Game | CastleVania: Lament of Innocence |
Release | October 21st, 2003 |
Genre | Action Adventure |
Publisher | Konami |
Devloper | KCET |
Time Played | 18:39:59 |
Buy It On | Ebay | Amazon |
Here we go, game number #0002 on the PS2POCALYPSE, the game that was supposed to be game number #0001, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is the first Castlevania released on this generation of consoles, Curse of Darkness was released after this game in 2005.
Unveiling the Gothic Odyssey: Castlevania Lament of Innocence Review – A Journey into Belmont Legacy – The Negative Press -This is the link to what the AI thinks about this game, now we can jump into what I think about this game.
I liked this game a lot all up until finding out that the camera is a motherfucker, then realizing that what I stumbled on was in fact a secret and then I got mad at the fact that the final boss was an unfair spike in difficulty to a relatively easy game. What Curse of Darkness fixed as a sequel of this game was control of the camera and a leveling system. Where this game is better is it actually feels like a Castlevania game. You also play as a Belmont, not some rando that was chilling in the background.
Without any further ado, lets do this shit!
So where exactly does Castlevania: Lament of Innocence take place in the story and what is it about?
Konami is really good at making prequels and then rebooting a series, aren’t they? Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is technically the first game in the series as it is about something that happened prior to Castlevania / Castlevania Chronicles.
This game revolves around Leon Belmont (LEON HELP!!! LEEEON!!, dude reminds me so much of Leon from RE4), Leon’s girlfriend was kidnapped by Mister Nosferatu himself, Peter Steele, I mean Dracula. Leon isn’t too happy that Dracula is trying to have a date at midnight with his girlfriend so he is gonna go in this castle and fuck shit up! Also, what the fuck, Dracula’s name is Walter?
The story is pretty good. There is some good dialogue between Leon and the shop keeper guy,Rinaldo Gandolfi. Rinaldo kinda reminds me of the guy you talk to in Lords of Shadow that is voice by Patrick Stewart. I always think its Sean Connery for whatever reason. I am dumb. The story ain’t bad, the voiceacting ain’t bad. Overall, it ain’t bad.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Story 7/10
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Gameplay
Ok, so upon starting this game you will notice that it feels like an actual Castlevania game. There is some platformer, there is a lot of hidden shit. It’s pretty good damn straight forward. After you talk to the shop guy and you head to the castle you will see that there are 5 orbs on the ground. You will find out that those 5 orbs corelate to 5 different sections of the castle. Each of those 5 sections has a boss. You kill the boss, get the orb. Beat all 5 sections and you get to go fight Dracula… Walter, Walter Tepes? Nope, Walter Bernhard. What the fuck. Well we got a whip because we are a Belmont. We get to whip the shit out of everything again.
The majority of this game is easy. There are some infuriating sections that will piss you off. You unlock some cool power ups along the way that balance the game out, but you will notice that this game really is lacking a cool level system. Instead, you will get health ups and heart ups. The platforming is super strict. The new gameplay mechanic here is that you can whip platforms that are higher up to gain height, much like a double jump, the problem is that in order for it to work the shit has got to be spot on. I mean SPOT THE FUCK ON. The timer they give you for these 3D platforming parts moves faster than a squirrel on crack. You got to do these timed platform parts perfectly. Each section of the castle has its own annoying platform part.
Also, I must point out there is a spot before fighting Medusa that just about killed my brain. Firstly, I smacked the shit out of the statue that was blocking me from getting to Medua’s annoying ass. It did not break. Secondly, the garden can suck a fat one. There is a secret in this game that makes you have to jump on a stunned enemy to then platform upward onto a balcony. The problem is, if you are not paying attention, you will miss it is even there entirely. The camera is set an inch below the platform. There are many crucial points in the game where the camera is an inch below where it should be. The thing that makes me not really get too mad about the platforming is the fact that they do not make you platform over certain death. Konami knew it was Jank.
Now the thing that truly pissed me off. The final boss fights suck. You got to study the shit out of these boss fights. Hopefully you figured out the camera issue in the garden and are ready to go grind for diamonds because you need a diamond for a full heal on this fight. Yep, you read that right. Grind for a diamond. Since this game does not have a level system, leveling is waiting for drops. Drops take FOREVER to happen. I had to grind the end of the game just like Curse of Darkness. That aside I still say this is a good game.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Gameplay 8/10
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence has some replay-abilty as well
upon completion of the game you unlock a few bonus modes and shit like that here is a link to check out what you unlock –Unlocking the Secrets of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence – A Journey into Hidden Realms – The Negative Press (ai wrote this article, I added the unlock table)
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Difficulty
The balance of difficulty in this game is pretty fair. I am going to give it a high rating here but knock it down a few because of the final boss fight. The final boss fight is super annoying.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Difficulty 7/10
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Graphics
Graphically for its time this game is pretty grand. The cutscenes are pretty good too.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Graphics 8/10
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Controls
Ugh, I am gonna give this game’s controls a lower rating because I am including the camera here. Even though you can’t control the camera, I am going to knock this game down on it’s controls due to the camera.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Controls 7/10
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Sound
Contrary to Curse of Darkness this game has some really good voice acting. The OST is pretty good too. Nothing is too memorable though.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Sound 8/10
.The AI gave this game a 70%, I give it
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence Overall Rating
%
Rating
The next PS2POCALYPSE game is #0003 Twisted Metal Black, The Next PSXSLAYER game is #0002 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Lament of Innocence was TV-666EP#PSX-0002-0/2-0002-3/OV3. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness was played before this, Twisted Metal Black is to be played after this.
About the Author: Re_LodeR was born in the 90s and lives in Michigan. Hobbies including complaining about video games and life, Listening to a lot of niche music and enjoying classic flims like Die Hard. This guy is a huge Simpsons fan and likes to watch wrestling.
He can be found on Twitch, contacted on Discord, and you can email him at ReLodeR@thenegativepress.com