

One of the fantastic things about Lords of Shadow is how quickly you can move from in-game to the menu and back out again – it’s extremely fast and even includes small touches that no other games usually attempt. Everything in the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is lavishly presented, and this menu system is a fine example of this attention to detail. Combat moves and abilities you’ve learned (and can learn) are wonderfully animated for you to see their actions, which more than once lead to me saving up my accrued experience points to purchase particular abilities simply because the animations looked so good!

While it may seem trivial to mention the speed at which you can enter and exit a menu, it’s something that is overlooked, and now while playing other games, I’ve become incredibly impatient with how long it takes to simply change one setting, or look up one thing, in a menu in other titles. It simply helps you engage with the experience more easily, and doesn’t let you remind yourself even for a second that you are, in fact, playing a videogame.

Whether or not the menu is to be congratulated for such an accomplishment is dubious, but Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is an immensely impressive game from start to finish, and truly immerses you in its world as it takes you on an epic journey.

It would be remiss of me, however, not to mention the worst thing about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: the dicey framerate. More often than not, the game runs at a fair clip and you’ll hardly notice dips in displayed frames, but there are times (and quite a few of them) that you’ll not only see a drop in framerate, you’ll feel it as well. This is usually because you’ve rounded some corner to reveal a beautiful vista off in the distance, but it can happen during combat encounters, too, which is definitely not when you want a slowdown. Because this is an action game without precise aiming (like in a first-person shooter, say), gameplay is very rarely negatively affected to the point where you feel as though your abilities are being compromised, but framerate issues shouldn’t be an issue in a game of this magnitude, full stop.

Other problems? Sometimes it can be a bit obtuse as to where to go next to continue your journey. You may find that playtime in specific areas is artificially lengthened with silly quests. Maybe, you’ll encounter areas where the climbing doesn’t work so well, and you might, perhaps, find that the camera can get a little finicky. And don’t get me started on those blasted Quick Time Events!

These problems fade away, however, when the entire experience is taken in as a whole: Stunning environments. Expert presentation. An epic adventure and fantastic story. Constantly fresh experiences and great pacing. Interesting, innovative and challenging combat. Memorable encounters with enemies of all shapes and sizes. Wonderful characters. And one of the best endings and sequel setups I’ve personally ever witnessed.

This is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and while I enjoyed God of War III mightily, I’m of the belief that Mercury Steam and Konami have outdone Sony’s game in every way that matters, and have created an experience that can easily be counted as one of the best of 2010, and one of the best action games around. If the developers had included Bayonetta’s dodge mechanic in some form, I would have handed Castlevania: Lords of Shadow the crown for best action adventure game myself.

This one comes highly recommended.

Purchase: