Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Review

Once again, we are returning to the world of Castlevania and are plagued with the task of defeating Dracula. Is Harmony of Despair the true successor to Symphony of the Night, or is this adventure another average experience? Keep reading and we’ll share our thoughts.

With Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Konami has brought a little something for everyone this time around. The new instalment of the popular 2D action-adventure series now features your standard single player quest as well as six player co-operative support, and a versus mode too.  Players can choose one of five characters from previous Castlevania titles and they can choose from eight color palettes which helps distinguish your character in multiplayer. Both single player and multiplayer modes feature the same set of six maps although certain areas will require another player. There’s also a “Survival Mode” but it plays like a very broken Smash Bros. game, so we won’t include many details on that.

Each level in Harmony of Despair is set up in a maze-like fashion and you’ll have to manoeuvre through and clear out enemies, open doors using switches, and open treasure chests, all within a 30 minute time limit. The new map system is very helpful because it allows real-time panning and zooming on three different distances and the game will continue to run smoothly in 1080p on every zoom setting. You won’t necessarily have to open every door in the level but it can make a difference during one particular boss battle. Chests come in red and blue colors where red chests hold a random item, and blue chests hold the Water of Life. Water of Life is required to bring back a comrade from skeletal form if they die, so it’s best to share these in co-op and let each player open a blue chest.

[nggtags gallery=CastlevaniaHD1]

The game doesn’t support any levelling system but instead it relies on upgrading your armor, weapons, and magic. Treasure chests may hold various items including rings, capes, and much more. You can only equip new items in-game when you’re in areas with a “Book” though, and this includes health and magic recovery items that must be equipped prior to use.  When you’re on the main menu, some items can be purchased in the store menu. You’ll pick up some gold to make these purchases in the game, but the majority comes from selling off items you won’t need.

Despite the inclusion of co-operative play, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is still a very focused single player game. While each level features some treasure chests that can be obtained only with two or more players, all game progression requires only one player. Compared the original Castlevania titles, progressing through the levels is relatively easy, and the challenge often lies in defeating the boss. In terms of items from chests, you’ll find some in single player, but many of them will only show up in co-operative play, and even more in “Hard Mode” which is unlocked after completing the game. If you complete levels on single player, you can play those in co-op and vice versa.

Co-operative play is definitely the more enjoyable mode in the game, although setting it up can be a slight hassle. The host must get all players into a room and then “Form A Team”. At that point, players can go through the menus to set up/change equipment  and once they’re good to go, they can hit “Ready”. If you’ve formed a team and you have another friend wishing to join, you have to disband your team and start all over. Teaming up with up to six players makes for a fun time if you’re all talkative and wish to work together effectively. The game starts players in multiple spawn points in each level, allowing you to quickly activate some switches and acquire treasures without having to do all the work as one person. There’s no fighting over treasures because as mentioned earlier, each red chest gives every player a random item. Enemies do scale slightly in strength, but  most can be taken down in two quick attacks with a well equipped player.  While everyone remains the same as playing in single player mode, the ability to talk to other players really makes the experience a lot more enjoyable.

Regarding the aforementioned survival mode – 2-6 human players are confined to a single room of a map. The game plays like Smash Bros. where you can use physical and magic-based attacks to deplete your opponents strength. Recovery items/power-ups constantly spawn only inches away and they will stack up so you can have 15+ items on screen at once. It’s nearly impossible to kill your opponent because of this.  The winner is decided after a 3 minute time limit and is picked based on the damage dealt in total. If you kill opponents, they respawn to try again. Unfortunately, it’s not very fun, and it feels completely tacked on at the end.

[nggtags gallery=CastlevaniaHD2]

Generally speaking, it’s a fun title to play, but it does have a few setbacks in terms of general gameplay mechanics and also in its presentation.  You’ll notice the loading screen quickly as it quickly flips through pages of a book that only read “LOADING” for approximately ten seconds per level. It’s not a lengthy load time, but the sound of the pages combined with the movement gets annoying quickly. During the game, players should be able to access equipment menus, or equip something as basic as a recovery item. Limiting these tasks to the “Book” rooms is an outdated mechanic that shouldn’t be used in gaming today. Plus, certain items are limited to having only one equipped at once, such as the extremely helpful “Super Potion”. It costs 5,000 gold to obtain it, but if you own more than one, don’t expect to be allowed to equip more than one. These are small complaints, and while I’m sure they are intentional, I feel like they don’t belong in games of this generation.

In terms of graphics and sound, Castlevania is a pretty solid package all around. The game feature sprite-style visuals and supports 1080p whether you’re playing in the standard setting, or zoomed out looking at the entire miniaturized level. It really captures the style that we all love from the beginning of the Castlevania series, while still holding up as a modern game. The levels are very well-designed with multiple areas to explore for treasure, and there are even some old-school style secrets to find in the walls. The soundtrack is comprised of heavy rock background music which gets you pretty pumped up, while keeping the atmospheric sounds of the world of Castlevania.  You won’t find any character interaction or true voice acting in the game, but there are some basic voice overs for some attacks and random comments relating to item usage during the game.

In the end, Harmony of Despair is surely a fun title to play, but I’d lean more towards the co-op aspect personally. If you’re interested in achievements, you’ll be required to play the co-operative mode. It’s a  fun title either way, but with only six levels the game can be completed in under 3 hours. You’ll spend much more time with the game if you play with friends.  Solid graphics, a rocking soundtrack, and lots of items to discover keep the replay value high if you’re the completionist type of gamer. This is a game where you have to enjoy both the genre and the Castlevania series to find the true value.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair will be released this Wednesday 4th August, you can find more information on the Marketplace.