Can it be? A game worth having on the ailing Nintendo 3DS? While I’m keeping mine solely as a Pokemon machine right now (PI PIKACHU!), it looks like the latest Castlevania game might be worth blowing the dust off of that handheld console for. Here’s what the critics are saying so far.
Videogamer hit the game with a high score of 90, praising the retro charm and combat inherited from Lords of Shadow:
Its mixture older-style exploration with LoS’ combat results in not only a truly great Castlevania game, but also a great action title and one of the best offerings on Nintendo’s console.
Carrying on with the positive results, Game Informer snapped a pretty high score, whipping 85 onto the latest Castlevania game and saying that it was high time that the franchise had finally managed to move away from the Symphony of the night template set so many years ago:
Mirror of Fate is a worthwhile endeavour for any 3DS owner, and should make Castlevania fans consider picking up the handheld if they don’t have one already. The impressive cutscenes flesh out the Lords of Shadow fiction with fun twists, and should be required reading before Lords of Shadow 2 arrives.
Lower on the review score totem though, came EDGE, who awarded the title a pretty respectable 70. Lamenting the complex story while praising the fluid combat:
Three times the protagonists gives you three times the number of toys and an engaging, if thoroughly convoluted, story, but it’s not without cost. What Simon, Trevor and Alucard give to the mechanics and narrative they take from its flow: you still feel gated, even when you’ve got all the gear.
The lowest score so far though, came from Games Beat, who say that the latest Castlevania is a difficult slog that fails to capture the charm of the original Lords of Shadow game:
Castlevania isn’t brutish — it is a test of your agility and your willingness to overcome nearly impossible odds. Mirror of Fate really wants to dazzle you with clever puzzles and name dropping fan-favorite characters, but it can’t emulate the soul of the series.
As for everyone else, here’s a look at their scores:
- Official Nintendo Magazine UK – 92
- Vandal Online – 85
- Metro GameCentral – 80
- Eurogamer – 70
- EGM – 65
- GamesRadar – 60
- IGN – 47
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is out locally on March 8.
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