| Author | Review |
|---|
Bonzojoe
258,588
TA Score for this game: 235
Posted on 25 August 10 at 15:06, Edited on 25 August 10 at 18:31 |
This review has 27 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Castlevania Harmony Of Despair – by Joseph Waddell
The Castlevania series has had many years of success over multiple platforms, the latest Harmony Of Despair (HD) is a 2D, 6 player co-op side-scroller which is simple to play but in true Castlevania style, difficult but fun to master.
It's safe to say the game is mainly a tribute to the fans and to the other Castlevania games. There is no solid story line to the game, your just progressing along the castles working towards the final fight against Dracula.
There are only 6 levels but each of them are perfectly designed and provide a great challenge. The style graphically fits the game perfectly the game works great in 2D. The environments are lively and full of colour that looks nice on all of the different zoom levels. Audio wise the soundtracks on the levels are amazing, characters can be switched between English and Japanese voices, but all of them get repetitive after a while.
The game has no tutorial mode which sadly means the game has a steep learning curve however this works for the game as you have to have knowledge to survive on later levels.
As well as the 6 levels on normal there is also hard mode, which lives up to its name and provides a bigger challenge than the main game that really focuses on player co-operation as with hard mode if you don’t work.
The multiplayer is a big aspect of the game as outlined above, the 6 player co-op is a great idea that works well. Each player can select a colour so its easy to identify and in the game it shows the direction of each player on the screen. One of the interesting parts of the co-op is you don’t have to stay together, players can split up to speed up levels while still receiving all the rewards that are gained at the other side of the map. Sadly the matchmaking system isn’t as good as the gameplay. The major flaw is that if a player drops out no one can join in unless the lobby is remade, which can become slightly annoying, the other problem is finding games, sometimes the system seems slow and it can be hard to get into a game before it fills up, but I’m sure this problem will be less once the games online population falls, there is also a survival mode online from what I’ve seen of this it does look fun, but the player base on there is very low
So far, (as we know DLC is planned) there are 5 unique playable characters, each with different play styles and abilities/spells to master. The game doesn’t have a traditional levelling system, instead characters improve my increasing their stats through armour, spells and weapons are improved by either using them repeatedly or acquiring duplicates of them. This is a fun system however it leads to some characters being easier to level up quicker than others, as an example of this it took my Alucard 2 hours to be unstoppable, compared to 10 hours for Charlotte.
Because of all of this, the replayability on this game is huge, every time you do a level the rewards are different, it’s fun to try different characters and spells on the bosses and with the multiplayer it always brings about more ways as everyone plays the game differently.
The achievements offer a good mix, there are simple ones such as do certain tasks online, the typical ones for completing the game. Then the rest are either hard or unique. The collectable achievements just take time while the kill 10,000 enemies is a grind and will be the last achievement you finish. My favourite is the boned achievement (kill boss with 5 plays in skeleton form), which is more down to luck than anything; another nice bonus is a gamer picture for beating the game in single player.
Graphics: 9/10
The style and overall look of the game is perfect
Audio: 8/10
Great game music, but the voices let it down slightly
Single player: 7/10
Provides a bigger challenge than mp, but lacking as it is a mp focused game
Multiplayer: 9/10
6 player co-op that works perfect in game, only looses marks due to the system around it.
Replayability value: 10/10
If you love the game it’s very high. Challenging and changes often
Achievements: 8/10
A good mix of easy, hard and time consuming provides a nice overall list
Overall: 85/100
A solid arcade game then ensures hours of fun for all and not just fans of the game. It’s up there with the best of the arcade games
 |
Astute Vagabond
531,143
TA Score for this game: 299
Posted on 09 May 12 at 17:06, Edited on 13 May 12 at 13:44 |
This review has 20 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Edit: This review can also be found on www.gamerscoreaddicts.net
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Publisher: Konami
Developed by: Konami
Cost: 1200MS points
Summary
The Castlevania series has been around since the 1980’s and has explored various different genres; each new game generally telling the story of Dracula’s castle reappearing in the world and a vampire hunter on a quest to destroy him. How does this tie into Castlevania HoD? Well this game takes place inside a book that records the history of Dracula’s castle and the forms it has taken. This feature means that the game consists of stages themed after different sections of previous games; it also has characters from across the series so fans can go a favourite character but also newcomers have a fair bit of variety available to them. Although the game lacks a true ‘story’ this does not impact the game the main focus is clearly on gameplay and the feature of 6 player co-op.
