Castlevania: Harmony of Despair review

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair was first showcased by Konami during E3 2010, and will soon be launching on the XBOX Live Arcade on August 4^th.  The game features a map system that allows players to see the current map’s entire setup by clicking down on the right thumbstick to change the zoom.  Ideally, the game is also meant to be played cooperatively, with the option to team up with as many as six players at once.  However, two people are unable to play on the same console.

The game also features series favorites as playable characters.  These characters include Soma Cruz, Alucard, Jonathan Morris, Shanoa, and Charlotte Aulin.  Each of these characters have eight separate color schemes, allowing multiple players to play the same character in the Co-Op mode.  Each character starts with two weapons and magical abilities that can be used throughout the game.  Magical abilities are used with B and Right bumper, and attacks are used with X and Y. For example, Alucard begins with an X sword attack, a Y brass knuckle punch, a B magic missile and Right bumper teleport.

Harmony of Despair, like the initials of its subtitle suggest, is meant to be played in HD.  This noticeably shows when you aren’t playing on an HD TV, as the graphics looks extremely grainy. The level designs are mostly uninspired and similar to each other.  This lack of originality just seems lazy on Konami’s part, as it appears that they just didn’t feel like changing up the way the levels play.  The items that players collect to upgrade their character are completely ridiculous. In 2010 I should not be equipping Alucard, the son of Dracula, with hiking boots to increase his health and movement speed.

The soundtrack is very power metal, which is good or bad depending on your tastes of music. Personally, I thought it fit the overall mood of the game very well, but I felt like it could have been just as successful going for a more neutral techno based sound.

Overall, I really disliked the game and it seemed like a quick effort for Konami to cash in on one of their flagship series and make a quick buck as well as keep the Castlevania name out there to promote the upcoming reboot Castlevania: Lord of Shadow.  The game will pretty much only appeal to those of you who are Castlevania fanboys, as the game is mostly fan service in its purest form.  The game will be priced at $10 and it’s a good buy for its price, but I’d seriously reconsider paying for this one.