Review: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate HD (PlayStation 3)
Bridging the gap between Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and the upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is 3DS turned HD remake Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate HD for consoles.
Rather than the 3D adventuring contained within the first Lords of Shadow game, Mirror of Fate HD returns the series to its Metroidvania roots. Ultimately what Mirror of Fate HD does is provide an easy entry point for those willing to try out a side scrolling Castlevania game, which ultimately falls short of Castlevania classics Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance.
The game starts out with Gabriel Belmont leaving his wife to go and do his husbandly duty, which in Castlevania terms is killing every evil doer in his path. Gabriel acts as a tutorial type stage, telling you the basics such as how to jump (it’s the X button, who would have known?), whip, block and counter attack. It serves its purpose wisely, as Gabriel soon succumbs to the evil forces and we are introduced to his grandson, Simon. Simon wakes up from the nightmare of seeing his mother killed by Dracula’s forces before his very eyes, and decides to embark on his path to finish off what Gabriel and his father before him started.
The game is generally standard Metroidvania fare, with a map to uncover, retracking to be done, additional abilities to be gained and secrets to find. For those wanting something along the lines of Symphony of the Night’s expansively detailed maps will be disappointed in what comes across as Metroidvania Lite.
That’s not to say Mirror of Fate HD is a bad game at all, it just falls short of expectations when compared to the classics. The game also heavily babies you for the first couple of hours of gameplay, telling you what would normally be common knowledge (such as earning XP, climbing a ledge etc.) by stopping the gameplay with an on-screen prompt. Though nice for some, it is highly irritating for others. There are also navigation hints all over the map, but you have the option to turn these off, which is nice for purists.
The graphics, upscaled from the 3DS game, do a reasonably good job of telling the story. Cutscenes are cel-shaded, while the gameplay looks somewhat more realistic. Presented in 2.5D, some features come across as a mixed bag, certain enemies look wonderful (such as the Succubus and the Hunchbacks), others come across as uninspiring (such as the Merman). Likewise, the areas around the castle come across as both wonderfully crafted (the Toy Maker’s Workshop) and completely bland (the Library).
What the game does very well is tell the story of how Simon, Trevor, Alucard, Gabriel and Dracula are all connected. I won’t put any spoilers in the review but it’s definitely an interesting perspective. And the chance to play the game from three differing perspectives, those of Simon, Alucard and Trevor, is a unique spin on the series. What would have been nicer if there was a more distinct difference in gameplay between the three characters, as other than a few fancy moves, all movement, attacks and combos are exactly the same between all three.
One major difference contained within Mirror of Fate HD and its 3DS counterpart is the ability to play the game with the D-Pad, which is most welcome for this kind of game. Also removed are the horrible “touch the screen to kill the boss” and “press A repeatedly to open the chest moments”, instead these have been replaced by just simply hitting R2, a welcome addition.
The Verdict
It may sound like I don’t really like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate HD going through the review, but I’m really trying not to convey that. While there are more negatives in general than positives to talk about, the game itself does a good job of returning to Metroidvania roots while bridging the gap between the two Lords of Shadow console games. The game itself controls tightly, and would take roughly 7–10 hours to complete, not including the Boss Rush or New Game Plus modes, not bad for under twenty dollars.
