- deep combat mechanics
- involves Trevor Belmont
- Fight with Trevor's version of the Combat Cross
- strong attacks with X
- wider-reaching attacks with Y
- secondary weapons like the boomerang-like glaive and electric bomb
- use these with A
- grab enemies with R
- block and dodge with L
- involves light and shadow magic returns
- earn experience points to unlock new combos
- these include launching foes into the air, smashing enemies down to the ground and more
- includes skeletons, axe-wielding undead and more
Categories: Media, Portables, Top Stories | Tags: Mercurysteam, Konami, Castlevania, 3DS | Rating: 
+25
+25
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Fuck Konami. Fuck Hideo Kojima. Fuck Mercury Steam. And fuck this QTE filled, God of War wannabe piece of shovel thing they slapped the Castlevania name on.
@jraics
Well Lords of Shadows being mediocre is being your opinion while overall reception was positive and I think I heard it was also the best selling Castlevania in years? So yeah.
I think I've had enough of the same old 2D metroidvania titles for a while, I'm interested in seeing more of this.
It stars Trevor Belmont, I don't give a **** if it's a universe where Dracula is a giant chicken overlord, the Belmonts wield the Vampire Killer, not some ridiculous looking metal cross.
I find it funny that some are accusing Iga of being a one trick pony while MercurySteam is basically being a one trick pony as well.
Somehow based on one screenshot this game looks worse than CoTM.
Castlevania is a game that works in 2D and should remain in 2D. I'll be buying the 3DS Epic Mickey instead of this.
YEEEESSSSSS! 2.5D!
Exactly what I wanted. Can't wait to try this game out.
Edit: or is it? The comments are confusing me....
Is it 2.5D or full 3D? I really wouldn't mind either....
so.. i own and have played all the Metroidvania games and love them, but, I also love games like Castlevania III and IV. I'm ok with them not doing the rinse / repeat formula for a portable game.
Similar to Metroid though, a lot of people just want one style of gameplay from this series.
I can respect that, but personally, after, what, *seven* games that play the same (SotN, CotM, HoD, AoS, DoS, PoR, OoE), i'm ok with something different.
They could still make both?
How exactly does it "look" like shovel in any way?
It already looks better than 1/2 of the 3DS games out there from just those grainy shots.....
i would LOVE an eshop 2-d Castlevania. Even sold in pieces. I bought all the DLC for the 360 Live Arcade game. :p Those 8-bit levels were awesome!
Of course I've played those. However, they played more like Devil May Cry (which predates Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness) than God of War. And yes, LoS pretty much is a rip-off. A beautifully rendered, high-production valued rip-off. As much a rip-off as games like Dante's Inferno. The problem is that LoS was so... dull. The story was interesting, the graphics fluid and gorgeous. However, the gameplay was not only a little too evocative of God of War (with bosses straight out of SotC), but I also found it just couldn't hold my attention. It was a little too repetitive (a common problem with modern hack-n-slashes like GoW), and most disappointingly it lacked that Castlevania feel, which I think is the biggest problem with this new continuity. Sure, the Metroidvanias are definitely rip-offs of Super Metroid, but they kept that awesome Castlevania feel from the NES and SNES titles (on the most part, at least) and continued to evolve it. I think I wouldn't dislike the LoS continuity nearly as much as I do if they didn't make the game into a fairly generic fantasy game instead of that weird (but awesome) anime/comic book/gothic horror/fantasy hybrid that the pre-LoS games were.
And what gave you the idea that I even wanted another 3D Castlevania in the first place? I never found any of them to be particularly great, although LoI was decent. I'd prefer the whole series to remain 2D, if possible. I feel like whenever they tried to make 3D castlevania games, they focused less on what made the originals, or even the Metroidvanias, so great. When I think of a 3D castlevania, I don't think of God of War. Thematically, Devil May Cry would make sense (especially the first), but the gameplay is too focused on combat to be what Castlevania should be like in 3D.
wow.
i am so disappointed right now.
Castlevania Harmony of Despair is one of my most played games of all time, and I have played every 2D game. Konami is really falling out of favor with me.
