Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

Game Overview

Any time a Castlevania game is discussed it always has to be done with a mention of if the game came out before or after Castlevania: Symphony of the NightReleased on the PlayStation in 1997, this game, while not hugely successful in the U.S. at the time, went on to become on the most beloved titles in the Castlevania series.. That pivotal title has cast a shadow over everything that's come since, even for games that aren't really Metroidvania clones. As the success of that game grew (admittedly slowly before fans and critics jumped onto the bandwagon), Symphony producer gained more and more clout in the company, leading him to take over the series and put his unique stamp on many of the games to come since.

In the case of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (known simply as Castlevania in both Japan and Europe), the desire here was to take the Castlevania series and, once again, extend it into the third dimension. Other game series had made the jump to the new format, but Castlevania's previous attempt, Castlevania for the Nintendo 64After a number of titles for non-Nintendo systems, Castlevania’s return should have been marked by much love and enjoyment from the fans. Sadly the first version of the game on Nintendo’s 64-bit console was a flawed game, interesting in places but not the kind of game fans were clamoring for in 1999., was something of a disappointment (and the prequel / director's cut Castlevania: Lament of InnocenceThe first title in the series for the Sony PlayStation 2, Lament of Innocence gave us the first glimpse of the earliest hero in the main series, Leon Belmont, he who first had to engage against the vampires by taking up a magical whip and knocking around the worst foes of the undead world. fared little better). With IGA having overseen two hand-held titles, the decision was made to try out the series once more in the third dimension so that maybe IGA's luck could rub off there as well.

Set long before the adventures of the Belmonts against DraculaThe lead antagonist of the Castlevania series and most famous vampire character in all media, all thanks to Bram Stoker. Based on the historical figure Vlad the Impaler, a vicious ruler of Wallachia in the mid-1500s., Lament of Innocence follows the story of Leon BelmontProgenitor of the Belmont Clan of vampire hunters. Leon was the first to go up against the undead, chasing the evil vampire lord Walter Bernhard to his edifice of evil, all so the hero could rescue his kidnapped lady love, Sara. And, from there, a vow to defeat all vampires when they rose was born., a hero back from the Crusades looking for a little peace and quiet. Unfortunately, an evil vampire, Walter BernhardWalter is the first evil vampire the Belmont clan had to face. A master of dark power and keeper of two powerful stones, Walter lures the brave soldier, Leon Belmont, to his castle with the capture of Leon's fiance, all to play a game of cat-and-mouse for the vampire's amusement., kidnaps Leon's betrothed, Sara TrantoulThe beloved betrothed of hero Leon Belmont, Sara is captured and made prisoner (and eventual vampire victim) of the evil Walter Bernhard all in an effort to lure Leon to the castle for Walter's evil games., forcing the hero to venture into the demon-infested lands around the vampire's castle and find a way to break into the final throne room and take on the vampire for a little vengeance and to kill the demon before he can gain more power.

Setup, by IGA, to act as something of an "origin" for the series (sorry Castlevania: LegendsThe third and final Castlevania game for the diminutive Game Boy, this title took players all the way back to the (at the time) origins of the clan to follow the adventures of Sonia Belmont.), Lament of Innocents looked to setup many of the conventions of Castlevania lore, giving explanations to such things as, "why do the Belmont's have the Vampire KillerThe legendary whip charged with holy magic and created for the Belmont clan to aid in their fight against the forces of darkness. It has been the constant, reliable weapon of the clan through the many generations of their battles. Strong against vampires.?" and "why are they so down against vampires?" In the process it also looked to try and find a way to take the formula of Castlevania and actually make it work in that pesky third dimension.

On that latter front, the game is marginally successful. IGA remarked that working in 2D proved much easier than 3D, and that many of the ideas he from the MetroidvaniaAt the intersection of Metroid and Castlevania lies the exploration platformer genre, the game style with heroes wandering expansive worlds, looking for items to expand their quest, known as Metroidvania. genre he was helping to perfect had to be pared back for this game to make something cohesive to play while still feeling like Castlevania.

The resulting title works in many respects, although it still feels flawed. Although better than Castlevania 64, certainly, the title wasn't up to the same standards, game play-wise, as players had come to expect from the 2D titles. Leon felt stiff, harder to control, and the game's camera often fought the player (and what they were trying to get Leon to do) as they explored the castle. Although the music and sound were great, especially given the solid PlayStation 2 hardware there was a spark missing, leading some to comment that the game felt shallow, maybe like it was trying to serve too many masters without necessarily nailing any of its ideas fully.

What hurts the title more than anything is that it can't quite figure out if it wants to be a 3D platformer or an exploratory Metroidvania game. Many of the RPG elements of the series that were introduced in Symphony of the Night were stripped out in Lament. Leon, though, still had to go back and forth exploring the same chunks of the castle over and over, meaning there was a lot more back-tracking with a lot less in the way of rewards. This was coupled with rooms that felt more like battle arenas (with forced fighting to little benefit), putting the emphasis on the fighting but not giving the players any reason to want to do so (except because they had to).

Some likened the game, even, to Devil May Cry, Capcom's popular action-fighting game series at the time, and it is possible IGA (or the executives at Konami, or both) saw that game and felt they wanted to make their own spin on it. Whatever was the motivation, those that saw a parallel felt that Lament of Innocence didn't nail the game play as well, making for a weaker entry in that genre, although a fine showing in 3D for Castlevania (low bar as that might have been).

The game was successful enough to spawn another 3D attempt later, Castlevania: Curse of DarknessKonami's 3D follow-up to Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, this game featured expanded powers, exploration, and story, marking a deeper, although maybe not better, game., but in the years since this game is viewed as a bit of a misstep itself for the series. It's not as bad as it could have been, but neither is it as good as fans, or critics, really wanted. It's a half step towards something bigger, and only the opening salvo for where the series would eventually go when it committed to 3D action (for good and for ill).

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