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Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

Time for another Backlog, and I was still working through the Castlevania's if I remember correctly. So, Castlevania, Harmony of Dissonance then, being the Second outing on the GBA, after the incredibly annoying Circle of the Moon.

This game fortunately stays a lot closer to its Symphony of the Night roots, although it's still not quite as good. You play as Juste, the umpteenth whippersnapper (pun intended) in the Belmont Clan, wielding the trusty family weapon against the evil hordes of count Dracula, who is not only immortal, but also very stubborn and doesn't really learn a lesson, like most people from Eastern Europe, and most aristocracy. And most game villains. And most people with long hair. And people with long teeth. And I could go on and on.

So cue another adventure in what has been dubbed the 'Metroidvania' style, complete with blue area maps and breakable walls. Difficulty has been toned down considerable from the previous game, which is another way of saying that this game is NOT fucking frustrating and actually fun most of the time.
There's nothing in here to rub you the wrong way, apart perhaps from the obligatory medusa heads floating around. This basically means that the game is pretty much a standard affair, and not likely to surprise very much. It looks good, it sounds a little bit less good, and it plays great. If you're a fan of the series, and especially of the Symphony of the Night style gameplay then you can't go wrong with this one, but it lacks anything really special to make it a classic.

Actually not much words need to be spent on this review, cos there's nothing really much to say. Nothing to really annoy you, and nothing to really make you go "wow" either. The tried and tested formula means the game's as enjoyable as you would expect, so there's nothing more left than to call this a solid platformer/RPG with few surprises. An 8.5 seems about right.

posted by Ingen! @ 5:09 PM