Gameplay
Now onto how the game plays: Castlevania HoD has a very unique style blending old style Castlevania games (2D side-scroller) with the “MetroidVania” style games such as “Symphony of the Night” and the GBA/DS Castlevania titles. These features - plus 6-player co-op mode - make Castlevania HoD a very fun experience with up to 5 other players. However, due to the high co-op orientation some gamers may find single player tedious or too challenging.
The co-op system works very well as the difficulty scales according to the number of players in the game. Each player has full roam of the stage so no one has to stick together; the game even encourages different paths for players as there are multiple starting points in each stage. Certain characters can access shortcuts and then let other team-mates through and no player can be overly greedy with loot as any chest opened gives an item to everyone alive in the stage regardless of how far away they are.
One of the key gameplay mechanics new in this entry to the series is the loot system. As the game progresses loot drops are found in chests and from enemies with the rarest and generally best items found in the boss chest of each stage. The loot drops quickly become a focus while playing the game as players may need to ‘gear’ characters to a high enough standard before continuing with the stages (much like an MMORPG raid system). After the main game is completed on normal, players are encouraged to play on the hard difficulty as better loot drops are available on the higher difficulty. These better loot drops are very useful for those who would want to venture to the DLC stages.
Graphics and style
The graphics are very sharp and well-polished. Characters and enemies stand out from the scenery making a clear distinction between the danger of enemies and the scenery, regardless of which zoom option a player prefers to use. The palette is very brightly coloured compared to previous Castlevania titles - though certainly not colourful enough to be deemed 'vivid'. Castlevania HoD incorporates the different settings of the game well, from a plain castle theme, to a dollhouse, to a pit of souls - all of which remain true to the franchise’s dark and slightly gothic character.
Music
Ah, the music! A great score as would be expected from a game series with such reputable music. Castlevania HoD travels paths previously untrodden in the series in this aspect, too. Instead of having gothic piano tunes to accompany players, the game entertains gamers with instrumental rock/metal tracks. It's not a completely new direction for the musical score however, as most of the tracks in HoD are remixes of piano versions from previous games. Each stage has several different tracks that may play, meaning players can tailor the music to whatever suits them most. The track that plays by default for each stage is often a remix of the track from that theme in a previous game.
Longevity/replayability
Castlevania HoD consists of six stages which can be played on two difficulty settings and each stage has a time limit of 30 minutes although they can be completed in less than 10. This may seem short, but the game has so much to offer in the way of replay value as stages (no doubt) will have to be repeated many times for players to succeed or to gain adequate loot to progress further. For those who want to take the game even further there are five DLC stages available, which present new challenges and over one hundred new items to obtain through loot drops. Gamers may find that running each stage multiple times becomes monotonous and therefore may stop playing with less than twenty hours playtime.
Overall
Castlevania HoD is a unique turn for the series and adjusts well to XBLA and co-op gameplay. The game is made a great experience by fantastic core gameplay mechanics and an alluring musical score. A lack of story and replaying the same six stages to obtain loot may bore gamers quickly. Players may want to ensure they have some friends or an online community to play with, as playing solo can seem laborious and difficult at times.
8.5/10
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geckothelizard
68,665
TA Score for this game: 299
Posted on 18 August 10 at 10:31, Edited on 13 April 12 at 08:53 |
This review has 30 positive votes and 18 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Castlevania: Hoisting of Darren is no stranger to the guitar solo. The first level barely gets a chance to zoom in from it's all-encompassing HD starting view before a chorus of Steve Vais start to wail, and they don't stop until Dracula is dead (more dead). A similar lack of self-awareness is found in each stage's subtitle - "Caught in the Cradle of Decay", "Esquisse of Violence", "Song of the Unslakable Blade", etc. - they all sound like Avenged Sevenfold songs. It's the worst thing ever. It's the best thing ever.
However, pervasive guitars and silly titles won't be news to Castlevania fans, but moving away from Metroidvania/Castleroid template set by 1997's Symphony of the Night probably will be - Castlevania: Handsomest of Dancers forgoes exploration and gradually acquired skills in favour of a limited set of gameplay arenas which you play and play and play, getting all the sweet loot, and powering up your guy.
