So, I just downloaded the new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow demo, and here's my thoughts so far: Overall, it's decent so far.
Gutted I couldn't move the camera since I like to be in control of it all the time (and Gabriel looked really small on screen for me), but otherwise the demo was decent. The presentation in particular is excellent- the book which opens up to show you the moves, the little hand drawn animations of the character as it does a move that you want to learn, the art drawings in sketchbook style which show as part of the cinematics were beautiful. Voice acting is great so far of course (how can it not be, with the likes of Robert Carlyle and Patrik Stewart involved, to name a few) and the graphics are sublime. Combat was decent as well. Cinematics are excellent and the atmosphere, art and design in the game are of a very high standard.
Now, the cons...
I know the art style isn't Castlevania (it being a reboot and all) but i didn't think they would remove the music as well. It doesn't seem very "Castlevania" at all. It actually sounds like the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings movies (in particular, The Two Tower), and looks like it too. Castlevania's music is very central to the series but there are no motifs here or any homages or references. Seems like a proper fresh start, which is a shame for a long term fan like me who at least wanted some connections to the roots, more than a whip and sub weapons.
Also, everything seemed too scripted and they use cinematics too much as part of the fighting system. The part where you have to impale that Warg (more LOTR similarities there) is a bit lame because it's just an animation that plays to kill him, and if you miss to trigger it the first time, it'll just repeat again until you get it right. Same with the horse riding; you just press the button when it prompts you to trigger the long cinematic to kill things. Unlike God of War where at least you control every part of the killing animations (to a degree), here all you do is press one button to start the animation, and then you just sit back and watch pre-scripted cinematic....whilst it looks nice and is very movie-like, it doesn't require any effort at all, and thus defies the purpose of me actually playing it.
Still, it all looks great, but I'm not doing much in it. That's my major gripe at the moment- I'm watching too much rather than playing....Kojima's influence there, no doubt :)
Other than that, it's shaping up pretty damn well, and i'm interested to delve into this world further. Roll on October 8th.
