Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2 ~ The Watcher

This had been bugging me for a while now, I knew that some sort of comment was required for such an anticipated game. I loved Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, but sadly felt a little let down by Lord of Shadows 2. Four years we've waited for the sequel with tempting snippets and trailers released at periodic intervals.
Last year they even went so far as to drop Mirrors of Fate on us, a tag along storyline originally for the Nintendo 3DS (Picked up on other consoles later in the year and the PC in March 2014), it followed the storyline of the descendant of Gabriel. Apparently his family were destined to be whiny, angry children hell bent on unknowingly destroying their linage (Who would have guessed?!).

Set in modern times I was eager to see what they did with Gabriel, now known as Dracula. Typically it turns out he isn't as all powerful as he once was, this time they blame the button learning tutorial levels on his 'weaken state'. Honestly, who would have thought a couple of centuries brooding morosely on a throne in an elaborate church could render a demi-god so useless. Enjoy a muted chuckle at the Supreme Lord of Darkness being unable to destroy cars and being bested by an unbreakable iron bedstead.

Using the skill upgrades unlocks moves and the more you use a move the quicker you can upgrade a weapon. Very Darksiders in style and a welcome addition. The Chaos Claws are the only weapon to use against shields and your lovely Void Sword will most likely be relegated to health gathering although purchasing the skill is much more expensive. Health gathering is casual fair, strike a constipated pose to refill from statues or slaughter the portable health packs (which take the form of smaller baddies). If you choose to use the finishing move on an enemy, fellow attackers will helpfully step back and allow you to finish your snacking. A respectful attitude to eating is always welcome.

The game is far from linear, presuming a semi free-roaming aspect. However the well travelled paths and objectives mean you can go in circles and keep ending up in the same room. The puzzle aspect has gone a little over the top and can ruin the flow of the game, prime example being Agreus. A large overbearing goat man with an awful temper, he has a misguided sense of loyalty at his brothers Pan's sacrifice. Deciding the only way to fix his ails is to murder Dracula, you end up trying to avoid stepping on leaves in a leaf filled maze. There is no second chances here, find your way or die quickly.

Other bosses also prove quite tricky; Medusa and her creepy sisters, (give a good portrayal of a glitching graphics card, until the fight begins). Not since Lara Croft have I heard such moaning: 'No patterns', 'I don't care about the tentacles' and the old favourite 'poorly designed weapon switching'... wording has been edited slightly! I should know not to offer help or prompts by now, back seat gaming isn't much fun and could be the end of any number of relationships. The weapon switching is rough if you're using a keyboard and mouse, far too much to remember for my taste. In general if your stuck, dead or dying the game loading screen offers relative tips. Read the game prompts to avoid excessive back seat gaming and anger.

Tying in from the Mirrors of Fate; Dracula's son also plays a surreal part in the game, demanding you collect pieces of broken glass for him to play with. Having been such a great parent so far, you obviously agree to collect the 'toys'. This award winning behaviour gains you the chance to follow a wolf into the dark, where you will hear voices and move between alternate times. If you think it sound ridiculous, you could be right! Though the idea seems very much like some of Prince of Persia.

Being Dracula you would think any transformation you undertook would result in a bat form and you'd be wrong. In avoiding the stereotypes you now have the ability to turn into a rat, but only in predestined areas and for the purpose of puzzle based sneaking. Who decided a rat was a good idea? If I want to watch something crawling through ducts I'll insist on Batman being played again! However on the plus side if you meet with an untimely end in rat form you'll just hijack the nearest rat for a body swap.

Being a fan of Patrick Stewart's gorgeous voice I was disappointed to find the narrative limited, perhaps it was deemed as unessential or budget cuts took effect. It was a mistake. The sweeping music and his voice made the loading screens enjoyable and added to the storyline immensely. I also felt that Robert Carlyle received less narrative this time round, with less effort and less emphasis on the character development. Two of my favourite actors, destined to never be out of fashion, seemed to have had most of the potential audio cut. This was obviously intentional and, to reiterate: a mistake.

The game was good, honestly enjoyable, but not a patch on the first. The alleged free roaming is confusing and the storyline too jumbled with excess. The baddies either similar, or identical to, previous games and the puzzles made it unwatchable. The jump to modern times was not handled as smoothly as I would have hoped and bouncing between realities can leave you a touch dumbfounded. Why was it was deemed such a good idea to mix three realities with three story lines,  did they believe we'd be so grateful we wouldn't care?