Castlevania Harmony of Despair (XBLA) – Review – Xbox 360

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair isn’t the first game on the Xbox 360. Symphony of the Night was the first to be ported over recently Castlevania but Harmony of Despair is definitely the first original 2D Castlevania game in a long time. Sure we’ve seen many new releases on the Nintendo DS, but this would be the first on a console, let alone the Xbox 360. With two great games, LIMBO and Hydro Thunder Hurricane, kicking off summer of arcade, does Castlevania: Harmony of Despair keep the ball rolling and provide another great Castlevania experience?

Story: Hidden in the help and options menu is a how to play section. Within this, you will see a small description about what is going on in this game which can be considered your story. Basically what it says is that you must destroy Castlevania by traveling through six chapters of the cursed Grimoire and defeat the boss in each. With such a huge cult following and massive story behind the name, why was a proper story missing? Previous Castlevania games didn’t always present a story but, with a flashy intro and story like progression, you knew what was going on. Think about it for a second, in the first Castlevania there wasn’t really a progressive story but the game opened up with the introduction of the main character, the castle, and Dracula; you had a sense of what the game was about. Jump ahead to Symphony of the Night and you had dialog with story progression and knew what was going on. Sure, just about every Castlevania is the same; Dracula has returned and you, a descendant of the Belmont family, must defeat Dracula and destroy Castlevania. With Harmony of Despair being the first on the Xbox 360, I have a feeling it will gain a lot of newcomers to the series and I have a feeling that a lot of these people will be confused. Don’t you think there should be SOME explanation of what is going on?

Gameplay: When starting the game, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the fans who were excited to play this game. I just felt the game started out as a disappointment for fans. This was even said by a fan of the series. However, the more you play the game, the more you will enjoy it. This is kind of sad because any previous Castlevania game I’ve played, I was hooked right from the beginning.

The characters, enemies, bosses, levels, and music will be very familiar to fans of the series, which is really nice, but the way the game is set up is different and unlike any previous Castlevania game. After you choose your character from one of the 5 available, you will enter the first chapter of the game. The neat thing about it is that you will be given an overview of the maze-like level and a look at the boss. But then you are left in this zoomed out overview camera wondering how to play. At first I was confused and thought “why is my character so small? How do I zoom in?”. Well, eventually I figured it out by viewing the controls (click the right stick) but it didn’t leave a good first impression. So now you can basically play the game like normal with the camera zoomed in to your character and the corridor you are running through. At any time you can zoom out and view the full level, view it slightly zoomed in, or the regular view. This is a nice and useful feature which is commonly used to plan ahead or for co-op to see where your friends are. The level designs are interesting but instead of the familiar horizontal side-scrolling, it is all vertical exploring. I almost want to say it has a “Metroidvania” feel in terms of gameplay, but with the open level design, it’s really not. Like some of the previous games, there is a time limit (30 minutes) per chapter. For most chapters, it’s plenty of time. I don’t really mind the time, but with the size of the levels, the exploration, and the challenging puzzles seen in later levels, it doesn’t make sense to have a time limit. Something that really bugs me too about this time limit is the lack of pause. You can bring up the menu, open the book to equip items but the game continues on. I understand keeping the time running while in the book, but while having the menu open? What if you have to step away for a few minutes while playing, why should you have to quit the level?

While playing as the chosen character, you will easily be familiar with their attacks and controls, which feel great. They will probably feel weak at first but, as you progress through the level, you will come across chests with better items to improve your character. Collecting gold will also allow you to buy items between chapters to help your character. Throughout the level, you will come across books which will allow you to equip your weapons, armor, and items. This is where I feel some of the disappointment comes into play. Finding the book to level up was a common thing in the past but why can’t we equip and use items at any time? Why do we have to find the book first? It’s nostalgic gameplay but with the previous new additions, surely this could have been different too. There is also no proper progression of your character, any experience points, or overall levelling up. The more you use a certain attack, it will level up. The more you progress, better items will become available, however, the items given are random and usually aren’t the ones you want making you collect gold in order to buy the item later. Equipping items will increase your attributes and eventually you will feel more powerful. With that said, the characters that you think should be powerful like Alucard just aren’t. They feel weak and slow.

An interesting new feature in this game is the save film feature or ghost film. What this allows you to do is save a film of the level you just completed and let friends view how you played the game. This is really useful for those friends that ask how to beat a boss and all you have to do is say well look at my save film.

Graphics/Audio: Fans of the classic and Nintendo DS games will no doubt be familiar with the look and sound of the game. The levels are different and newly designed but the theme will be familiar. The graphics are of course still pixelated leaving that classic 16-bit look but still provide a great HD look. For some reason it looked very similar to the DS graphics but on a bigger screen. However, in my opinion the best thing about this game is the music. Every Castlevania game had great music and even though the tracks are remastered versions from previous games, they sound amazing. They are basically classic 80′s to 90′s rock guitar riffs and solos with some metal and orchestral additions.

Multiplayer: New to the Castlevania games is the addition of 6 player co-op. Sadly, co-op is online only, leaving the couch gameplay to one player. With that said though, co-op is a nice addition and provides a fun and enjoyable experience. The game becomes much easier with friends but it’s different to be playing a Castlevania game like this. As well, there is a forgettable survival mode. I didn’t get a chance to play it but I heard it is not fun at all. You and up to five others are put in a room to battle against each other within a 3 minute time limit. Health items scatter the level so it’s hard to die, but if you do die, you respawn. The one with the better health and kills wins. Honestly, I don’t see why this mode was “tacked” on to the game. Castlevania has always been a single player experience and never considered a multiplayer game. With co-op, you still have that single player experience but with friends.

Overall: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair retains the classic look and gameplay of previous Castlevania titles with the addition of some interesting new features. Those who have played all previous games, especially the Nintendo DS ones, will definitely like the familiar look, but it will be tough to keep newcomers entertained leaving previous fans to eventually enjoy it. I don’t really want to say Harmony of Despair is a great addition to the Castlevania series, but it’s not the worst game either. The gameplay is different, almost so much that it doesn’t feel like a Castlevania game but more of a game using the Castlevania name. I like that they tried something different but I originally thought it would be similar to the first. With the stages, and time limit, it is pretty close, but the mix failed in too many areas. With the levelling of characters fixed and similar to Symphony of the Night, a health bar for bosses, the normal camera zoomed in closer to just the corridor but still have the option to zoom out, I think this could have turned out to be a great game. As I said before, fans will really like the familiar look and feel but will at first be disappointed. Eventually the game grows on you and it becomes addicting but I feel it took too long for that to kick in. There was too much frustration before this point.

In the end, what it comes down to is the expectation of a greater game than the last. It felt average. We are so used to Castlevania being so good and always improving on the last game. With Harmony of Despair, I see the efforts to make something different and unique, but I feel it should have been left alone to provide a familiar experience to the classic and new NDS games. Chances are, this is not the Castlevania game you were looking forward to.

Pros:
-Nostalgic look, gameplay, and music
-Amazing music; Best thing in my opinion
-Six player co-op with the option of 5 characters
-Interesting level designs and fun boss fights
-Save film option

Cons:
-Strange mix of classic and new elements
-Weak character levelling
-Time limit
-Lack of proper story; mentioned in a description
-Forgettable survival mode

Overall score: 6.5/10

An XBLA copy of this game was provided to the reviewer for reviewing purposes from the publisher.

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