phantom_leo said:

I was the one receiving all of the servicing, Thank You very much!

...or Thank HIM very much!

Jumping the gun a bit here. What have you been playing?

BGE: I'm almost finished with the Slaughterhouse. From what i can tell it seems there is only one main area left in the game. Hopefully, I might wrap things up tonight. I don't think I can stomach this game's horrid camera any longer.

Batman: AA. Outstanding game. I am slowly progressing through the story mode, and found out how addictive the Joker challenges are.

The Steam SE week was good to me, with a nice handful of good-to-great games for a ridiculously low price:

$7.58 Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Lara Croft GOL


$3.74 Supreme Commander 2


$7.50 Just Cause 2


$7.50 Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY

Total: $26.32

Not jumping the gun at all. I've been refraining from posting it all day cause I've been bored and staring at either my laptop screen or my TV. I was about to do it anyway.

Me:

CastleVania: Lords of Shadow. The PS3 controller is the only controller I can hold half-way decently at the moment. I've spent A LOT of time with this game this weekend. I will admit it right here, right now: ARCHIE WAS TOTALLY RIGHT. This game is AMAZING. I gave it too much of a hard time at first with the Lords of Shadow of the Colossus comments. You really only fight TWO Colossus sized Golems in the game, and even then, the battles aren't nearly as annoying as I made them out to be when I played it at launch. I was angry cause the game didn't feel like CastleVania to me. I'm STILL not quite sure it does, but that doesn't mean it can't be a GREAT game taken on its own!

Some Observations:

• You can see Kojima's influence throughout the game.
  • The rock-solid, cutscenes tell a dramatic and emotionally charged story.
  • Every single time Gabriel or one of his companions falls or jumps down from a high place, they do the signature Solid Snake "head down, fist to the ground, other arm stretched out behind him" dramatic pose! It actually gets to be kind of funny!
  • The graphics themselves are extremely high quality. They shimmer a bit sometimes in a strange way, but the detail is TOP-NOTCH!
• This game is less CastleVania meets Shadow of the Colossus and --TOTALLY-- more CastleVania meets God of War meets UNCHARTED!
  • The combos are totally GoW. A lot of the attacks mimic Kratos' in nearly identicle ways, down to the button presses and timed QTE's.
  • There's --A LOT-- of climbing up, down and around extremely tall structures; the Combat Cross (Whip) functions as a Grappling Hook and Rapelling Rope, as well.
  • There are --A LOT-- of traditional CastleVania skills you earn throughout the adventure too, though. Besides the various weapons and magics, you get Relics that give you Dashing/Bashing abilities, Punching and Ground Pounding skills and Angelic Wings for Double Jumping. Everything you expect is covered in one way or another.
• You WILL NOT believe the amount of PUZZLES and the clever-nature of A LOT of them! None are too hard, but --WOW-- they throw every video game standard in here and come up with a few NEW ones to boot!
• The game DOESN'T require you to back-track, per-se --BUT-- if you want to have a hope in beating some of the later bosses, you are going to WANT TO go back to some of the previous areas and hunt around for missing Life and Magic Extension Gems and Sub-Weapon Caches. You're gonna need 'em! At the very least, the game provides you with a VERY detailed Map where you can choose Chapters and Sub-Chapters and WHAT'S LEFT to FIND in each. You can also go back and Complete Challenges, which I believe opens Artwork and Concepts in a Gallery, but it is not required.
• The Bestiary is pretty large and the Monsters and Bosses fight VERY well. Every encounter requires strategy and ALL pose a bit of danger if you don't pay attention! In your Log-Book you get treated to typical CastleVania-Style Artwork depicting each enemy and detailing which Sub-Weapon works best against them.
• In the same Log-Book, you also get detailed and artistic Character Profiles and the ability to Purchase New Combat Moves and Relic Attacks.

All in all the game is INCREDIBLY SOLID and VERY well-done! I hope there's a tiny bit more CastleVania flavor to the next one, but as it is: Solid 9 in my book!

**Spoiler Maybe? Archie... I hope the plot isn't going in the direction I think it is going. What was Dracula's Wife's Name...?**

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