Look I'm all for making new types of games with established franchises but the Lords of Shadow games aren't exactly reinventing the wheel.
I doubt I'll be able to bust out an R. Skeledragon ability or Yorick my way to the top of a map. Ah, the good ol days....
Amen, bring back Iga so he can inject some soul into the series instead of spoon-feeding this committee-designed deck Konami makes. Then again, all Konami makes is Metal Gear with pretty much all their other properties being farmed out to talentless studios like Mercury Steam and pretty much ALL the devs that have made the latest Silent Hill titles. The only time they've done okay is when Arc System Works did Hard Core: Uprising and they're Eastern as HELL (and not ashamed of it)
This is why I loved that the DS was limited... They don`t get tempted to do this kind of stuff.
That`s the problem the Vita has currently: If I want console-like games I get a console!
I really hope that there is unique twist to this, since it HAS to differentiate itself from its console versions!
well you cant deny Lord of Shadows got mediocre scores compared to Symphony or the 2d portable games , so the GENERAL opinion is that the 2d games are superior. And i also agree to this general consensus. castlevania nailed a great metroidvania method, never ever nailed a winning 3d formula.
GoNintendo should have a like button.
No offense, but that's not 'real' Castlevania either.. The original Castlevania games (1, 3, IV, Bloodlines, etc) were NOT Metroidvanias and were incredibly good. I want Konami to return to that style of Castlevania (ala ReBirth).
the metroid-like games are OK but the ones I like are the tough-as-nails action-platforming that complimented the tough as nails run-n-gun Contra games.
This game... could be OK but to be honest I'm VERY disinterested in it as I thought Lords of Shadow was piss.
Man, this is what I've been worrying about since the DS and PSP were first announced to be capable of 3D graphics. I knew that there was going to be a point where, just like with console games, 2D game design gets the boot. Sometimes it seems like it's become an almost niche kind of design, and with the 3DS being pretty much capable of Gamecube-quality graphics and the Vita being capable of what it can do, 3D game design is going to take the lead. Titles like Mighty Switch Force and Mutant Mudds are exceptions, but are somewhat few and far between.
At least some developers meet the issue at the middle with 2.5D, but for some reason that almost always feels a little hollow when compared to beautifully animated spritework or even handdrawn graphics like in Muramasa.
People saying it isn't 2D. Sure about that? It may just be some weird 2D/3D side view.
Trevor returns? Can't say I expected that.
But im still not interested. Castlevania has been dead to me ever since the start of the Metroidvnania phase, and I hear nothing but bad things about the 3D CastleVanias.
sweet, it looks like it is a fixed-path isometric 3D - its effectively 2D as you can only move forward and backward. This is how Other M should have been. Hope they can pull it off.
Excuse me but since when a Metacritic Score of 85% and 83% on Gameranking is mediocre? Just saying because simply the portable games got around 85-90s overall scores isnt a big jump if you call that mediocre. You seriously act like a blind fanboy but do as you wish.
Bleh... to overquote a quote:
"What is this I don't even"
And now they're butchering Trevor Belmont, too, his design looks stupid. What the hell is he wearing? Looks like some kind of dress, for pete's sake. And they're still going with the combat cross instead of the infinitely more awesome Vampire Killer?
I could tell LoS was a steaming pile of crap from a mile away, and I'm not gonna touch this game either. If I want to play a God of War clone, I'd play God of War instead. And the setting and characters simply don't have charm, period, despite the inclusion of Patrick Stewart, and the art and designs are terribly generic. And I'm not gonna even get started on the damn plot, it's an embarrassment to the rest of the series.
If you excuse me, I'm gonna wait for the next IGA-made Castlevania, rather than this committee-designed turd. Castlevania: The Adventure: ReBirth was fantastic, and Harmony of Despair was an inventive and fun experience, if a bit flawed.
I would've loved the return of another SotN styled Castlevania game, but it they're going 3D best to follow on LoS which has done 3D Castlevania best so far.
Uh, you do know that God of War was a Lament of Innocence clone to begin with? (although both of them should also be very thankful to Rygar).
Playing as Trevor and Simon again looks promising; I'll wait and see.
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