Variety comes not in the form of the castle - although all the major Castlevania tenets such as falling from pendulums, eating ‘wall chicken’, and being turned to stone by F****** MEDUSA HEAD C***S are covered in the 6 stages - but rather the characters themselves. Castlevania: Heralding of Ducks gathers its 5 protagonists mainly from the more recent titles (there are no Belmonts to be seen), with only one (Jonathan) wielding the traditional whip. You have SotN's Alucard, with his compliment of big f***-off swords; Order of Ecclesia's Shanoa, who's more of a mage-type character; Soma, the protagonist of a couple of the GameBoy/DS cuts, absorbing souls of the fallen to control various enemy abilities. Jonathan and Charlotte I haven't really used. More games should feature Jonathans, though.
Playing as these different characters is the real meat of the experience, and the common loot pool allows for a degree of cross-pollination of the best gear, meaning your neglected characters can be swapped in without sacrificing too much power. They are also fairly well-balanced, with all characters versatile enough to take on most situations alone, but varied enough to compliment each other too, in co-op mode, son - a Castlevania first.
Yes, Navigate through the unnecessarily obfuscated multiplayer menus (why is 'Main Menu' a sub-menu?) and you can attempt each level with a team of up to 6. I can't tell you how this differs from single player as after 10 minutes on your lonesome it becomes clear that Castlevania: Horse of Dentistry was designed from the ground up as a social experience. Alucard steps on a switch several screens away to quench the flames obscuring the secret chest in front of you, the tank characters move in close to the bosses as Shanoa's lightning arcs overhead, and everyone rejoices as Charlotte's heal spell tops up HP; this is your Resident Evil 5, your Left 4 Dead, your Borderlands; don't play it alone.
As a communal loot-'em-up, Castlevania: Highest of Definitions works. With up to 6 friends whipping and slicing their way through the castles, the higher zoom levels suddenly become relevant. The challenge (especially on hard) is great enough to require bespoke strategising as you go, and the drip-feeding of the best loot/abilities means that there's always something to aim for. With only 6 stages (more to come with DLC) there is some repetition, but as soon as it starts to drag you can bust out a new character and the game starts anew. The rarity of the best gear could be seen as a rather cheap way to add length to what would otherwise be a brief experience, but it worked in Borderlands, and it works here.
Lacking the exploration and the accompanying atmosphere of previous titles, Castlevania: Horseface of Davina seems destined to remain a footnote in a series full of footnotes, but those of a looting disposition will find much to like here, but do bring some friends along.
 |
Bonzojoe
258,588
TA Score for this game: 235
Posted on 29 September 10 at 17:53 |
This review has 11 positive votes and 7 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Castlevania Harmony Of Despair – by Joseph Waddell
The Castlevania series has had many years of success over multiple platforms, the latest Harmony Of Despair (HD) is a 2D, 6 player co-op side-scroller which is simple to play but in true Castlevania style, difficult but fun to master.
It's safe to say the game is mainly a tribute to the fans and to the other Castlevania games. There is no solid story line to the game, your just progressing along the castles working towards the final fight against Dracula.
There are only 6 levels but each of them are perfectly designed and provide a great challenge. The style graphically fits the game perfectly the game works great in 2D. The environments are lively and full of colour that looks nice on all of the different zoom levels. Audio wise the soundtracks on the levels are amazing, characters can be switched between English and Japanese voices, but all of them get repetitive after a while.
The game has no tutorial mode which sadly means the game has a steep learning curve however this works for the game as you have to have knowledge to survive on later levels.
As well as the 6 levels on normal there is also hard mode, which lives up to its name and provides a bigger challenge than the main game that really focuses on player co-operation as with hard mode if you don’t work.
The multiplayer is a big aspect of the game as outlined above, the 6 player co-op is a great idea that works well. Each player can select a colour so its easy to identify and in the game it shows the direction of each player on the screen. One of the interesting parts of the co-op is you don’t have to stay together, players can split up to speed up levels while still receiving all the rewards that are gained at the other side of the map. Sadly the matchmaking system isn’t as good as the gameplay. The major flaw is that if a player drops out no one can join in unless the lobby is remade, which can become slightly annoying, the other problem is finding games, sometimes the system seems slow and it can be hard to get into a game before it fills up, but I’m sure this problem will be less once the games online population falls, there is also a survival mode online from what I’ve seen of this it does look fun, but the player base on there is very low
So far, (as we know DLC is planned) there are 5 unique playable characters, each with different play styles and abilities/spells to master. The game doesn’t have a traditional levelling system, instead characters improve my increasing their stats through armour, spells and weapons are improved by either using them repeatedly or acquiring duplicates of them. This is a fun system however it leads to some characters being easier to level up quicker than others, as an example of this it took my Alucard 2 hours to be unstoppable, compared to 10 hours for Charlotte.
