PixlBit

It's all about the ambiance, baby!

Sometimes, amazing graphics and great gameplay just aren't enough. You need to be able to set the scene just right, and a lot of times the perfect piece of music will do just that. This week on Digital Mystery Tour, Julian brings you some songs that excel at setting the mood for the moment or level that the appear in. From ethereal trance music to something that will run a chill up your spine, these songs are all about ambiance.

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O Igarashi, where art thou?

As a game critic, it can be extremely difficult to set your expectations aside when playing a game for review. At this point in my “career,” I’ve become quite adept at seeing a game for what it’s worth and reviewing it without allowing my expectations to impact my assessment. I found this extremely tough to do with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate. I, like many others, expected something similar to a post-Symphony of the Night 2D Castlevania, but Mirror of Fate only resembles these titles on the surface. Digging deeper, it’s clear that Mercurysteam has merely converted the Lords of Shadow experience into 2D, placing the larger focus on combat, with only a minor emphasis on puzzles and exploration.

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Traverse the Belmont bloodline and battle Dracula himself.

2D Castlevania games have been on a short hiatus since the release of Order of Ecclesia on the Nintendo DS in 2008. Four years later and we’re finally seeing a new title, this one for the Nintendo 3DS. Development has shifted hands to Mercury Stream, the same team behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Fittingly, the brand new title, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is set 25 years after the events of the original game, telling the tale of Gabriel’s descendants.

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