Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a much more focused experience than its predecessor (review)

What you won’t like

The climbing mechanic

MercurySteam has resurrected only one gameplay mechanic from the original Lords of Shadow that irks the hell out of me: the climbing. The developers have obviously made efforts to improve it, such as the addition of a swarm of bats that will gather around the next object I am allowed to leap to. There is also an ability to outline the climbing path I am expected to take, just in case I find myself hanging over lava from a cracking brick ledge and could really use a hint on what I can or cannot grab onto. Although I find this portion of the gameplay unnecessarily restrictive, tedious, and a drag, these tweaks are at least attempts to get me out of these scenarios as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

The climbing mechanic’s biggest downfall, however, is a lack of visual and behavioral consistency. When I am allowed to leap and grab onto a specific object, the message I am receiving is that I should be able to then jump to any object like it and get a similar result. This is a gaming sensibility that is, or should be, ingrained in all of us by our first (hopefully quality) video game experiences. Lords of Shadow 2’s climbing mechanic is only consistent at breaking this rule. I often find myself in a situation where the climbing system tells me I can grab, let’s say a beam. Then later on in a completely different section, I spot a similar beam that looks attainable. So I try to grab it the same way I did before, and I fail multiple times, miserably, until I realize that the climbing design has changed its mind and altered its visual rules.

This is a problem that, unfortunately, leaks out of the climbing section and infects the greater Metroid level structure. When I barely make a jump to a ledge that looks similar to one I was able to grab and do a pull-up onto earlier, is it because I don’t have double jump? Or is it because I am not jumping at that ledge correctly? I shouldn’t be wasting time asking this question because of information and feedback inconsistency.

This issue has also created unnecessary backtracking, where I have been in a large area with a lot of stuff that looks climbable, but since a lot of it is window dressing and the game is arbitrary about what I can grab onto, I can unintentionally be made to feel like I hit a dead end. One frustrating detour later, I come back to the area and recheck every prop until standing in a specific spot spawns the bat swarm onto a random object, leading me to a new area. If a Lords of Shadow 3 is on the horizon, the climbing designer and the environment artists really need to collaborate on a solution that is clear and consistent.

Speed bumps

While no doubt Lords of Shadow 2 is better paced than its predecessor, MercurySteam occasionally throws in an oddity that kills all the momentum: stealth sections. These portions contain creatures known as Goliath Guards who lumber around like Satan’s mall security force, except they are invincible and destroy our hero damned almost instantly on sight. In the presence of these things, the game deactivated most of my attacks. The three solutions for getting around these guys revolve around throwing a Bat Swarm at them as a distraction, standing dangerously close to one to perform a Possession (gain control of a non-player character), and turning into a rat to crawl through the ventilation system. All of these powers are really cool ideas that I wish were implemented more in the other portions of the game and are not what I am complaining about.

The problem is that these sections feel like fat that should have been trimmed from the final version. They are disruptive to the flow and become highly annoying trial-by-error puzzles when a solution involves the damned climbing mechanic. And thematically, the Goliath Guards do not make sense. I’m playing as a character that has kicked the angel of death’s ass and curb-stomped Satan! Why is this one middle-management monster constantly whipping my butt?

Conclusion

I breathed a sigh of relief as I ejected the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 disc from the PlayStation 3. It seems like whatever deity I prayed to for the best-case scenario had heard me. MercurySteam has taken out most of the problem sections inside the original Lords of Shadow’s design document, specifically the loose patch work of several different action genre ideas, and has given Lords of Shadow 2 a much tighter focus.

Going with the Metroid structure allowed so many Castlevania elements to fall into place, especially in the case of the combat and exploration being much more central to the experience. It could’ve been better, but at least if/when I see an announcement for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 3, my reaction will be excitement, not so much dread.

Score: 80 out of 100

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 releases onto the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Steam on February 25, 2014. The publisher provided GamesBeat with a PlayStation 3 copy of the game for review purposes. Stephen admits to being a miserable little pile of secrets.