Geek-Culture News
E3 2012: Hands-on with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
Posted 4:41 pm on Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 by Chris Del Castillo
I have had a strong stance about rebooting games. For the most part if a series was good, why would they need to change it? And if it’s bad, they might as well try again to make it work. With Castlevania Lords of Shadow, you didn’t even know it was a reboot until you beaten the game. it had new elements that were never in any Castlevania games, and it worked perfectly together. The bigger surprise was that the game was being developed outside by MercurySteam, with Hideo Kojima also working on the project.
*Spoiler ahead for those who haven’t beat Lords of Shadow*
Right before E3 Konami revealed a special trailer featuring Gabriel Belmont fighting an army. He drains the blood out of one guy, awakening his powers. Now that his dormant powers have returned, he can take on nearly anyone.
A stranger appears in the end with white hair who appears to be Alucard, the son of Dracula. Sadly there was no demo for Lords of Shadow 2, just an area replaying the awesome trailer. But Konami had another ace up its sleeve. Under the name Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, nothing was known about the game outside a teaser on Nintendo Power before E3. With Koji Igarashi having developed some of the best Castlevania 2D handheld titles, there were zero clues of what to expect… until E3. Mirror of Fate is also the first 3D Castlevania games for the 3DS (or any Nintendo handheld), and the game mixes elements from Lords of Shadow and the original Castlevania titles. The game uses a 2.5D model for the characters and stages, but Konami plans on adding more 3D elements.
For the story the game takes place 25 years after the events of Lords of Shadow, and Trevor Belmont learns the truth about his lineage; his father, Gabriel Belmont; and his mother’s death from the Brotherhood of Light. Now he vows to get revenge against the man now known as Dracula. The game will also feature his son Simon Belmont and Alucard, who will all fight at different “times.” The demo starts with Trevor Belmont and instantly tosses you into a battle with a large foe. Even though he’s not a boss, he’s still hard to take down. Using the trusty Belmont Whip, Trevor whips his enemy down, dodging attacks and then a quick-time event to finish your enemy off.
Trevor can jump, dash, dodge, air dash while swinging his whip. Double jump and guard give you all sorts of options, but the good old whip has great range, allowing you to stay back and maneuver with ease. Controls were very simple and the stylus does come into play, but not as much. The demo was short, but I got used to the controls, whether it was wall climbing or wall jumping.
I unlocked a few side items such as a boomerang to fight evil with. The demo also teaches you to use the dark powers to strengthen your attacks.
The music was exciting and is comparable to the music in other Castlevania games. The graphics were well done for a 3D Castlevania title on the 3DS. Mercury Steam did a really good job bringing the PS3/360 graphics and gameplay to a handheld system. While Koji Igarashi didn’t have a hand in this, I know I will be playing this when it comes out.
And for those wondering, Mirror of Fate will tie into Lords of Shadow 2.
Growing up Chris watched a lot of the original Saturday morning cartoons and developed a love for arts and animation. Growing up he tried his hand at animation and eventually script writing, but even more his love of video games, anime and technology grew.
