Castlevania: Lords of Shadow –Mirror of Fate Review

Publisher:  Konami

Developer: Mercurysteam

Platforms: PlayStation 3 (PSN), X-Box 360 (Live Arcade) and regular version on Nintendo 3DS

Release date: Out now

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The second entry into the Lords of Shadow series titled Castlevania: Lords of Shadow –Mirror of Fate is a throwback to the classic side scrolling of retro Castlevania games.  The game was released originally for Nintendo 3DS on March 2013 and later made into a HD port for the PlayStation and Xbox on October 2013. The plot follows four characters and takes place for three of them in Dracula’s castle. There is a lot of throwback to classic Castlevania games in a new Lords of Shadow style way.  

The players assume the roles of Gabriel Belmont, Simon Belmont (grandson to Gabriel), Alucard the enigmatic vampire who seeks Dracula’s destruction and Trevor Belmont, son of Gabriel Belmont and father of Simon Belmont, who mysteriously disappears years before Simon ventures the dangers of the castle.  The game serves as a sequel to Lords of Shadow and sets up the events for Lords of Shadow 2 – the end of the Lords of Shadow saga.

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Players can navigate through Dracula’s castle obtaining various unique abilities for each character such as Guardian ghosts for Simon, abilities such as bat swarm, mist form and wolf form for Alucard and Light and Shadow magic for Trevor Belmont similar to Gabriel’s use of those in the original Lords of Shadow. Players can also obtain scrolls from the corpses of dead soldiers within the castle as collectibles to learn more about the castle, its history or how they died. This game also re introduces the feature of having to have all the games map explored entirely In order to obtain 100% for the game like in previous entries such as Symphony of the Night.  There is a levelling system in order to unlock new attacks and combos to be used and these are shared between all playable characters and don’t reset when you change from one to the next. It isn’t by any means a deep levelling system but it does add a bit more for you to unlock within the game.

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The plot is nicely laid out in this game but isn’t anything unforeseeable. As the player progresses through the game I don’t think it’s any great shock as to what is going to happen for the most part except for a few exceptional moments. This by no means makes it a weak story it’s very enjoyable to see unfold as you play through. The central theme of the mirror of fate and how fate cannot be changed is an interesting and well expanded plot point within the game. Some characters and events within the story also help link up between Lords of Shadow 1 and 2. I liked the characters development within the storyline and without spoiling too much Trevor was my favourite character. Boss fights are one of the games great points and the game also features the return of the classic boss rush mode that Castlevania is known for.

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The soundtrack to this game is quite good though a lot of the music is re used at times and feels a little overbearing having the same tune played over and over in a few locations but it still fits the tone and sets the atmosphere for the game.  There is a nice blend between the gothic inspired environments; music and dark feel of the characters that all blends together in a great way.

Overall: With some great gameplay, characters, puzzles, boss fights and many throwbacks to classic Castlevania games I can’t praise Castlevania: Lords of Shadow –Mirror of Fate enough. For fans of the Lords of shadow series of just classic Castlevania fans this is a game for you. With the HD port on sale for €14.99 you can’t go wrong. But enough talk… have at you!

SCORE 5/5

Reviewed By David Kiely

 

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