Alucard struts a cape pose at Castlevania Lords of Shadow

This is what Castlevania Lords Of Shadow Limited Edition looks like in the flesh:

new and sealed : 

front 

and back

and 

The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Limited Edition comes with: Art book (estimated 30-40 pages) Soundtrack (estimated 18-20 tracks) PS3 game ( 1 game discs) Special Packaging Castlevania: Lords of Shadow takes place at the end of days. The Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been threatened by a dark and malevolent force - the mysterious Lords of Shadow - darkness reigns the world. Across this shattered land, the souls of the dead wander unable to find peace, whilst creatures of evil roam free wreaking chaos and death upon the living. Gabriel is a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent against the supernatural. His beloved wife was brutally murdered by the evil forces of darkness and her soul trapped for eternity. Neither living nor dead she realizes the horrific truth of what is at stake and guides Gabriel to his destiny - and hopefully salvation for the world... but at what cost? Thus, Gabriel must travel the destroyed world, defeating the evil tyrants in order to use their powers to bring balance back to the world. Armed with the versatile Combat Cross - the world's last hope must encounter the three factions of the Lords of Shadow and end their unholy rule.

BUY NOW FROM THEGAMEVEDA EBAY STORE 

or if you are hankering for more there is also 

1 set of a  Castlevania Curse of Darkness + Castlevania Lords Of Shadow Limited Edition

both sealed and new 

again BUY NOW FROM THE GAMEVEDA EBAY STORE 

You know the pose move from the psone classic Castlevania SOTN ? The one where Alucard lifts his cape  and stands with  Adam Ant dandy Highwayman bravado ? Totally useless gamewise but simply one of the awesome touches that make SOTN , especially the Collectors Edition one of the most beloved and revered of games . Well having played the demo of Castlevania Lords Of Shadow I can see Alucard not losing much eternal sleep over the latest Belmont starring iteration of one gamings most respected franchises. 


It [Lords of Shadow]  is great , mind you and I have the Collectors Edition on day one , simply to see what the Belmonts are up to in the Castlevania universe and out of respect for Kojima san and Mercury Steam. Their Lords of Shadow is to Casltevania what the Van Helsing movie was to vampire genre  films ,slick, polished ,expertly produced and enjoyable ... yet not art


Lets be honest ALL Castlevania fans scream for a fully developed [i.e not DLC]  next gen 2.5 d follow up to SOTN , which was not just the greatest  Metroid clone with vampires , but on its way to a fully fledged 2d RPG . With the most beautiful Michuri Yamane soundtrack the greatest in video game history and that`s just on the game menu screen ! 


From the Lords Of Shadow demo it is no way clear that the great Castlevania/ Metroid game mechanics of  backtracking ,  exploration , followed by more backtracking to open initially locked levels and then more of the same + combat with 100s of enemies with uniquely exploitable weaknesses is present. The demo seems squarely aimed at drawing Kratos and Dante fans  replete with shoulder button activated green fonts of health, easy to kill minions, harder mini bosses ,  even harder main bosses and almost impossible combinations of all 3 and errh  animal riding !


To a certain generation Castlevania Symphony Of The Night , Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid are the greatest games ever released , this is also the generation that first cracked the cellophane on  Goldeneye,rumble packs , Mario64 ,Zelda OOT and Shenmue.


None of these games sequels measure up to the original and its obvious why.So we shouldn`t be too harsh on Lords of Shadow!


Each of those games brought something new to very stale genres , not just relying on updated graphics , or hardware , we need something development wise  like this to happen again , but this generation of developers would find it difficult to get the budget and development time that KCE Tokyo [Koji Igarashi,Toru Hagihara,Toshiharu Furukawa] , Sakaguchi san , Kojima san , the Stampers at Rare , and of course  Myamoto san were given by their publishers to produce those classics.


The fans do appreciate such love though as is apparent from the price the UK  collectors edition of SOTN which sells for up to £299 , you won`t find iterations of Halo , Gears Of War or Call Of Duty selling for that much 10 years after release .... Sometimes I consider the only reason I got  Xbox 360 live was to play the dlc version of SOTN!


Let`s remember the  total magic of SOTN is that at the height of everything going 3d , and at a time when Sega Saturn`s were considered the home of 2d games , Konami had the guts to create the finest 2d game EVER on the 3d powerhouse that was the PlayStation. And exploit the CD storage for cut scenes , music, and a massive game play area [you know the one with the twist at the end!] and not flashy lighting fx or transparencies ,well ok there transparencies but only to make Saturn owners feel inadequate about their version!


The nostalgic part of me is quite content that the classics will never be bettered , that is not to say that some genius games designer  won`t come up with something that generates the level of core gamer respect and kudos that Castlevania Symphony of the Night does.Platinum games managed it with Bayonetta and will again with the jaw-flooring upcoming Vanquish , and in the distance there`s Mizuguchi san with  with Child Of Eden...


Before you rush out and buy Lords Of Shadow , make sure you own at least one version of Symphony of the Night , it costs a pittance on Xbox Live,PSN , and if your a collector chase the UK edition which is one of THE most valuable and collectable games with the art book and cd.

    

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