Ever since the first time I played Castlevania way back on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, I have been hooked on the Undead. When Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was released way back when on the Sony PlayStation, I did not know that I would have to wait over a decade for a game worthy of the Castlevania name. Does Castlevania: Harmony of Despair have what it takes to be the next Symphony of the Night? Or is it just another wannabe that doesn’t drive the stake home? Read on to find out in SFG’s Review of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.
For Castlevania HD Konami decided to forgo any type of story for the game, instead concentrating instead on the multiplayer aspect. The game has you playing as of one of six characters from the Castlevania universe. However after playing with a few of them, I moved on to the son of Dracula himself, Alucard. Who by the way, is the best Slayer of the Undead because he is my personal favorite. No other reason is needed.
The gameplay of HD is the shining star of the game. If you enjoyed the old style of 2D side scrolling then this game is right up your alley. Castlevania HD is a steady challenge in the single player mode. You can find yourself going along with the flow confident in your ability to lay waste to anything that has the displeasure of standing in front of you to getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter by a Minotaur. Or you could be rolling through the rooms of the map, making every jump and then find yourself wasting precious time trying to make a series of near impossible jumps. However in the online mode a working party can show the Castle of Dracula that your their to lay stake.
The one thing was really impressive about the game was the way the Map worked. Being able to zoom out and see where you are in real time with the level and trying to chart a path to the Boss of the level is something that I wish to see in other games. Being able to take a look at the rooms and see the rooms in real time complete with whatever treasure may be there is nothing short of brilliance. I can not talk about this map about enough. Is this original? I don’t know and I don’t care. I have not seen this sort of map before and it was fantastic. Good job Konami.
This game has everything that the die hard fan would love to have except for a story and gives the twist of multi-player. The music and the look of the game is exactly what you would expect from a 2d Castlevania game. There is a few things wrong with the game that must be mentioned. There is no real instruction on how to play the game or how to use the various weapon and magic combinations. There is also a 30 minute time limit on each of the six levels. When you add all this with the lack of story and some brutally challenging platforming it makes it hard to recommend at $15 for the game. But recommend it I do if you are a fan of the series. While HD is not as praiseworthy as Symphony of the Night, it is still a very well made entry to the Castlevania series and can stand on its own merits. SFG gives Konami’s Castlevania: Harmony of Despair a respectable 7 out of 10.
You can download Castlevania: HD on the Xbox Live Arcade.
