04/19/2012 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

Heavy on the Despair, Light on the Harmony

In 1997, Konami revitalized their ‘Castlevania’ series with the release of “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.” This game took a series that had been just another platformer with terrible controls and linear levels, added RPG and action/adventure elements, and placed the action in a vast, interconnected castle. Gamers loved it and, in the traditional way of developers like Capcom, Konami pumped out six nearly-identical sequels for the Game Boy Advance and DS. The formula never got old, and fans continued to love the new style, dubbed ‘Metroidvania.’

“Castlevania: Harmony of Despair” (“HoD”) is an Xbox Live and PSN game that attempts to pay homage to these beloved games that saved ‘Castlevania’ from obscurity by mashing-up all of the characters, gameplay mechani...

Rating of
1.5/5 

04/15/2012 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

Well, They Got One Word in the Title Right Anyway

I never counted Castlevania as one of my all-time favorite franchises. Sure, I played the original and Simon's Quest and dabbled in a few of the later-generation games, but I never really got into the whole Belmont clan's adventures. Yet I was hoping that Harmony of Despair would bring back that old-school feeling and give me a chance to relive some of those memories, but, sadly, this nostalgic dream quickly turned into a nightmare thanks to a hideous camera, inept item system and annoying timed level design.

I won't get into as much detail here as usual, other than to say that if you have great memories of the franchise, you may as well keep those and not bother with Despair - unless the gameplay changes significantly online. In local player, the camera is zoomed in to each of your ch...

Rating of
2/5