Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror Of Fate 3DS

Released on 08-Mar-2013

The Belmont family saga arrives on Nintendo 3DS in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate.

Beginning 25 years after the events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Mirror of Fate tells the tale of Gabriel Belmont's descendants as Trevor and Simon attempt to battle their very destinies…

Key Features of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate for Nintendo 3DS:

• Epic 20-hour adventure
• Play as several generations of the Belmont family
• Intense platforming gameplay combining combat, magic and exploration
• Massive boss battles
• Unrivalled 3D visuals

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate brings the action, adventure and excitement of the Belmont family legacy to Nintendo 3DS, in a brand-new story with over 20 hours of platforming gameplay.

Continuing the story that began in 2010's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Mirror of Fate picks up the action 25 years later as Gabriel's descendants – Trevor Belmont and his son Simon – prepare to face their destiny and discover the shocking truth of Gabriel's fate. As Trevor sets off to avenge the death of his mother at his father's hands, Gabriel returns as the powerful vampire Dracula and now threatens to destroy the Brotherhood and anyone else who opposes him, setting the stage for an epic father-son showdown.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate lets you play as three generations of the Belmont family. Play as both Trevor and Simon as they learn more about their family's legacy. Through each era, you can take control of the Belmonts and their unique skills and abilities as they take on Dracula and his minions. You can even take control Gabriel one more time in a new prologue level that takes place before his tragic transformation.

Whichever Belmont you play as, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate dishes up a combination of combat, magic and exploration-based gameplay. As expected, whip combat plays a big part of the action and helps the 'extreme platforming'. Use magic to turn the tide of battle and unload a huge array of combos for action with depth. You can even buy new combos and abilities with the experience you earn in combat.

This combat comes to the fore in the boss battles of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. The battles – and the bosses – are massive in scale, and you'll need to make full use of climbing and traversing your environment, and using all your weapons and magical abilities to take them down.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate also boasts a unique visual style. Continuing the same epic designs seen in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Mirror of Fate offers unrivalled, high resolution graphics and a series of stunning 3D locations as you make your way through the perils, pitfalls and platforms of the castle.

Downloadable copy of Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate Available

Please Note: Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate for Nintendo 3DS is 11,660 Blocks (1.5 GB). Check that you have enough space on your SD Card to download and install this title, if you need more storage space click here for our range of fully compatible SD Cards and how to download.

• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 set for winter arrival

  It seems later this year we'll have a real winter of disc content, with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 the latest game to be added to an increasingly strong line-up of blockbuster titles.

  It's the follow-up to developer MercurySteam's well-liked 2010 hit, and features a blend of classic Castlevania ingredients and new ideas, as Dracula's castle is yanked into a contemporary setting, with a large open-world city to explore.

  Rather than taking a level-based approach, the game's sandbox setting allows for seamless exploration, with a fully manoeuvrable camera rather than the dynamic system of the original game (though that's apparently still an option for those happy to have a more guided, cinematic perspective).

  Despite his brooding nature, Dracula's a fearsome combatant, and has three weapons in his arsenal: a Blood Whip, Chaos Claws and a Void Sword. Rather than using magic, you'll gain blood to power up your abilities from the enemies you defeat.

  Konami then unveiled an epic six-minute trailer, which heralded the return of Patrick Stewart as Zobek and Robert Carlyle as Dracula. A hint of platforming was shown, but the game's focus is very much on its flexible combat system, with skirmishes against a winged warrior in gold armour and a sequence that appears to show Dracula riding an enormous Titan.

  Lords of Shadow 2 is set for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in 'winter 2013'.

  Published: 07/06/2013

• Buy three 3DS games, get one free

  Nintendo is running a generous promotion over the next few months that's sure to be of interest to 3DS owners. Going by the rather self-explanatory title of "So Many Games!" the promotion simply requires you to buy and register three games from a list of eight, and you'll be given a code to download a fourth game from the list absolutely free.

