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Add to SafariWhen comparing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 vs Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, the Slant community recommends Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best hack and slash PC games?” Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is ranked 13th while Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is:
The game has interesting, multi-part boss battles. A lot of character to the fights is added by the impressive, grotesque boss monster designs.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Grand boss fights
The game has interesting, multi-part boss battles. A lot of character to the fights is added by the impressive, grotesque boss monster designs.
Pro Impressive, flowing combat system
The game has a visceral, impactful free-flow fighting system that emphasizes counter-attacks, dodges and stringing combos with a variety of weapons and moves.
Pro Fun combat
You'll immediately notice how nice it feels to attack the enemies with each slash, strike and shot having an impact behind it. Enemies will flinch, get thrown back and get suspended mid-air from your attacks, making it feel like you're always the dominant force. It's especially amusing seeing an enemy flail about and slamming it into the ground with your demonic arm.
Some of the stylistic elements add fun as well. The prime example is Nero's greatsword the Red Queen, which is equipped with a motorcycle-like gear shift. You can use the gear shift mid-combo to add a flame effect to your sword. This increases your damage and the range of your combos and also looks very nice. It's especially awesome to see your character ascend in a whirlwind of flames.
Pro Great soundtrack
Most of the battle music has the lyrical styling of progressive rock while mixing in dark electronica guitar riffs. It matches the rhythm and speed of the battles really well, spurring on your combos and devastating attacks.
The exploration sections and cutscenes have an entirely different style of music. It ranges from divine vocals accompanied with organ music to eerie pieces with harp and piano sounds creating a bone-chilling ambience.
Pro Highest level of combat depth in any hack and slash game
An open-ended cancelling system (Jump Cancelling) stacked with individual character mechanics (Dante styles and style/weapon switching, Nero ACT and parries, Vergil being Vergil, Lady and Trish are the weakest in terms of combo-ability of the 5 but you can still style with them) and system physics create a combat masterpiece that rewards practice and creativity.
Pro There's a bunch of stuff to do even after beating the game
You can replay the game on higher difficulties, try to find all the hidden missions or collect all the upgrades. You can even try to get the max style rank on all the missions. Doing any of these will award you extra collectibles or unlock new modes.
There's also the The Bloody Palace, which is an arena consisting of 101 levels. Each level contains enemies and bosses found within the main game. The first few levels are quite easy, but each level becomes increasingly more difficult. Only the most skilled players can reach the end, giving you another goal to strive for.
Cons
Con A departure from Castlevania series in key areas
Some aspects of the game are considerably different from the previous Shadow game. For example, combat is a lot more God of War than Castlevania and boss fights are a lot more Shadow of Colossus than Castlevania.
Con Stealth sections feel out of place
The game has stealth sections that involve turning into a rat and getting from one place to another while avoiding detection, but the stealth gameplay is very barebones and feels very out of place in a Castlevania game.
Con Occasional difficulty spikes
Upon reaching the first boss you'll encounter the first difficulty spike. The boss attacks a lot faster and stronger than the enemies leading up to it. Messing up means you'll die in a couple of seconds, which can be really frustrating. Especially because you have to switch gears so suddenly and adapt to a new playstyle, where the enemy stands on equal footing.
Con Recycled stage designs and lack of character-specific bosses
Capcom basically just slapped on the 3 new characters (Lady, Trish, and Vergil) and they suffer the same problems that Dante does, and that's lack of bosses designed specifically for their toolset. They run through the same bosses and levels instead of getting unique missions.
