Product Description

MODEL- 20063 VENDOR- KONAMI FEATURES- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence The long-awaited next generation console debut of one of Konamis classic franchises Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is the series prequel that takes players back to the 11th Century. As Leon Belmont the forefather of the legendary Belmont Clan players must rescue Leons love from the grips of Dracula and his evil minions. Signature Castlevania gameplay is brought to life in stunning 3D as players embark on an adventure of blood-sucking proportions. Set in the 11th Century Castlevania: Lament of Innocence thrusts players ten centuries into the past and casts them in the role of Leon Belmont the forefather of the legendary Belmont. Leon is a nobleman about to be engaged to his beloved Sara. However when his young lover disappears one fateful evening Leon sets out to rescue her. Armed with only a dagger it is not until an unexpected ally an alchemist offers him a protective whip that Leon is ready to begin his hunt. The rich story of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence follows Leon through the perilous forest and into Draculas foreboding gothic Castle. Upon entering the castle players will step into an ethereal world that is guarded by blood thirsty guards and ruled by Draculas wicked whimsy. Players will face five doors - each one leading into a dark area of the castle - the Cathedral the Theatre the Garden the Alchemist Laboratory and the Dungeon. Trekking through hundreds of rooms players will battle over 35 different kinds of enemies before facing the final boss. Fighting tooth and nail in each monster battle Leon must combine his whip and five sub-weapons (Holy Water Dagger Cross Axe and Crystal) to defeat the monsters. Additionally seven orbs can be combined with 10 action relics in order to create powerful attacks and stunning special effects. Featuring a fixed camera and intuitive controls Castlevania: Lament of Innocence delivers a groundbreaking action/adventure experience that is designed...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5869 in Video Games
• Brand: Konami
• Released on: 2003-10-21
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .50" h x 5.25" w x 7.25" l, .37 pounds

Features

• Incredibly detailed 3D gameplay and haunting orchestral soundtrack immerse in the origin stories of Dracula and the Belmont family
• Enhanced new attack system for exciting new combos and super-moves
• Unparelleled graphics combine with the classic Castlevania gameplay for the thrilling introduction of this legendary saga!

From the Manufacturer
From the creators of the renowned Castlevania Symphony of the Night, the legendary series makes its next-gen debut with Castlevania Lament of Innocence. Castlevania's enchanting storyline and legendary gameplay are now experienced through an exciting full 3D environment, combined with incredible graphics and a mesmerizing orchestral soundtrack. Discover the true origins of Dracula and the Belmont family in this exciting first episode of the saga.

Customer Reviews

A triumphant return
Let's get a few things clear and out of the way:
- Symphony of the Night is one of my all-time favorite games, and since I've been playing videogames since the old Atari systems, that's saying alot.
-The jump to 3D play, and I mean GOOD 3D play, was just inevitable, so get used to it. All games are going this way. It's much easier to take advantage of the hardware in a 3D environment.

Now that that's said and done, let's get to the point. Lament of Innocence is, in my opinion, a well made and very fun game. It helps that the design team from Symphony worked on this game. The controls are easy to learn: 2 buttons to attack, 1 to jump, 1 for special weapons, and 1 to block. As long as you can get those buttons down, you can play for quite a while and not have to worry about the others. The new combo system is great, giving you the ability to chain together an entire series of very devastating attacks. If you can master the combo system, the sub weapons can be moved to a USE-ONLY-IF-NEEDED status. The addition of using the whip as a meathod of swinging off poles and rails was a nice touch. Also, the game requires ALOT of exploring and doubling-back to retreive items you couldn't get before. Also, if you think the voice-overs stink, then you can play the game in Japanese with English subtitles.

There are a few caveats, however. The only way to gain magic points is to block a special enemy attack. This can get extremely frustrating, especially if you're surrounded by enemies that are hacking at you, but not performing special attacks. Also, certain areas of the game become inaccessible after the boss is defeated, and you can go back to pick up something you may have missed, some of which can be very hard to find. Also, the real-time window is just plain bad. You could end up getting the snot beaten out of you just for trying to drink some health potion or equipping a different whip.

All the flaws aside, the game is magnificent and a very impressive transition to the 3D format. The storyline is decent, and I think it shows some guts to try to create a prequel to a very famous and recognized series of games.

A Whip for All Seasons
In a sense this game is old hat. The beautiful fiancée of Leon Belmont, a knight crusader, is captured by Walter Bernhard, a master vampire. Leon deserts the crusades and flies off to the castle of the aforementioned vampire. There, after being handed a mystical whip, he penetrates layer after layer of horrible badness until he faces, and hopefully destroys, his true enemy. Which is about all the plot a good third person hack-and-slash really needs.

However, to create such a game with sufficient workmanship to make it compelling visually and challenging mentally and physically is no small feat. And that is what sets Lament of Innocence apart from many of its competitors. For one thing, developers are always tempted to substitute extreme difficulty for interesting challenges. Lament, on the other hand, is just doable enough to keep the player from throwing the controller at the monitor in disgust. And its puzzles can be resolved by keeping in mind that anything can be a tool.

Castlevania isn't perfect. I found that motion control and camera angle are both a little too loose. To some degree this is intentional, but I prefer controls that send objects where they are suppose to go. Especially when you are leaping from stone to stone in a frantic effort to scale a wall and there is one, and only one, spot from which to leap.

One of the problems in rating a game like Lament of Innocence is that it is very good, but falls slightly short of some other, very similar games. In this case I'm thinking of Devil May Cry. This is a case where 5 stars are too many, but 4 are too few. I would recommend both as great examples of their genre that can be played repeatedly.

Finally, a worthy 3D heir to the Castlevania series
Konami's previous attempts to create a fully 3D incarnation of Castlevania until now have failed. The sluggish Castlevania 64 was too ambitious of a project for the Nintendo 64 hardware, and the Dreamcast version was scrapped shortly before it's release for reasons unknown. I can happily report however, that the PS2's Lament Of Innocence successfully ports the series into 3D without losing the elements that make it a great Castlevania game. Everything a Castlevania fan could want is here...fast-paced whip action, plenty of enemies, haunting musical score, beautiful backdrops, a dramatic story, and good voice acting as well. There are a couple of shortcomings though. While the graphics are beautifully detailed, many of the rooms in the game look identical and are too large and barren to be a part of an actual castle. Also, I found that having to pull up a menu to use items/switch equipment can be very tedious during encounters with enemies. Just for the sake of keeping the frustration factor low, I would have liked to have been able to just pause the game to sift through potions, serums, ect. Still, Lament Of Innocence does enough things right to make it worthy of bearing the Castlevania name. It's an excellent 3D platformer no PS2 owner should miss.