  The games in question are all fantastic as well. Included in the promotion are the following stonkers:

  Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS Version)
  Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
  Luigi's Mansion 2
  Fire Emblem: Awakening
  Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
  Animal Crossing: New Leaf
  LEGO CITY Undercover: The Chase Begins
  Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

  The promotion covers games purchased in store, as well as downloads from the Nintendo eShop. Did you know you can buy Nintendo download codes exclusively from GAME? Well, you can, which just made the promotion even easier for you!

  The promotion runs from April 23rd and all games must be registered with a Club Nintendo account by June 30th to be eligible. You can only take part in the promotion once, and you must claim your free game by July 31st.

  Published: 23/04/2013

• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate - Review

  
  

  

  Through A Glass Darkly

  The Castlevania series has a grand legacy on handhelds. Whether it's the Game Boy or GBA classics, or even the fancy 3D re-workings for the PSP, the Belmont clan have made good on their promise to hunt down undead evil regardless of if you're on the bus, sat on the couch, or stuck on the platform waiting for your evening train to arrive. It's no wonder, then, that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate looks so instantly comfortable on the dual screens of Nintendo's 3DS. After MercurySteam's first Castlevania: Lords of Shadow game hit the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 a few years back, Mirror of Fate sees the series coming home.

  It's a beautiful game, with the 3DS's stereoscopic display rendering Castlevania's gothic environments in three wonderfully spindly dimensions. Levels are atmospheric and colourful, shambling enemies are well animated, and when the action gets really frantic, the camera moves in close, or even tilts round to get a different view of proceedings. Mirror of Fate is a 2D game in terms of actual gameplay, but most of the time you won't realise it. It's one of the best-looking games on Nintendo's handheld, and with titles like Kid Icarus: Uprising out there, that's saying something.

  

  Curse You!

  Mirror of Fate's story is suitably gloomy stuff. Throughout the course of the campaign, you take on the role of various members of the Belmont family as they try to wreak vengeance on the dark forces that have blighted their lives. This involves travelling to a huge, sprawling castle in the mountains, and slugging it out with the mythical beasts that live there. You'll split your time between clambering around complex 2D environments and laying into monsters with your chain and combat cross. The action's pretty simple, but the plot gets confusing fairly quickly. If you come to Castlevania for the story, in other words, you're going to want to take notes.

  You won't have to take notes as you explore the castle itself, though, even though you can drop reminders onto the map when you come up against a secret you can't access just yet. While Mirror of Fate returns the series to its 2D origins, it lacks the intricate nature of previous games in the franchise, which were all about back-tracking around a huge environment. Instead, you'll be busy simply getting from A to B, navigating various ledges, chasms and underground pools as you wait for the next boss fight to present itself.

  

  Getting around feels a little jarring at first, and the controls take a few minutes to settle in. If you've grown up with the smooth platforming of Mario or even Nathan Drake, you're going to find Mirror of Fate a little clunky as you hop from one piece of the level to the next. Once the traversal starts to click, though, you'll be ready for a bit of combat, and this is a much slicker affair, with decent defensive and offensive options and a range of specific nasty tricks spread across the characters you play as. One guy might be able to throw axes at his foes, for example, or summon a ghost who will attack on his behalf. Another, meanwhile, might fire out hordes of bats or slow time to lay on truly devastating attacks.

  Monster Hunter

  The combat's so good, in fact, that it will keep you playing even when the platforming threatens to frustrate, or the lack of decent collectables starts to bore you. The adventure's broken up by a handful of puzzles, but none of these will trouble series veterans, which means it's down to some lavish boss battles to really bring a touch of the old Castlevania challenge to proceedings.

  Overall, then, Mirror of Fate's not quite up there with the series' best moments, but it's still a pretty and very confident game that offers a good few hours of gothic adventuring and monster hunting. If you're a fan of deep, dark castles and the nasty things that gather inside them, you're in for a good time.

  GAME's Verdict

  The Good:

  • Great visuals
  • Decent combat
  • A good long campaign

  The Bad:

  • Platforming can be annoying
  • The story's a bit of a mess
  • Puzzles are too basic

  Published: 13/03/2013

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