Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at IGN.com
The E3 demo for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow starts in the rainy village from recent trailers, where Gabriel has come to find leads regarding whereabouts of a powerful entity with answers to haunting questions. As Gabriel rides up on his horse, he sees a number of villagers leaving the town; once Gabriel enters the village square, he finds out why, as waves of werewolves attack.
The demo went through Castlevania: Lords of Shadow's control basics, which should be familiar to anyone who's played a God of War or similar title in the last few years. You've got your strong attacks and your light attacks, your grab, and a button for Gabriel's subweapons. This demo only included the dagger subweapons, which behaved exactly as any Castlevania fan would hope, flying speedily toward their targets in rapid succession.
Many games have tried to pull off the character-action schtick and failed. It's all about responsiveness and weight, which is where games like Ninja Gaiden, God of War, and Dante's Inferno (to a degree) succeed. There's a sense of impact and resistance when you hit things in those game; the characters have weight. Thankfully, Mercury Steam has a handle on that dynamic, and combat in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow seems pretty successful so far. Combos are intuitive, and I never felt like I was stuck in my attack animations. Mercury Steam also seems to be doing a good job of mixing up stronger mini-boss creatures with fodder enemies.
While Castlevania: Lords of Shadow looks a bit rough right now, with a framerate that was all over the place and some low-poly character models here and there, it's still managing a very strong Castlevania vibe. The atmosphere is particularly strong, and the violence and gore that's only been sort of hinted at over the years in Castlevania was much more present in Lords of Darkness (particularly in the quick-time sequence that had me impale a giant werewolf with a wooden post).
My battle in the town square was followed by a semi-scripted chase sequence, as Gabriel rode a magical horse (yes, a magic horse) while being pursued by werewolves riding bigger werewolves (it wasn't as silly as it sounds, I assure you). The demo ended shortly after, and I was genuinely surprised to find that I was a little sad things were over so quickly. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is in good shape, and with a fair bit of time left before its recently announced late 2010 release, I'm bullish on it turning out to be a fitting rebirth for the venerable franchise on consoles.