Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

 Xbox 360
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 296 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 218 out of 296
  2. Mixed: 49 out of 296
  3. Negative: 29 out of 296
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  1. SpunkyMonkey
    Feb 21, 2012
    1
    When is Castlevania not Castlevania? When it's a poor immitation of God of War + Devil May Cry + Shadow of the Colossus. All forms of entertainment media nick ideas from others - it's what helps create great games, music, films etc. - but when something does that, but does it very poorly then it really isn't worth bothering with. CLOS as you may have guessed is such a game, from the veryWhen is Castlevania not Castlevania? When it's a poor immitation of God of War + Devil May Cry + Shadow of the Colossus. All forms of entertainment media nick ideas from others - it's what helps create great games, music, films etc. - but when something does that, but does it very poorly then it really isn't worth bothering with. CLOS as you may have guessed is such a game, from the very outset you just don't feel as if you are playing anything other than a poor rip off. The game itself is gash, playing with a weird, sloppy feel to the combat and a very linear approach to levels and bosses........which wouldn't be so bad if any of it was any fun. However the design of the game itself really feels ported from a bygone era and there's just not very much fun to be had at all. Decent graphics and environments are complemented by some good sound, but boredom poor gaming are all that await under the surface. Awful game and a disgrace to the Castlevania name.… Expand
  2. Robosaurous
    Nov 9, 2010
    3
    One of the first things that you'll learn through reading any review of this game is the is that it borrows heavily from other games in its game play design. What it borrows it borrows well and implements in familiar yet suitable ways that anyone familiar with the genre will pick up easily and has most likely not yet tired of. What it does poorly is everything else. Robert Carlyle'sOne of the first things that you'll learn through reading any review of this game is the is that it borrows heavily from other games in its game play design. What it borrows it borrows well and implements in familiar yet suitable ways that anyone familiar with the genre will pick up easily and has most likely not yet tired of. What it does poorly is everything else. Robert Carlyle's voice acting sounds more like he lost his pet goldfish than his beloved wife with an inability to find a middle ground between apathy and overacted anguish. While Patrick Stewart adds more than Carlyle, his long droning monologues can be tedious at times. More than that they attempt to fill in parts of the story I'd rather see and feel then have explained to me in monotone detail by Captain Picard.

    The level design appears to want to have each of its levels feel like open world areas the player is free to explore but none of them actually achieve this quality. Even the rare level that has multiple paths to follow is just a facade over what is ultimately just a linear experience leading the player to an inevitable goal. Not to mention the indescribable futility one feels when trying to jump over a waist high railing only to be blocked by an invisible wall when moments earlier the player witness the character sail across a vast crevasse on angle wings. The scant few truly well hidden secrets in the game are lost amongst the countless 'hidden' items which one easily stumbles across and must simply come back later leading to the kind of paint drying monotony that is the gaming equivalent of Ambien.

