Castlevania: Lords of Shadow UK Review

If you've been getting your Belmont on since Castlevania's original outing on NES almost a quarter of a century ago now, Lords of Shadow - Konami's reimagining of the classic series - won't be quite the calamitous case of sacrilege some quarters might have you believe.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Review

Is Lords of Shadow a good, albeit familiar game? Absolutely. But is it truly a Castlevania game? That's ultimately up for the diehard fans to decide. For our money, it's close enough to earn our respect…and to tempt our fangs with the promise of even greater blood-letting in the future.

Engaging visual presentation and design; Intense; fast-paced offensive combat; A rich; substantive campaign roughly 15 hours long; Replayability with hidden areas and additional challenges

Clumsy defensive maneuvers slow combat; Story and design elements borrow too heavily from other games; Doesn't truly feel like a Castlevania title; Excessively expensive power-ups