Because of all of this, the replayability on this game is huge, every time you do a level the rewards are different, it’s fun to try different characters and spells on the bosses and with the multiplayer it always brings about more ways as everyone plays the game differently.
The achievements offer a good mix, there are simple ones such as do certain tasks online, the typical ones for completing the game. Then the rest are either hard or unique. The collectable achievements just take time while the kill 10,000 enemies is a grind and will be the last achievement you finish. My favourite is the boned achievement (kill boss with 5 plays in skeleton form), which is more down to luck than anything; another nice bonus is a gamer picture for beating the game in single player.
Graphics: 9/10
The style and overall look of the game is perfect
Audio: 8/10
Great game music, but the voices let it down slightly
Single player: 7/10
Provides a bigger challenge than mp, but lacking as it is a mp focused game
Multiplayer: 9/10
6 player co-op that works perfect in game, only looses marks due to the system around it.
Replayability value: 10/10
If you love the game it’s very high. Challenging and changes often
Achievements: 8/10
A good mix of easy, hard and time consuming provides a nice overall list
Overall: 85/100
A solid arcade game then ensures hours of fun for all and not just fans of the game. It’s up there with the best of the arcade games
|
OPCCookieslayer
58,374
TA Score for this game: 264
Posted on 08 March 11 at 22:18, Edited on 08 March 11 at 22:45 |
This review has 7 positive votes and 3 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
When I was a little one, about 6, i was introduced to the Castlevania series thanks to Symphony of the Night. Ever since then I was a fan, and I wished there was a 2-player capability since I was always pissed off when my little sister complains that I'm playing alone. Now, at 2009, Konami fufilled my dreams and Desires by releasing CV: Judgement... oh god it was horrible...... I lost hope of all Casltevania games..... until at E3 I saw the trailer to Harmony of Despair (cue simon's theme) and now I am hooked on the series yet once again, good bye Cock of Doody, and Gaylo! So I saved up on ms points and waited with excitement. Once the game release, my mind was blown, they brought back Alucard from Symphony. But that's not all, when i got back into the CV games, I also played the DS games. When I saw the character list, my mind exploded. They brought back EVERYBODY!!! Soma Cruz from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow, Charlotte Aulin and Jonathan Morris (NOT JOHN MORRIS!) from Portrait of Ruin (my fav of the three), and Shanoa no-last-name(fav character) from Order Of Ecclesia. Although there is no story to this game, the MMO feeling it gave me compensated it. And by MMo feeling, it means that its a mad-dash for better equipment to level up your characters attacks and whatnot. The graphics are meh, they kept the sprites the same from the DS/PS1/SG games and I don't like how they didnt add anything new. The maps are wonderful because they put the best maps for the players and put into a blender, thus creating the map. The boss fights are epic and fun, my favorite boss is Brauner in chapter 4 from Portrait of Ruin. The music selection is an oprgasm to the ears, I F***ING LOVE IT! They chose all of my favorites(except for Bloody tears) and regurgulated it to pure amazingness. They also made one of the songs I hated the most and made a song that is now on my ipod. This game also gave me the thing I wanted the most out of a CV game, multiplayer. Now that i have a friend to hold my hand on the way through, it makes it more fun. Adding the fact that its multiplayer not only is a good thing, but also a bad thing. Lag is the worst thing that can happen to you in this game, enemies just magically dying, you dying suddenly, and teammates flying out of the map. Anyways, back to the review... The fact that it has that MMO feel can also mean one bad thing, noobs trying to beg you to help them out. The new multiplayer stuff also adds a new attack-thing that helps alot on the last boss called a dual crush which enables you to team up with a friend and use you super MP and call up upon the powers of Chuck Norris God and use a kind of super attack which you can pen anything on the screen with you character combo, for example, when you do a Soma/Jonathan dual crush, it creates a blood cross which does alot of damage and each amount of contact, can heal everybody whos in range. Now, im running out of time so ima tell this in a nutshell
Graphics: 4.5/5 Great enviroments, but crappy sprites
Music10.23321/5 Amazingness at its best with a bunch of fan-favorites
Gameplay: 4/5
DLC(forgot to mention that srry): 3/5 waaaaay to expensive
Overall: 6/5 It's an amazing game and its totally worth the 15 bucks.... enjoy! 
