Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate for Nintendo 3DS Reviews by Gamers

This game's story was written by some drug addict who obviously didn't know the story of Castlevania! Leon Belmont lived in the 11th century! Which was 1001-1100
Gabriel belmont is supposedly his son which would put him in the same time period! Trevor Belmont lived in the 14th century which would be 1301-1400, a hundred years later 1401-1500 Simon Belmont lived and fought Dracula and he returned a hundred years later to fight dracula again in 1501-1600!! Fifty years later Juste Belmont Simon's grandson had to fight against dracula in order to save his freinds! and then near the end of the 1700's close to the 1800's Richter Belmont fought dracula and five years after that Alucard awoke to recue Richter from a mind controlled effort to bring Dracula back again. Now here comes the Lord of Shadows series to screw everything up!!!! You can't just discard what is canon and expect to be taken seriously!!! The Lord of shadows series is an abomination on Castlevania as a whole! Thanks to the folks at mercury-steam the castlevania series is going down the drain and this games story is proof of it! The castlevania franchise needs to return tro its roots; AS IN ROOT-CANON!!! The lore of castlevania is quite rich and epic it doesn't need to be rewritten for five year-olds who don't understand or comprehend time! They have made dracula into a laughing stock, and they have insulted the legacy of the Belmont family(sigh). As a fan of the old series I am insulted by this re-invented story. The graphics are quite good which is what adds to the Tragic factor(not to say that there is anything wrong with the old school graphics mind you)! This game becomes a joke at times story wise, and some of the laughs seem to be intentional, but the rest aren't.. Gameplay starts solid, but quicktime events ruin it! This isn't God of War people! This is Castlevania, so take your quick-time events elswhere, and quite trying to ruin the canon of caslevania! Try before you buy, you are warned!

I don't think this game would be as interesting as it is if it wasn't Castlevania. Anyway, it's a fun hack 'n slash game but nothing more. Overall I give the game a 7/10, it seems appropriate. I recommend trying it out if you haven't already.

Mirror of Fate fails to live up to the expectations established by Lords of Shadow. Keeping in mind the game is meant to be a tie-in between the original and the sequel, it offers little in the way of actual new story or new gameplay mechanics. It is in essence a much simpler version of Lords of Shadow. Breaking it down by parts, the controls lack the polish needed to compete on a system that thrives on it's strong platformers. The combat is incredibly simple and usually just comes down to button mashing Y. Graphically and musically the game doesn't have any moments that really grab your attention. One of the defining characteristics of the Castlevania Series has been the challenge they offer, a challenge that is sorely lacking here. Every other room seems to have a full health and mana fountain, and if somehow you die you will respawn in the room likely a foot from where you died. On top of that bosses have phases so if you beat one part of the boss and die, you start on the next part of the fight. As a whole the game doesn't do anything badly, but it definitely doesn't do anything well and at about 8-10 Hours for full completion it really doesn't offer any replayability. If you enjoyed Lords of Shadow and are looking forward to the sequel it's a good way to pass the time. If you are looking for a good Castlevania just play Lords of Shadow or Symphony of the Night.

at least for me the point of gaming is to have fun and this latest Castelvania was a lot of fun. I was surprised because i did not like the last one but this one is good looking, plays well and although it can get a little tedious if you play too many hours in a row, is really a lot of fun.

recommended

Mirror of Fate has a lot to live up to being a 2D handheld Castlevania game. There has been years of great Metroidvania titles that came before that will no doubt be in people's minds as they play through the game. And while it's admirable that Mercury Steam wanted to do something of their own, it's a hard sell to the portable Castlevania devoted.

The main issue is telling the stories through three characters, but never really letting the player sink into any one of them. As soon as you find all of the gear for one character, you're moved on to the next.

The final act of the game is the strongest, but again, due to such a short amount of time with the characters, you're left wanting more by the time the credits roll.

A focus on only one character would have made the game feel better as well as an option for an entire castle map. Only getting the map for the section that you're currently in is rough. Especially when you're trying to get 100% completion.

As you might know the next Castlevania Lords of Shadows game will be releasing for the 360 and PS3 in an upcoming future. If you've seen the trailer you know there are characters like Alucard featured in it. Well you won't really get to know Alucard and Simon further until you play this game. And it's a very solid game at that.

Positive:
-Metroidvania- sidescrolling Metroidvania titles are a classic, and this one tries to bring back the days of past. And it does a solid job at it. Not perfect but solid.

- Characters- Simon, Alucard, Trevor and Gabriel are fantastic characters. They all have that thick scottish-like accent that makes them even more b to the a.

-Combat: The combat can definitely be fun once you reach later levels and unlock the cooler maneuvers in the game.

-Graphics: I forget this is a 3DS but this alongside the 3D makes for a very beautiful game, and the cellshaded cutscenes are fantastic.

