Hands-On with Lords of Shadow 2 - Article
by Alex St-Amour , posted on 12 June 2013 / 2,672 Views
The biggest playable game at the Konami booth was without a doubt Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. And after a lengthy demo it’s easy to see why this game is generating so much excitement. The game puts you in the boots of Dracula himself and while the story will mostly take place in modern times the demo has you re-creating the scenes from the pre-E3 trailer as you battle to repel an invading force from Dracula’s castle.
The first scene in the demo acts a sort of tutorial, quickly explaining the game's controls and combat mechanics. After this brief introduction I was thrust into a gauntlet of enemies and forced to use my newly learned moves to defeat them. The combat is overall very similar to the original Lords of Shadow game with some slight alterations here and there. The game then took me through a quick platforming section where quick time events are used to determine where you go and how you land - a mechanic that in the next part of the demo got very important.
After exiting the castle I was met with a massive invading army storming the castle and their leader, a big, golden, angel-guy. I soon began a long battle with him, a mix of button-mashing and strategy. Once he was defeated I was tasked with climbing a giant mechanical robot, using the platforming mechanics mentioned earlier to scale the behemoth. Once at the top, I felled the behemoth and after a short cut-scene the demo ended.
The thing that struck me the most about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is the importance of the story and how it ties into the two previous titles. The game seems set on telling a great story and taking its time with it too, a point I really do respect. It's also quite the looker with impressive visuals set-pieces (climbing the robot is incredible) and an excellent soundtrack.
I left Konami's booth very please with my hands-on time with Lords of Shadow 2 and am happy to report that I wont have to wait much longer before I can get my mitts on it again as the game is releasing sometime this holiday for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
