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Do you know the old saying, "The first impression is usually the right one."? Well,
throw that saying out of the window when it comes to Konami's latest entry into the Casltevania franchise, Harmony of
Despair for Xbox Live Arcade. When I loaded up the first level for the first time, I said to myself, "What has Konami
done to my beloved Castlevania? Why is my character so small? Why does this look like a Nintendo DS game (it does, but more
on that in a minute)?". But, I'm a professional, so I persevered. I have to say that Konami has pleasantly surprised
me with Castlevania:HD.
Like I said previously, the most noticeable feature of this game is the art direction. This game looks exactly like the Nintendo
DS versions of Castlevania; small character sprites and deliberately stiff enemy attack animations (adds to the flavor) have
been brought over directly from the DS releases in order to give us a retro 2-D look. I didn't understand the visual choices
until I started studying the design, and the design is something most Castlevania fans aren't going to like...at first. Every chapter starts off by
letting you pick between 5 playable characters spanning the entire history of Castlevania (except for the Belmonts).
Then you are shown the entire castle, room for room, right up front. A target enemy boss is presented
in a specific area of the castle. The camera then pans to where you are and the clock starts ticking down. Yes, I said "clock",
fellow gamers. You have 3o minutes to jump, hack, slash, find treasure, uncover secrets, become more powerful and eventually
find your way to and defeat the target. Once that is done, you are given your performance scores and it is on to the next
chapter. Let me warn all of you, however, that this game is extremely difficult to play solo, which is why Konami has given
us a co-op mode.
Cooperative play can be done locally or via Xbox Live. Matchmaking is very quick and the only thing on which you will probably
wait is for your fellow teammates to fiddle with their inventory to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. The level
designers have purposely put in areas of the game that can only be accessed with multiple players, and if you want to get
the full experience and find every treasure chest and collapsible wall you had better get online. There is also a Battle Mode
in the game, but it is very hectic to play and a novelty at best.
There is a lot about this game that I like, but that doesn't mean that Castlevania:HD is perfect. Your inventory system
can only be accessed at certain points of the castles that contain "books", and in-between levels. This can become
an annoyance when you have health items in your inventory you must use right now, but you can't access them because you
can't assign it away from the books.. However, money and weapons can be transferred between all 6 of the playable characters
in the main menu, but only certain weapons and items can be used by certain characters. Also, while I know the visual style
was necessary for the game design, it can make certain enemies and traps hard to see. I don't know how many times I have
been damaged by a plant I didn't see until after I hit it. Another issue I had with the game is its difficulty. Playing
the solo campaign is so much harder than playing through the exact same levels cooperatively, and that may be a little daunting
for some players.
Minor gripes aside, I found Castlevania: Harmony of Despair to be a very fun hack-n-slash platformer that gives us a different
take on the franchise. It was definitely designed for the Xbox Live co-op audience and has a little something for everyone.
Go hunt some monsters. You'll have a good time doing it.
by seth revell
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