Castlevania : Lords Of Shadows 2 (PC)

                             

Hey there fellow readers , i know i've been almost 2 weeks late on the reviews of 'Thief', 'South Park : The Stick Of truth' & 'Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2'  but i can gauranty you that my review on the games especially Thief & Castlevania is gonna help you in making a choice wether to go for it or not as both the games have been rated poorly and received bad response from the critics though they have their ups and downs but these games are to be given a fair chance. So lets get on with it.

Story/Plot

The big word is that 'Gabriel's Back' or as he prefers 'Eu Sunt Dracul' The prince of Darkness  and whoever is going to play this game i would highly recommend playing previow parts namely Castlevania :Lords of Shadowa & Lords of Shadows : Mirror of fate as they explain & tells briefly the important events and happenstance of  how Gabriel (Now Dracula) turned from a Holy knight of Brotherhood of light into the Prince of Darkness and revelations of Dracula's descendants , although all these have been explained in the prologue video but its not same as playing the actual game .

            
    Well the games starts with depicting the seige on Dracula's castle by forces of BrotherHood of Light where Dracula is shown as all mighty and powerful where nobody is a match for him but he all he want is to find his eternal peace but he is a true immortal who cannot be killed , after Defeating the great paladin of BrotherHood the story flash forwards to centuries later to present times where its shown that Dracula Rises from his tomb where he is desiccated and weak with broken and confused recollection of past  when Zobek comes out of hiding and reaches him to inform that Satan's Accollytes are planning his return and only Dracula with his complete potential and power will be able to stop as he was the most powerful & feared and they have an element of surprise as everybody thinks that Dracula is dead or gone into hiding . Zobek also promises him to give eternal peace which Dracula so dearly desires from the reforged cross of Gabriel (Dracula) before  he turned evil.

Now Dracula is set out on his quest to stop the acolytes hiding in modern days from bringing Satan trapped in Hell. Similar to DmC (2013) Demons are represented in the form of big evil incorporations , since you are weak and powerless you have to face these Demons while also regaining your former glorious powers. Dracula suffers from his broken consciousness and memories while being haunted by his past and must face his inner demons.The game tries to give you a real experience of being the all powerful Dracula and makes you realize why he is feared by all and gives you a satisfying conclusion towards the Lord Of Shadows saga & I must say after my 10-12 hours of gameplay time the story  starts off with a slow pace but eventually it picks up a steady and interesting pace although i must admit the plot is missing a Mysteriousness  & a layer of enigma but still it manages to provide a satisfying ending. Story of the game is good & satisfying but  nothing mind blowing or special.

Gameplay


Castlevania : Lords Of Shadow 2 is a typical action Hack n, Slash game with a mix of puzzles and platforming whose mechanics are similar to its previous title but the optimization of the game is fantastic and a much more user friendly as compared to buggy Lords of Shadow (1st part) where there wasn't even an option to manage camera angle which was highly frustrating and spoils the fun of the combat pace , not only this but the  combat is much more smoother and i found no difficulty in pulling off some killer combos , still i have a complaint that the attacks keep on breaking up with a subsequent gaps during changes of combo and it gives enough time for enemy to blow a strike & breaking up my flow otherwise i had a very smooth experience with the game and i'd like to give a special shout out towards the movements of Dracula especially during platforming they were very  natural and realistic which i found absent in many AAA hack n' slash titles like DmC & God of War..etc.

                                                           As is mentioned gameplay Mechanics are very smooth and user friendly  but there are some segments of gameplay that i found broken and unnesesary for example the stealth portion of the game feels stupid & downright bland where the AI acts dumb as doornail and makes me wonder why ? the second thing i felt redundant and demeaning was the ability of Dracula to take rat form only in dark spaces though i agree this also helps in giving a  puzzle complex in some sections but i personally thought it was childish and it felt as a sort of insult towards the 'Great Count Dracula' and the third and final  problem i had was the navigation with help of mini map is highly confusing which has lead me to wander about the locations pointlessly and ive been stuck in alot of  rut because of poor navigation. Unlike these there are many other gameplay components which are pretty cool and clever for example the game does provide some innovation towards classic puzzles that takes place in different games , special abilities like setting a group of bats to distract enemies or turning into mist forms to avoid damage or pass through bars and the ultimate weapon of all the use of Dragon Talisman to summon the power of a Dragon and burn you foes to crisps or use combination of Void & Chaos powers to tactically deal difficult foes and overcome certain obstacles which i found pretty clever and speaking of difficult foes, Boss Battles in the game really tries to provide you with a large variances but fails to provide complete unique boss fight yet they are one of the biggest highlight of the game. The gameplay segments are successful in making you realize that Dracula's Might and power. According to me Gameplay of this game is fantastic apart some irritating segments but still it bags a major positive factor on its side.


Visuals/Sound FX

Seeing the Visuals of the game i was quite surprised as the game have been in developement for a long time and i didn't thought that they could provide us with such a defined and detailed visuals except the environments they still looks rusty and dated but the effects produced in characters and various affects are superb especially Dracula OH man! doesn't he look stunning even during gameplay you can see the movements of body are in perfect symmetry even you can notice movement During his breathing , not only Dracula but every character has been provided with detail texture & finesse from main characters to grossed punies . This game is a fine Example of finished product in terms of visual eye candy.



                             Here is another shout out! going for 'Robert Carlyle' for bringing the Character of Gabriel Belmont/Dracula to life by doing a splendid job in voice acting and 'Patrick Stewart' for empowering the character of Zobek by giving him a strong and firm base and apart from these two there are also a few celebrity actor/actress in the game's cast giving an impecable performance towards their respective characters and the theme song with piano instrumental is very soothing with  a layer of fantasy in it . The sync of both visual and Sound FX leads to  a great depiction of Dracula's tale.

Final Words

Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2 is a great game with good visuals, great voice acting and soundtrack giving an essence of fantasy , smooth gameplay providing a true Dracula experience although the plot wasn't much interesting and some gameplay sections were poorly implemented but still its a great action Hack n' Slash game and would highly recommend it to a genre lover.

                   

' A Great Depiction of Dracula's Legacy '

Pros - you're Dracula ,smooth gameplay , realistic movements, great voice acting , polished visuals.

Cons - some gameplay sections were poorly implemented , dated environment visuals , non-influential plot.

Rating - 7.9/10