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Acravator
77,985
TA Score for this game: 299
Posted on 04 March 11 at 19:15, Edited on 05 March 11 at 09:01 |
This review has 9 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Review for Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
I never played a Castlevania game before. A few months ago, Order of Ecclesia on the Nintendo DS was my first game. Therefore i never keeping an eye on Harmony of Despair at the Xbox Marketplace. But after i played Order of Ecclesia i wanted to play another Castlevania Game. And because i am playing a lot on the Xbox i have buyed Harmony of Despair. In retrospect, i didn't regret it even at all.
Introduction:
Many characters throughout the Castlevania timeline appears in this game , so it does not really have a real story. In principle, a few vampire hunters meet up in this game to kill the grand vampire Dracula. 
But i think, that this game not really need a Story. Its also quite good without it. The characters you can play with are Shanoa, Jonathan, Soma, Charlotte and Alucard, but you can buy a few more (like Yoko Belnades, Getsu Fuma, Richter Belmont and Maria,...) characters on the marketplace for 240 and 160 Microsoft Points. This game has a total of six chapters. In the last chapter you will confront Dracula, but of course every chapter has another boss. As well as the characters, you can buy five extra chapters on the marketplace for 400, 320 and 240 points. Every character has another movepool. Charlotte can cast powerfull magic. Shanoa can use the glyphs and magnes from Order of Ecclesia. Thier glyphys will be more stranger, when she used the glyphs veeeeeeeeeeeeeery often. Alucard and Soma can use weapons and Jonathan (i dont know, because i actually never played with him lol). You can change the background music of every chapter in the options menue, so if you no longer like a music track (because you heared it soooo many times) you can easily change it.
Singleplayer:
As i sad, this game is very hard, especially when you just startet the game and dont have good armors and weapons. At this point, you can easily die on normal difficult on every boss or even on the way to it. But when you have find some of the many chests in a chapter you will fastly find some good armors. But i dont played the singleplayer so long, because this game is based on the multiplayer and coop.
Multiplayer:
The multiplayer of Harmony of Despair is excellent. You can play this game with five other player over xbox live. It make a lot of fun with other players. You can use a few shortcuts like "Hello", "Good Work", "Sorry" (...) for the communication between the players simply by pressing the select button. When a player opens a chest, everyone will receive a item. When a player dies in the chapter, he or she will be a skeleton. Skeletons have a very low armor and do almost no damage. When all players are skeletons, you have an "Game Over", but you can revive a skeleton with a "Bottle of Life". When a skeleton dies, the team will lost 3 minutes of the chapter-time.
The graphics are very nice and the level design is (with a few exceptions), great. As far as I can tell, i did not feel that it really is real high definition. But anyway, the characters move very smoothly and the controller also works perfectly. So far, i certainly had never problems with the gameplay. Another plus is definitely the music and sound. There are many songs that have been put together from all parts of the series and as i sad before, the music can easily change by the player. The game has no really thick atmosphere, because it dont have a real story. Friends with collective madness have also a lot of fun in this game, as there are over 400 items that increase your status points or heal you. In my opinion, most of them are very difficult even i coop. So when you have a godlike character who kills everyone in a few seconds, here you have a new challenge.
I can not understand many of the bad reviews for this game. In most cases, it is said that the game was too hard, but i think when you played this game a few hours you will recieve good weapons and armors so you can enjoy this game. Buy it and love it! cheers.
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ChaoticOverview
69,413
TA Score for this game: 79
Posted on 05 August 10 at 11:49, Edited on 05 August 10 at 11:51 |
This review has 19 positive votes and 30 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Presentation:
The theme of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair looks and feels just like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and all of the classic Castlevania heroes and enemies are here. The boss fights are epic and the uniqueness of each individual character is pretty good. The levels are built up in squares which makes it seem simplified however the design of each room has a great Castlevania feel to it.
5/5
Graphics:
The graphics are almost completely identical to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
3/5
Sounds:
Once again this game sounds just like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
5/5
Gameplay:
This game is very fun and addictive but only if you have 3 to 5 other gamers with you, playing single-player is rather pointless and you wont get very far without a little help. There are a ton of collectibles and each character has "Hunter Skills" which are unique abilities to each individual character but there is no level up system other then better equipment which is another reason why single-player is pointless.
5/5
Replayablilty:
This game has very good replayability if you have friends to play with otherwise youre going to feel a little left out. With bosses and enemies this challenging youre going to need to build your character before you even beat Dracula meaning levels will need to be repeated and only the hardcore gamer will be willing to stretch this game out so if youre a casual gamer think about this purchase.
4/5
Pros:
- Looks and feels just like classic Castlevania titles
- Great online multiplayer with friends
Cons:
- Single-player is pointless
-No level up system
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