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GI Reviews: Castlevania LoS 2 - 6.0, LR:FFXIII - 7.0, DKC:TF - 9.25

This new issue of GI has the first review of Castlavania Lords of Shadows 2 and they gave it a 6.

Here are the other reviews:

Donkey Kong TF - 9.25
Tomb Raider Definitive - 9.25
FF Lightning Returns - 7
Broken Age Act 1 - 8.5
Bravely Default - 8
The Banner Saga - 8.5
OlliOlli - 8
Danganrompa - 8.5
Dr. Luigi - 8
Repubilque - 7.5
Dragon Ball Z Battle of Oz - 7
Joe Danger Infinity - 8
Nidhoog - 8
Fable Anniversary - 8


Catlevania: LoS 2:
  • Claims nearly every attempt this game makes to "stray from its fundamental kill room formula ends in failure".
  • Reviewer loved the first game, said "Unfortunately this sequel is as fresh as a whiff of garlic breath".
  • Good new combat mechanics but enemies stun locking you out of combos from across the map while you fight with the camera.
  • Reviewer hates the modern setting, its filled with generic alley ways, factory levels.
  • Says there was one stealth segment that was the worst of its class. The more traditional Castlevania settings are better.
  • Says there is one great level with the toy maker, outside of that most of the game is just ground previously covered in the first game.
  • "This shambling monstrosity is composed of chunks from other, better games"

DK Tropical Freeze:

  • Seems like generic worlds, ice, beach, jungle but "the variety is amazing"
  • Ride minecarts through saw mills, dash through a forest with a raging fire, etc.
  • Great difficulty balance, bonus stages are a bit ridiculous in difficulty though that is expected.
  • Water levels return, are very fun, better to control with analog stick than d-pad. For some reason you have to access the menu to pick one or the other.
  • Dixie and Cranky add new moves that work best to reach certain collectibles or specific platforming challenges. Rotating barrels allow you to select the best Kong for the job.
  • "Local Co-op is as much a mixed bag as the first installment."
  • 6 worlds instead of 8 in the last game. But each level is larger. Reviewer says it rather have a smaller collection of the best levels Retro can make than a more bloated game with less quality levels and that is exactly what this game does.

FF Lightning Returns:

  • Worst of the Lightning series but not a bad game.
  • Real time combat makes battles feel more about skill than feel automated.
  • Game has easy and normal difficulty choices, cant change once you start the game. Its a hard game so the reviewer says to be afraid to choose easy.
  • That said the reviewer states the challenge of normal makes the battles thrilling.Says there is flexibility in the combat and battles are exciting.
  • Biggest change is the time system, all you have is 13 days, has its drawbacks.
  • Forces you to plan your time accordingly which can lead to entertaining time management.
  • Doesn't allow the time to delve into certain gameplay systems, like killing a species of monsters off for great loot. That needs lots of grinding which you cant do much of.
  • Many side quests are poor dull fetch quests that have annoying restrictions like only happening in a certain time of day.
  • You are forced to do quests cause that is how you level up. Cant choose how you level up each quest assigns the upgrades.
  • Fighting still matters as it gets you money and EP used for spells.
  • Calls the story a joke, feels like a non-canon spinoff that would be in a comic
  • Says this game swapped out systems that worked in past games for some that don't hit the same high notes.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
This means nothing. Hype levels still at max.
 

shwimpy

Member
Yikes...

this or Thief just got a little more interesting. maybe neither now.

Thief review by any chance?
 
"This shambling monstrosity is composed of chunks from other, better games"

Well so was the first LoS.

Looks like it was too ambitious to be anything more than a well-executed Western-mythology-skinned God of War clone.

Modern setting bugs me too. The environments in LoS were incredible.
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
giphyf6fgj.gif
 

TheMan

Member
yikes- getting knocked out of combos and generic factory levels are the worst offenses out of those listed.

edit: i take that back. forced stealth is a terrible idea and I fucking hate it when developers shoehorn that stuff in. it's all bad. shut it down and cancel the release like it was watch dogs wii u.
 

Revven

Member
Not sure why anyone expected anything better. Seems about the right score (going off of the first game and then thinking of what they were showing of this game so far), curious about what others will say.
 

Neiteio

Member
Hmm... Well, my priority in February is Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. This was the other game I was anticipating, though. I'll wait for GAF to chime in. Game Informer gave both Metal Gear Rising and TW101 some mediocre scores, if I recall correctly, so who knows.

The soundtrack will be good -- of that much I am certain!
 

hal9001

Banned
For comparison they gave:

MGR Revengance 7.75/10

The Wonderful 101 7.5/10

Edit:
I know you cant compare becuse of different reviewsers and such but I'm just being bitter because this was one of my most anticpated games and the previews looked good.
 

Derrick01

Banned
I'll bring my post over here

I just finished reading it and the only thing that really stood out to me are complaints about stealth sections. I knew there was one really early on but apparently there's at least a couple more.

Honestly there's really not many more details on why the writer didn't like it despite claiming to love the first game. There's some stuff about a couple generic looking modern areas but that's mostly it.

It's a pretty damn vague review.

BurnOutBrighter said:
Well so was the first LoS.

Exactly and many loved it....including this reviewer!
 

Jigorath

Banned
Welp, maybe now Konami will give the franchise back to Igarashi so we can have good Castlevania games again. I need my metroidvania fix.
 

Beth Cyra

Member
This sounds about how I largely felt about the first game. Well aside from the Present day setting.

I still want to know what happens with Alucard and why they ruined a good Satan design. Got to say though, even after my hatred of the 3DS game, filling it with hallways and factories is just sad.
 

-MD-

Member
I just played through the first one and it wasn't anything special. My interest in the sequel is already pretty low but if these shit reviews keep up I'll probably just skip it entirely.
 
Not going to pass judgement yet but I will say that the few modern day sections seen so far did seem heavy on the alleys and factories angle so I can see that being a valid point, likewise I expect middling things from the stealth.
Still I feel they'd have to have messed up in a significant way to be weaker than the original outing which had its moments but felt all over the place in quality, should be interesting to see more reviews for this one.
 

gioGAF

Member
My fears about the possible blandness of the modern day setting sections are not being alleviated after reading the OP :-(
 

Allonym

There should be more tampons in gaming
This means nothing. Hype levels still at max.

YES!!! Finally a free thinker. Don't let another's opinion dictate if you will like or dislike a game. Think for yourselves. I sound patronizing but it's the truth, too many people miss out of games they may love because they rather someone else dictate where they spend their money. Some times we have to take risks.
 
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