Castlevania Lords of Shadows was released a couple of years ago, and it was a damn fine game. It didn't really feel like a Castlevania game, but it wasn't bad by any means. Castlevania fans hated it even before it was released, since it was different. I understand hating reboots, but these people pass judgement before trying the end result first-hand. This is what happened with DmC, it didn't matter if it was a good game, Dante had black hair so it was garbage. Haters will claim that "If you think this is about the hair, you are an idiot", but their problems can be boiled down to: "It changed, therefore it sucks". Dante's hair is black, therefore it sucks. Fanboys need to understand, that just because it's new or different, it doesn't make obsolete previous entries in the franchise, the older games will be there for them, forever. Don't like it, don't buy it, but don't judge it until you get it in your hands. But I digress, this is about Lords of Shadows and why it ain't so bad.
Art
The character redesigns are fantastic. When I played Lords of Shadows, I instantly fell in love with Gabriel's brotherhood robes, and later, Zobek's. And when Mirror of Fate finally introduced the classic characters into the mix, once again, I fell in love. Many fans cite Simon being a ginger or a barbarian ebing stupid, but Ayami Kojima herself made Simon a redhead in Chronicles(Which is my favorite Simon design, by the way) and the Belmonts were, initially, presented as barbarians. Remember the NES games? Simon and Trevor were fully decked in barbarian armors, Simon's redesign in the SNES game was a barbarian too. It was not until Ayami started doing the art for Castlevania that the characters started wearing more elegant threads.
And one has to remember that Ayami Kojima wasn't always the norm. She only became the official Castlevania artist after Symphony of the Night, but by Dawn of Sorrow Konami went for a awful generic anime direction. Luckily they went back to a more gothic style for Order of Ecclesia, the art wasn't as good as Ayami's, but it was pretty similar. Lords of Shadows goes for a different direction than any of the previous artists, and the designs mesh pretty nicely with the new darker, grittier direction for the series. Try as you might to deny it, Castlevania was always sorta goofy. Finding perfectly roasted chicken hidden behind walls, for example, or how about the colorful armor suits throwing weapons at you? Later in the series, Skeletons became a bit of a joke and they started introducing multiple variations of them, for comedic effect. Dawn of Sorrow had Maids with Vacuum Cleaners, and if you used their power against them, they'd hold their skirts as not to have them blown by the wind. Castlevania never took itself too seriously until Lords of Shadows, which is also the reason as to why so many of the enemies look so generic. I admit it, most enemies in Lords of Shadows were incredibly generic, but Mirror of Fate finally reintroduced many of the classic enemies, like the Fleamen/Hunchbacks, Meremen, Armors and Skeletons. They still lack the personality of their Classicvania counterparts, but that's alright, Lords of Shadows is a game that takes itself seriously, Castlevania is not.
Weapons
The Combat Cross is pure genius. Let's level for a moment, a whip is not a very threatening weapon. I'm not saying it's a bad weapon, I'm saying that a whip is made to inflict pain, but not to kill. Lords of Shadow still had to pay homage to the classic weapon wielded by most Belmonts, so they got a fine compromise: A chain. It makes sense, in most games that allowed the Whip to be enhanced, it would eventually turn into a Chain-whip. The Combat Cross starts off as a chain already, and when the chain is stored, the weapon takes the shape of a cross. A holy item to fight foul beasts. The Combat Cross is a fantastic addition to the Castlevania mythos, it looks fantastic and it makes sense.
Mirror of Fate also reintroduced many of the classic sub weapons, but used the Nintendo-censored versions. The Holy Water became the Oil Flask and the Cross was changed for the Boomerang, which makes sense since the Whip is now the Cross and in some of the older Nintendo games, the Cross was called the Boomerang. The Axe returned, as well as Alucard getting his Bat subweapon back. It was great seeing the classic weapons back.
Story
Spoilers: Gabriel becomes Dracula. Story is a pretty subjective thing, unless you are a fanboy, in which case you already think it sucks. Regardless, I actually liked the story, and I loved the sequel hook at the end. I understand why many would call foul, as Gabriel was presented as Dracula, with no explanation as to why or how, but I think that it was a great sequel hook. I liked the story, so I wanted to know more. I wanted to know how. And I felt it was a fantastic twist to make a Belmont become Dracula.
Mirror of Fate finally reintroduced Simon and Trevor Belmont, and the way they introduced Alucard was really smart. Alucard was Dracula's son, so it only made sense for Gabriel's son to become Alucard, and who is Gabriel's son? Trevor. Why Alucard fights against his father also makes more sense now than before, why he curses his existence too, as we get to see how it all happens, instead of being told(as is the case with Classicvania's Alucard).
Regardless, this is pretty personal, I could tell you why I liked the story, but other people may dislike it for the very same reasons I do. And they are all valid opinions. Unless you are a blind fanboy. As to how it stands against the rest of Castlevania, it certainly is the Castlevania with the most depth and story thrown into the game, but Castlevania was never really about the story. I think that Rondo of Blood was the very first time we got more than and introduction and an ending, afterwards, Castlevania games began placing stronger narratives on their games. I'm not sayin that Lords of Shadows has the best story in any Castlevania game, but it's definitely the one that placed the most thought into it.
Gameplay
Arguably the games' worst feature. As much as Mercury Steam hates the comparison, Lords of Shadow was very similar to God of War. They are different games, with different mechanics, but the way Gabriel and Kratos fight is very similar, at least on a visual level. What has no excuse, however, were the Colossus battles, which felt very out of place in the game. I think the only one that made sense within the world of the game and the story, and was fun, was the last one. What makes it even worse is that there are only three of these, so why even bother? Mirror of Fate toyed with the formula a bit more, and tried to mix Castleroid gameplay with Lords of Shadow gameplay to... rather mixed results. Mirror of Fate, by Castleroid standards, was not too good, but otherwise, it was fairly decent, just don't expect it to be a Castleroid.
How does it fare against older Castlevanias? Well, the first Castlevania games were very original, but then again, the NES era was were most of the classic games were born, at least the ones that we remember fondly. What Castlevania did, few games did like it, there were similar games, sure, but none quite like Castlevania and it's sub weapons. But when people talk about Castlevania, they refer, most of the time, to Castleroids. Know where the name comes from? Castleroid or Metroidvania is the result of mixing Castlevania and Metroid together, this is a genre that was born after Super Metroid(Even if Metroid was technically the pioneer). Castlevania: Symphony of the Night borrowed all the elements of Metroid while adding new ones, like equipping different weapons or using items. What I'm getting into, is that some of the most beloved Castlevania games borrowed heavily from other games, specifically Metroid. Calling Lords of Shadow crap because it's a God of War clone is really stupid when Castlevania stopped being wholly original after Symphony of the Night. If Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a bad game for being a clone, that makes most Castlevania games bad.
Castlevania Lords of Shadow and CV:LoS:Mirror of Fate are not bad games, they have a lot of room for improvement, but they are not bad. It's OK to like or prefer older Castlevania games, it's perfectly fine to hate them after playing them, but to hate them for being different without even trying it? How stupid is that? And did you notice how the moniker Lords of Shadow is kept in every entry? This are not meant to be full reboots, but rather an alternate timeline of sorts, one that is not heavily burdened with entry after entry of adding or retconning stuff into the timeline. This is a fresh start, a different take on something you like. And if you don't like it, that's alright, your black-vested Alucard will live on forever in Symphony of the Night, and there's nothing Konami can do to undo it.
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