Negative:
- Backtracking: This is more of a personal preference but if you're gonna make somebody backtrack quite a lot, at least make it so it's not terribly far away, or make it an option. I found myself backtracking quite a lot and it got annoying at times.

-No multiple items- Basically each character gets two magical powers and two items. It'd be nice to able to choose our items instead of having each having their own.

-Some of the boss fights- A couple of the BF are kind of cheap. As in not too terribly fun

Meh:

-The 'twist'- there's a twist in the story and the established idea of characters in here, outside of Simon being Trevor's son. It's hinted pretty heavily since the beginning so I don't know who they were trying to misdirect.

-Alucard- He has the weakest/most useless magic powers. His is the hardest playthrough due to how bad they are.

Conclusion- A solid title worth playing if you liked LoS and are looking forward to the sequel.

Buy/Rent- I'd say rent. I've invested about 5 or 6 hours and I'm 2/3 done with the ga

Fans of the Castlevania franchise will enjoy this title. The story and gameplay are superb and I experienced no glitches. This is the best Castlevania game I have played in years and surpasses Lords of Shadow easily. For 3DS fans, this is one of the best titles I have played yet on the 3DS and I would definitely put it in my top 3 3DS games to come out yet.

This game is pretty good but a huge problem is that if you play it more than, like, a day, it gets boring. There are just more monsters and more and more and more and it gets a bit tedious after a while. I would give it a 6 out of 10, because while the fun of it doesn't last a very long time, it is good while it lasts. Don't play it frequently, but worth your time.

At first I was turned off because it did not feel like a Castlevania game but it turns out it was not trying to be like the rest.....In that note, I would have to say it was a great experience almost felt like I was playing Metroid with its own feel to it. I could not put the game down after an hour of play you will enjoy this game if you give it a chance to show its personality ;)

what can I really say about this game other than WOW!! the 3D effect was simply jaw dropping, and the graphics would make the PS VITA blush. The story was entertaining and it made me just want to keep comming back. sadly tho, this game is a side scroller and the 3DS XL handles sides rollers about as well as a blender handles rocks, my advice, don't expect to be amazed by the graphics or frame rate when playing on one of those. I also wish I had been able to controll my character with the D-Pad, but I guess it's a small loss. All in all, buy this game, and if you are still not sure, rent it from gamefly and then buy it from their website, because they have some great deals. I hope this review helped, and P.S., I am sorry for sounding a bit prejudiced againsed the 3DS XL, because it really is a great system, it just can't do side strollers like this. Thanks for listening and have a great day.

A lot of reviewers (I'm looking at you, IGN) Never gave this game a fair shot. This may not be the classic Castlevania game you were hoping for, but by no means is it a bad game. I absolutely loved it!

It blends some fun platforming with a 'God of War' style fighting system that's as deep as you want it to be, and the groups of enemies are constantly changing and keeping you on your toes.

The 3D effect is staggering and has seemingly no impact on the framerate, which sadly is a bit on the slower side but is completely playable. The graphics themselves are quite stunning on the handheld, and animations are normally quite smooth.

All in all, this is a game you need to try if you're a fan of Lords of Shadow.

I'm a die hard Castlevania fan, especially of the 2D versions. Lords of Shadow was an entertaining story, but the gameplay didn't feel Castlevania. Despite some poor reviews, I really enjoyed Mirror of Fate. It isn't Metroidvania, and it isn't Lords of Shadow either, but a mix more in line with 1 through 4. The game took me about 10 hrs to beat at 100% on normal. If you realize a lot of "hidden" things you'll actually have a chance to get on the way to get something else instead of immediately going back for that door or ledge, the game will be faster. Also there's a new game+ or a chapter selector to speed up the completion time if you want. My new game+ on hardcore took about 4 hrs. Bottom line, there is limited replayability, so this is a definite rent, but I wouldn't buy. Here's to hoping for a 3ds SOTN remake!

The game didn't take more than 2 days to finish, but I wanted to play through again as soon I finished it the first time. You can play through Lords of Shadow on console and jump right into Mirror of Fate and not feel like you are losing anything. The controls feel the same (tight) and it is easily the best looking 3DS game out there.
The people that are being so hard on this game in other reviews are the ones that are so bent on other game franchises that they cant stand to see a portable game crush all the console stuff coming out atm.

The pre-order insentives (a sticker+cheap 3DS case) were less than amazing though...

I have not beat it yet and I will NOT SPOIL the game and will make it simple. This game has amazing graphics for a 3DS game and if you turn on the 3D you actually feel like objects are going to hit you at time and make you jump back, something I have not personally felt with a 3ds game to date. The voice syncing is kind of pathetic. They failed at matching lips with words. The game play is awesome and there are unlockable skills and three playable characters that keep it fun and exciting. The story is great, but as other reviewers have pointed out, it can be a little predictable, but with a couple of small twists as well. Anyways, I give this game a 7.5, great game, minor syncing issues, predictable story, but everything else impresses me.