Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Lords of Shadow does feel fresh for a Castlevania game, but much of it will be familiar to anyone who’s played God of War, Bayonetta, Tomb Raider, and/or Uncharted. Oh, and Shadow of the Colossus. If ever a game could fit the term pastiche, LoS jumps in and wears it like a glove. It does bring some new ideas to the table, and it does everything – from the graphical details, to the music, to the ludicrously epic boss fights – with passion and finesse. One bandwagon it hasn’t jumped on is the trend for games to be easy these days.

While it takes some time to find its own identity, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a solid Gothic action game that is competent in all areas - but never outstanding in any of them. There are occasional moments of brilliance, but they are few and far between. It's never really bad (except for the Titan's Graveyard level), but it's never really great, either. That said, it looks really, really nice.