    I could forgive all of these things and call this game a decent action adventure title were it simply to drop the Castlevania title and simply call itself Lords of Shadow. There are certain expectations that have been brought about over the last 24 years of the series, namely: Dracula, and a damn castle. To simply have what has become the staple of the series, the arrival at and exploration of a vast castle full of secrets, cease to be a part of the series is a travesty. Instead the castle is a brief pit stop between our opening village and some bizarre necromatic underworld that reeks of a developer's desperate need for editing. Then once we reach the end of our journey we find Satan! An entirely attenuated, completely unrelated, newly introduced character that will leave the player wondering why they bothered to pay attention to the rest of the storyline to this point. A fitting end to a game featuring a character from a long line of vampire hunters, wielding a weapon called the vampire hunter in a series about vampire hunting. An ending that could be called bittersweet if it were at all redeeming but as it is its just bitter.    … Expand
  3. Ozmahunter
    Jan 22, 2011
    4
    No. I tried to like this game, I really did. And it's gorgeous. I forced myself to finish it because I kept hearing and reading how great the ending was. The sad truth is that everything the game does has been done before, and better. Like many reviewers said, this is God of War meets Shadow of the Colossus. Except in God of War and Devil May Cry, you obtain a wide variety of extraNo. I tried to like this game, I really did. And it's gorgeous. I forced myself to finish it because I kept hearing and reading how great the ending was. The sad truth is that everything the game does has been done before, and better. Like many reviewers said, this is God of War meets Shadow of the Colossus. Except in God of War and Devil May Cry, you obtain a wide variety of extra weapons, as in Castlevania LoS, you are stuck with the same sad whip and only obtain useless upgrades that dont affect combat in any way shape or form. You also obtain a very limited amount of tossing daggers, some holy water, a crystal that breaks after 1 use and some utterly useless fairies. That's it. The level design is linear and tedious, you are forced to revisit levels again once you have upgrades just to obtain the ability to carry extra worthless sub weapons and I hope you are familiar with gamefaqs because you will be referring to it frequently, not because you are stuck on a boss or puzzle, but because the horrible level design makes it a choir to find that one obscure little ledge you need to climb down to proceed. The last few levels especially made me want to hurl my controller out the window. Horrible cheap pit placement, cut scenes after checkpoints, ensuring I had to watch a titan move its arm over and over again, terribly inconsistent placement of healing statues. I would often start levels with a sliver of life only to die and come back with a sliver of life. If its a new level, why am I not starting it at full health? In any case, I those last few complaints may have come as a result of my finishing the game on the Hard difficulty setting, but over all, I thought the random end was not enough to compensate for suffering through this tedious game. The cut scene after the credits sure was cool and opens the path to some hopefully better sequels. Maybe ones in which we fight Dracula, or maybe explore a castle for more than a few levels? Here's hoping.… Expand
  4. TechnologoDoom
    Aug 2, 2011
    4
    There's not much redeeming about Lords of Shadow. It's a betrayal of the series that smacks of pandering and a complete lack of an understanding of the franchise. When the last 10 minutes of the game, all in cut scenes, are by far the best of the entire endeavor, you know something's really wrong.
  5. EastonReviews
    Jul 7, 2011
    3
    Your kidding me, right? Liking this cheesy nacho of a game is the equivalent to praising the cover. And you didn't buy the game because of the cover did you? It's not worth your time, or your fifty bucks. It's just a overrated cheesy tub of cliches and plotholes. The fun factor is sickening, and the length is average, but you'd want it short. Trust me.
  6. Promotheus
    Jun 26, 2015
    3
    A bad God of War-clone which to me has no justification for existing. It has extremely little to do with the other Castlevania-games, except for the look of a few items and some names. The story to me is very unintriguing and slow-paced. I found myself skipping the cutscenes early on. The main character is stupid-looking, poorly voiced and unlikeable. The scenery is pretty nice, at leastA bad God of War-clone which to me has no justification for existing. It has extremely little to do with the other Castlevania-games, except for the look of a few items and some names. The story to me is very unintriguing and slow-paced. I found myself skipping the cutscenes early on. The main character is stupid-looking, poorly voiced and unlikeable. The scenery is pretty nice, at least it must have been back in 2010, but it also feels uninspired and clichéd. It's the same grey-and-brown color scale every damn modern game has to have today.

    Gameplay is repetitive and tedious, remembering the combos is a chore, so in the end you just mash the attack button even though you unlock a million different other attacks. The climbing parts are entirely unnecessary and there are A LOT of them. There is no gameplay to them since you can't fail unless you really want to. You literally just go through the motions. Most of the boss fights are exactly the same kind of game of doding their attacks and then attacking. And there are a lot of boss fights too. Some of the worst QTE's I've seen in a game are here as well (the timing ones with the shrinking circle). Once you have completed the dumb QTE's at the end of a battle and think it's over, out of the blue another QTE comes up and if you fail you have to start the fight over again. QTE's to me are the final evidence that AAA-developers have completely lost touch with their audience. I have never in my life heard anyone stating they even remotely like them, still modern games are absolutely filled with QTE's.

    Apparently Konami are going all-mobile now which for Castlevania I think might be a good thing. It's time to let the vampire sleep in his coffin so to speak if this is the best they can come up with. In all honestly, the first Castlevania game is light-years better than this game, an almost 30 year old game and that says a lot. Dante's Inferno is also a God of War-clone but it was much more interesting both theme and story-wise, as well as the gameplay.    … Expand
  7. Touji79
    Jul 16, 2020
    0
    One of the worst games i have ever played! Gameplay sucks, camera doesn't work, bad platforming, repetitive to death! Most of its mechanichs dont work at all. What a waste of Time and money.

Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2010
32
#32 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2010
25
#25 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 70 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 70
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 70
  3. Negative: 0 out of 70
  1. DarkZero
    Apr 28, 2011
    80
    The franchise needed this. It's not remotely original and it occasionally threatens to drown under the weight of its own bluster, but it's also clever, challenging, bewilderingly pretty in places and a ripping good yarn.
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  2. Cynamite
    Jan 16, 2011
    85
    Fabulous action game with nice riddles and cool fights, but with lacks in camera perspectives.
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  3. RealGamer
    Jan 12, 2011
    90
    Although the basic gameplay borrows heavily from other franchises it is still done with such style and panache it is hard to find faults.
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