... why did you post this at 2AM?

I'm sorry guys... but I couldn't even stand the demo of this, it was near unbearable to finish it. Just like Lord of Shadows this isn't a bad game, but this sure isn't Castlevania. It felt more like playing a side-scrolling, gothic God of War that just happened to have a few multiple paths. The catchy tunes and beautiful visuals weren't there, and without those whats the point? The only thing this game really shared with Castlevania is it controls like one of the NES games. It's very sluggish and you have little to no control the moment you jump. Wow, that's a sale right there, right? haha

What a terrible night to play this game.

Hmm looks interesting I really need a good new 3DS game :) I also need to play Lords of Shadow

FOOL!

Is that the doctor from AC2?

Good video, very well produced Jason/Ben.

Thanks, guys! After seeing reviews of this game from many website, the reviews are all over the place. GI said it's an 8, IGN said it's a 4.7, Edge Magazine said it's a 7/10, and more. Metacritic also says that it has a 71/100. It's pretty hard to decide if I should get it or not. The demo was REALLY fun, though.

Nice Test Chamber!

I hope they do make a proper Castlevania 2d game. 1) I'm not a fan of this 2.5D crap 2) Why is Rayman the only game that can bring back proper 2D especially on a handheld console who's graphics are only slightly better than a PS1 since this game reminds me why I'll never get a 3DS and was arguably the biggest annoyance I had with the PSP and that was the jagged lines. 3) a big reason why I don't play modern games is because it is over saturated with western titles and we just don't make fun or interesting games. I've tried Uncharted and hated it. I miss my good Japanese titles which seem to slowly be dying out. God of War was fun for a second and then just got annoying and repetitive and I suck at FPS to the point of it not being fun and have never gotten better (except maybe with slower paced games like Syphon Filter where you have more time to line up your shots, then I'm not awful but not great). It just seems that all we have are terrible Adventure games with awful stories that are either too "crazy" (like your Assassins Creed, where it tries too hard to be deep and political) or too cliche (Uncharted) or just bastardizes the classics (God of War, yeah lets just make it bloody as hell and call that a great story).

I swear I comment on every Castlevania story...Just read the review and am glad it shaped up well. I love Lords of Shadow and it was one of my favorite games of that year. To be honest, I'd like more of a return to the simplistic but badassnessof Super Castlevania IV. The feel of stomping through a castle sans the Metroid-y ness. Don't get me wrong, Metroid is my second favorite game series of all time followed closely by Castlevania, though that sort of focus and lack of rpg elements is something I kind of miss. Felt more badass when you couldn't just grind yourself stronger and are mercilessly slaying all in your path while trudging to Dracula's throne room without meandering to gather artifacts. The slaying enemies outside the castle and then making it inside was always cool to me. Basically Super Ghouls and Ghosts.

P.S. - How do you fellas go about recording handheld footage.

Detailed graphics? MGS2 had better character models!

Of course I'm getting this game. The demo was awesome.

I think Tim summed it up.  This is not what I wanted.  I wanted another Symphony game as loved those GBA/DS entries.  This just feels bland and generic.  The graphics look rough and they never mentioned the music which is legendary in the Castlevania series.  The exploration and combat just appear mediocre and the aesthetics and color palette are bland.

I am very disappointed by the direction they went letting the underwhelming console entries invade the excellent handheld offerings.

doesn't look great

People seem to take a lot of stock in titles. The only thing a game needs to be a Castlevania game is the word Castlevania followed by an obtuse subtitle. That brand's certainly more consistent than the Mario series. I don't see anybody crying foul that Mario Tennis isn't a real Mario game. Lords of Shadow was a quality game with a strong interpretation of a previously impenetrable storyline, even if it took more influence from God of War's style of gameplay than previous Castlevania entries. It works well at what it is. There are already plenty of games that take influence from Symphony of the Night. It's okay to have a few that do something a little different. It's also nice to be able to look forward to these sequels for story reasons and not just dungeon crawling. Hopefully it's as fun as GI says and not IGN.

Don't mean to be contradictory but the game looks and feels average in the video.  Granted, I wanted Castlevania Castlevania, not this version Castlevania.  Looks like another polarizing one.

I may be being harsh, but that first boss fight was boring as hell and tedious to boot.  And then we have quick-time events, the hallmark of great game design.  I'll be happy when they move on from this Lords of Shadow stage.

Your my hero Tim. Everyone is stuck whining about how this isn't an iga-vania. And it isn't supposed to be. MercurySteam took the game in a new direction, and having been a Castlevania fan since the first NES release~ I'm happy with this title. IGN is retarded.

The game looks awesome and the demo felt great when I tried it. My only concern is game length and replayability. I know Tim gave it a "Moderately High", but I'm wondering what exactly that entails. That's pretty much the only thing holding me back from picking this up this week.

The gameplay looks cool. I just wish I had 3DS XL, lol. Maybe a bit later this year.