Castlevania and I have had an interesting history. Poll five random Castlevania fans about their favorite game in the series and four of the five will name one for GameBoy. I’m that last odd one who loved the Nintendo 64 game and disliked the two dimensional versions.
So once I opened Mirror Of Fate I had a feeling it was going to be another two dimensional game that would be a snooze fest. Thankfully, I was mistaken, as I was pulled right in by the story, and came to enjoy the gameplay too. From the very beginning, I was also intrigued by the masterfully done graphics. Also, as a neat point to note, during the tutorial I got to use Simon from the first Lords of Shadow game on the major consoles.
The game started outside Dracula’s castle where the game walked me through the basic controls of how to guard, counter and the like. Konami did a great job with the levels and drawing up the scenery. During the whole tutorial I was playing two dimensional, but felt like the game was in 3D without turning the lever on.
Mirror of Fate has an interesting storyline to it as you are the son of Simon from the first Lords of Shadow. You are never told what happened to your father although you the player know he became Dracula. In an interesting storyline you play as multiple people in the same place and piece the whole story together from there. Overall it was very interesting and well done.
During certain boss battles the camera will change angles which really adds to the intensity of the already pulse pounding boss battles. These camera angles include a close up shot of you and the boss going at each other. What Konami did there was nothing short of beautiful.
The graphics are overall great. There are some issues in the cutscenes with the mouth just opening and the voice carrying on. While this is no major flaw, I am rather disappointed that a little extra time couldn’t have been spent to avoid this issue to begin with.
However, the audio makes up for it with an amazing score that really blends well with the game and changes fluidly when combat is entered. The voiceover work was top notch and the sound effects were great, especially the sounds with the grappling chain.
The 3D in this game was pretty good. In short bursts the 3D really adds to the title and makes the experience unique. However, after swinging a bright whip around for a few minutes it will start to agitate your eyes and makes it harder to play. Nevertheless the 3D is drastically improving from when I first got my 3DS, which says a lot about both the console and the fact that developers have learned to use it more effectively.
Overall, Mirror of Fate is another solid installment in one of the longest running franchises to date. Even if you never played, or in my case never beat, the first Lords of Shadow you can still enjoy this Mirror of Fate.
In fact, Castlevania Lords Of Shadow: Mirror Of Fate earns a very high 4.5 GiN Gems. Some of those aforementioned four out of five people will probably change their answer now, and point to this one as their new series favorite.