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Never short on spectacle, the original Lords of Shadow showcased detail-rich environments, hulking boss battles and exciting set-pieces in a technically stunning release. However, developer Mercury Steam's ambition came at a price, with the game regularly failing to hit the desired 30fps target, resulting in jerky visuals and uneven controller response that impacted gameplay. The good news is that, in technical terms, the sequel is a massive improvement.Castlevania's return serves up a similar slice of hack-and-slash combat and a distinctly linear take on 'Metriodvania' exploration - at least during the first few hours. While the direction taken with Lords of Shadow 2 is still somewhat questionable from a gameplay perspective - with the contemporary setting and scripted stealth sections feeling distinctly out of place in a Castlevania game - Mercury Steam continues to impress from a technical one. The developer has delivered a sequel that improves upon the already impressive technology in a number of ways: elements such as a player-controlled dynamic camera better frame the action, while the continued use of lighting, particles and motion blur add intensity to large-scale battles and scripted action sequences above that of the previous game.
The results are just as accomplished on both consoles, with both versions presenting a night-and-day level of improvement in performance over the first Lords of Shadow. After the wildly variable first game, we see frame-rates regularly hitting 30fps mark in this sequel. In a balancing act of sorts, Mercury Steam makes a few changes to accommodate these improvements: notably, we see the game operating with a native 1024x720 framebuffer on both consoles, without any form of anti-aliasing, whereas the previous game runs in 720p - also without any AA.
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