Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Thoughts
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was released in 2003 on the PlayStation 2 in North America and Japan and in 2004 in Europe and Australia. The game was meant to be a return to form of sorts for the series. The Castlevania series, since Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, had become more known for its Metroidvania elements than the classic gameplay of the NES/SNES era. Koji Igarashi, the game’s producer and lead producer on every Castlevania starting with Symphony of the Night, wanted to move the series into 3D the right way (sorry Castlevania 64) and reboot the series. This is no more evident than in the name of the game in Japan, which was simply titled Castlevania (not confusing at all). Castlevania: Lament of Innocence’s story is still canon and is actually considered the very first game in the series chronologically, but Igarashi felt that he could tell a better story within a 3D world than a 2D Metroidvania style game.
Did Castlevania: Lament of Innocence succeed in those lofty goals?
What I Liked 😃
Dracula Origins
The story of Lament of Innocence, while quite cheesy at times due to the English translation and voice acting, is actually pretty darn interesting. It tells the tale of Leon Belmont in 1094. He’s a Baron who has given up his title and at the beginning of the game, has no involvement in the hunting and slaying of vampires. Through the course of playing the game, we learn that there were vampires before Dracula and that the legendary feud between the Belmont Clan and Dracula began way back in 1094. We also learn that Dracula was once a man named Mathias Cronqvist and was very good friends with Leon. He only became Dracula after his wife Elisabetha died and subsequently vowed to curse God for taking her away from him.
There is surprisingly a lot of substance in Lament of Innocence, a game that I honestly didn’t have high hopes for. Not only do we get the aforementioned lore about Dracula and the Belmont Clan, but there are also some gut-wrenching moments such as when Leon is forced to kill his fiancé Sara in order to create the legendary Vampire Killer whip that can destroy vampires and the like. We also get to see some interesting vampires other than Dracula such as Walter Bernhard and Joachim Armster. It’s all a really neat set up for an origin story of the series.
Devil May Cry - like
Devil May Cry was a heavily influential game in the video game industry. After it released, there were a lot of direct copycats or games that took inspiration from its combat, camera positioning and combo system. Lament of Innocence was released a couple of years after the first Devil May Cry game and, just like a lot of games from that era, it is clear that the team at Konami took inspiration from the team at Capcom. The fixed camera is the same, the character models are the same tall skinny white guy with white hair, and the combat is similar with stylish combo-based attacks.
The decision to emulate a lot of Devil May Cry was, I think, a smart choice. Devil May Cry is a great video game. Why re-invent the wheel when you have a game that has already proven the formula is popular? Of course, Lament of Innocence doesn’t quite reach the heights of Devil May Cry. But Konami added in some new game mechanics to set it apart such as the on-the-fly item usage, the relic system and Jewel Crush (see below). I would also argue the boss fights in Lament of Innocence are a bit better than the boss fights in Devil May Cry.
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Whip Crack Went His Whippy Tail
Speaking more specifically about the combat in Lament of Innocence, while the combat system is inspired by another game, it brings its own uniqueness to the table. The aforementioned combo system keeps the melee combat from being just a boring hack fest. Combo moves have different animations and can be chained together in various ways. There is a blocking and dodge system as one would expect, and it also works well. Leon can also wield a sub-weapon just like most other Castlevania games. The typical sub-weapons are available: dagger, axe, holy water and cross as well as others.
On the magic side of the aisle, there are relics and jewels. Relics can be found that provide stat boosts for Leon, but jewels are probably the more interesting inclusion of the two. While playing the game, Leon will find the Jewel Crush which is a glove that can be used to crush the valuable jewels found in the game. When they are crushed, they perform an ability. For example, the Ruby when crushed, will damage all enemies in the area. It’s an interesting idea because the jewels are also worth money. So, you have to decide if you want to sell that Ruby for $1,500 or completely destroy it to quickly dispatch a hoard of enemies.
The combination of all of these things results in a pretty good time with the combat. There’s not as much depth as something like Castlevania: Curse of Darkness and the Innocent Devil system, but the systems in play here were done well.
What I Didn’t Like ☹️
Awkward Whip
The whip is a difficult object to render in an early 2000s 3D video game. At times in Lament of Innocence, the whip looks like a fine whip, capable of busting vases and decapitating enemies. At other times, it resembles a long bit of string that a little kitten might play around with. 3D graphics were hard to do back then, I have no doubt. But I guess I would have preferred a chunkier whip, like a chain whip instead of a standard leather bull whip. I’m picturing something like the fully leveled whip from Super Castlevania IV. To me, that seems easier to realize and would be more visually appealing.
In addition to the visuals of the whip, the game forces the player to do a bit of platforming using the whip. Leon will have to jump up in the air and release the whip at the appropriate moment. If timed properly, Leon will attach the whip to a piece of wood or a banister or whatever and propel himself up and forward. There are times when this maneuver has to be done in succession in order to get across large gaps. I found myself pretty frustrated by the whole thing. The main reason being, there’s no indication that you timed it properly other than the failure. I would have liked some kind of target reticule or visual indication that I was in the correct spot for latching onto an object.
Environment Hell
I reviewed Castlevania: Curse of Darkness first but the game was actually released after Lament of Innocence. When I reviewed that game, I had a whole section about the bland background environments and terrain. Well, dear reader, I have the exact same complaint about Lament of Innocence.
The environments are almost always either a long corridor or a large square room. There is very little change in elevation and every single area is flat. It gets to the point where you are constantly checking the map because there’s no visual difference between one room and another. But checking the map makes it even more apparent that straight lines were the preferred choice. I presume this was done to simplify the development of the game, but unfortunately it creates a flaw that is very apparent and becomes monotonous pretty quickly.
There Can Be Only One…Sub-weapon
Taking inspiration from the original Castlevania formula is one thing, but some things didn’t need to be brought into this game. One glaring example is that Lament of Innocence limits Leon to one sub-weapon. So, just like the original Castlevania game on the NES, if Leon picks up the axe sub-weapon and then comes across the holy water, a choice has to be made because only one can be carried. In one way, this adds some strategy to the gameplay, but I have to imagine there were other ways to provide strategic gameplay without enforcing a limitation that was present because of NES hardware. This is a PlayStation 2 game, in 3D! Leon should be able to carry multiple sub-weapons and cycle between them. None of the weapons are powerful enough to make this idea game breaking, so other than being a homage to the NES game, I don’t understand.
Overall Thoughts 🤔
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence isn’t a bad game and it’s not really a good game. It is, however, a disappointing game. It had a lot of potential with the really neat origin story of the Belmont/Dracula feud. It tried to use that Devil May Cry style and actually has some decent combat mechanics and boss battles. But it drowns in boring level design, some really campy storytelling and odd decisions like only allowing one sub-weapon. I think Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is the better choice between these two by far and I hope that we see a re-imagining of Lament of Innocence someday.
Where Can I Play This? 🕹️
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence has never been re-released on modern platforms so the only way to play this one is to emulate or buy the original copy on PlayStation 2.