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[Pirate Hearts]

which one is it? Is it the 3D one that looks like GoW or the 2D one where you can view the whole map at once.
The 2D one looked like an indie game (aka not good), we talked about it in the "not worth a new thread" thread

It's the 2D one. It's...not so good. Might be fun with a full group, but I wanted a new singleplayer Castlevania, and it did not deliver on any level.

Also it didn't help that I was playing it on a twenty-something-inch CRT screen, and even on the closest zoom level, it was still hard to see stuff. Gave it another go after I got a big HD TV and it was at least playable, but still not very much fun. It's just not balanced for one player at all.

For what it's worth, the 3D one (Lords of Shadow) was a decent GoW/DMC close. Fantastic art direction and lots of variety in the environments, but poor framerate. Had a couple of cool SotC-like boss battles, too.

[alastair]

This game is awful, the series has basically become shovelware. Was hoping this would be an announcement of a "HD" Castlevania that looks better than SotN.

[C.A. Sinner]

For what it's worth, the 3D one (Lords of Shadow) was a decent GoW/DMC close. Fantastic art direction and lots of variety in the environments, but poor framerate. Had a couple of cool SotC-like boss battles, too.

Lords of Shadow was boring and derivative, it did nothing that other games didn't already do better. Art direction was its only real strong point.

[Ben_Hurr]

This game is awful, the series has basically become shovelware. Was hoping this would be an announcement of a "HD" Castlevania that looks better than SotN.

That's what I was expecting when I read the thread topic

Boy was I disappointed

[kummerspeck]

@ Thernz: But.. but what about Ayami Kojima's fantastic artwork?
Some of the better videogame art I've seen. Very luminescent.

Her art could hardly elevate Castlevania: Curse of Darkness on its pedestal for one of the worst 3D brawlers on PS2. I don't think it was really all that downhill even with the DS titles like Dawn and Portrait but then there were things like Judgment, Lords, this, and a handful of slot machine games. They pretty much replaced the growing stagnancy with ineptitude.

I don't think there will ever be another Castlevania game that looks better than SoTN aesthetically, at least not for a while. Lords' strong point might have been its art direction but even that was mostly derivative. And the DS saga was mostly just incoherent, tepid, or plain terrible in that field, the few exceptions being the Lost Village in Dawn and maybe some areas in OoE.

you could probably argue that most of these games have been okay but they're clearly not good signs of health for the franchise

[JWK5]

Not a great game but not a bad game either. If you've got friends to do private invites with it makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. My biggest complaint with it is that Shanoa is kind of watered down, though it makes her fun to use when playing solo (or when playing the role of treasure-gatherer). Well that, and that there is no DLC or anything for Sypha Belnades and Sonia Belmont.

Maria (DLC) is awesome, and aside from Shanoa (despite the nerfing) she is my character of choice. Her little song she sings can nuke waves of enemies once you get it powered up. She doesn't have a big selection on abilities but the selections she has offers a nice variety.