Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

I'd recommend Harmony of Despair only to the savviest of Castlevania fans, as they'll probably stick with the multi-player long enough to appreciate its moderate value and admirable, but flawed evolution of the classic formula.

If you aren't familiar with the difficulty of the Castlevania games previous to SotN you will probably see Castlevania HD as nothing but an exercise in frustration. If you want to get into Castlevania you can pick up the excellent Symphony of the Night from the Xbox Live Marketplace - and while it doesn't have multiplayer you're much more likely to have a good time.

Unless you are a diehard fan of the series this is probably not your game. It can be extremely tough, especially at the beginning, and it just does not bring anything new to the franchise other than online co-op features.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair looks gorgeous and has some cool ideas, but ultimate it feels like Castlevania Lite -- a stripped down version of a real Castlevania game with none of the depth or clever design.

This "new" episode of Castlevania is an interesting experiment which fails in few aspects of the main design. The single player experience is kinda of Missing In Action, sacrificed on the multiplayer altar. The idea is cool, but the final result is a barely sufficient game.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair works more like a game that goes on within the definition 2D more than would be expected in terms of reinvention of progression as with Symphony of the Night.

Only for diehard fans of the Castlevania franchise. The rest should try the demo version, as the game is a bit special and will not appeal to many gamers.

A great disappointment. The single player is boring, and while the game is fun in co-op mode, the poor balance of the characters and a bad level design strikes a fatal blow.

If you're a Castlevania maniac like me you're going to have an absolute blast playing this game, but my love for the series isn't enough to look past its many shortcomings. As a concept I think it works really well, it just wasn't executed in a way that will make the game accessible to newcomers to the series.

In the end, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair winds up being greater than the sum of its parts. Despite having many flaws, it still winds up being an enjoyable experience online.

Harmony of Despair leaves a weird taste in the mouth of a Castlevania fan. It's like a patchwork of gameplays that weren't really supposed to be sewed together for multiplayer, yet that kinda stands upright without us really knowing how. But after hours spent discovering it's "only" 6 castles, all that remains is some tribute Time Attack coop game that isn't quite what we'd have hoped for a Castlevania multiplayer experience.

In the end, exploring the well designed levels, hunting all the items and killing the very last boss of Castlevania : Harmony of Despair beat the heroes' slowness and this little feeling of repetition, so unusual for the saga.

Harmony of Despair is a beautiful achievement, but the poor gameplay and frustrating design is a huge stain on an otherwise colorful canvas.

Harmony of Despair has a heap of issues, but any hardcore fans of Castlevania owe it to themselves to buy this game with a group of friends.

Without the cliché but fitting story and the progression that reminds us of RPGs from the previous Castlevania-games, what remains is a game that doesn't feel quite like the latest entry in this series. This mostly revolves around the multiplayer and it's pretty much the only reason to get this game.

At a glance, it might appear like a simple trip down memory lane, but spend some time with it, and you will find a game with an immense depth and great challenges. A good, exciting and alternative Castlevania experience, that might be too focused on multiplayer for some. Try before you buy.

Konami brings co-op and general multiplayer to the Castlevania table. Even though it has some really great parts, it has a couple of bad as well. In the end, Harmony of Despair probably is mostly for hard core Castlevania fans.

Unlike Symphony of the Night and the DS games, which I would recommend to anyone, it's hard to imagine that non-Castlevania fans will get any enjoyment out of Harmony of Despair.

It's a time-or-score attacker's dream. [Issue#100, p.142]

Despite a litany of grievances, the multiplayer is at least moderately entertaining and I do think that die hard Castlevania fans will get some mileage out of it.

Would we have preferred a new 2D, HD Castlevania that employed stunning new sprites instead of recycled heroes, villains and environments from the past 13 years? Hell yes. Does that make this game inherently bad for not being what we hoped? Definitely not. Just be aware of what you're getting yourself into.

The entire game can be completed in under an hour with an organized team, although a Hard difficulty will test the skills of the most devoted fans. Beyond that, there is nothing to keep players' interests past an initial run.

The game offers cool action and a lot of fun. The boss battles are quite hard sometimes and you might get a little frustrated, but overall it's all about fun here.

Even though the game is excruciating frustrating and difficult at times, when linked with other players, the game really shines, especially if you have a full assorted of gamers to play.

There are some interesting, even good ideas in here. It would probably make a good multiplayer component for a better side-scrolling action game. But I honestly can't see the experience HoD offers remaining engaging for more than a few hours -- even for the most passionate Castlevania devotee.

This Xbox Live title changes the classic Castlevania formula with regards to gameplay as well as overall difficulty and level design. When experienced in co-op there is definitively fun to be had here, but solo adventurers looking for a great Castlevania experience will do best to look elsewhere.

Quotation forthcoming.

In the end, Harmony of Despair is a paradox. Konami wants Castlevania fans, the gamers who are most likely to enjoy the game to its fullest, to pay for content they've already played. First-time players, on the other hand, will probably enjoy the game less, even though all of the content will be new to them.

Too derivative from previous games, especially the Nintendo DS ones, and too much multiplayer oriented.

This game was designed for multiplayer, so if you can't find at least one other person to share the pain, knock off two points from our score. [Oct 2010, p.86]

Once you've clocked enough playthroughs to upgrade your character's stats and worked out each enemy's attack patterns, the game starts to open up and you'll find yourself enjoying the run-throughs.

If you enjoy Castlevania, if you don't mind time limits, if you don't mind having to replay levels numerous times, and if you can deal with minor irritants like not being able to share teammate-resurrecting Water of Life items (in fairness, the game does let you keep playing as a skeleton even if you've croaked), then you'll probably have some fun hacking and slashing your way through Harmony of Despair - but that's a lot of "if"s.

Harmony of Despair works as a multiplayer game for series followers, but won't convince the rest of the players easily.

Harmony of Despair tries to hop onboard the contemporary co-op bandwagon, but in doing so it sacrifices almost everything that makes the series good to begin with.

Ultimately, Harmony of Despair is an interesting take on multiplayer gaming, but it isn't really Castlevania in anything other than name only.

Ultimately, to get the most out of Konami's latest, you're going to need to team up with friends. [Issue#63, p.103]