Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

August 2nd, 2010 at 8:51 am -

There’s nothing so satisfying as storming a castle, overcoming tons of terrible monsters and devious traps, and defeating a badass boss. It’s even better if you are collecting gold and items that will make subsequent runs easier. Diablo II was a great game that encouraged multiple runs through dungeons and rewarded players for the time they put in with new gear, and the latest entry in the Castlevania series is trying to take the same route. Harmony of Despair is built around the same idea, and the execution of the ‘run dungeon = get stuff’ mechanic works so well it’s surprising that it has taken Konami so long to try it out.

Harmony of Despair isn’t your typical Castlevania game. While the mechanics are essentially the same as other recent Castlevania titles, the scope of the game is wildly different. You won’t be spending tons of hours in one big castle this time around. Instead, the game is broken into 6 distinct chapters. Each chapter is a totally different castle, complete with its own enemies and traps. As each level begins, you get to see the whole castle and can begin to plan your route to the boss. And if you forget or get lost, the devs have made things easy; at any time you can click the right stick to change the level of zoom. You’ve got 3 choices to work with: the up-close camera common to Castlevania games, a medium range where you can see a bit more of the castle (perfect for traversing rooms that have already been cleared of enemies) and a view of the entire castle (great for planning a route or finding your way when lost, but largely impractical for actually playing the game.)

As each level begins, you get 30 minutes on the clock. In this amount of time you have to traverse the castle and make your way to the boss room, defeating whatever boss monster awaits you there. Moving through the castle is pure Castlevania: pick a direction and stick with it until you come to a dead end, then backtrack and try to find your way around or look for a switch to open your way. Especially on your first try or two, 30 minutes will likely not be enough time to complete your task.

Running out of time or dying results in failure, and you will fail often. The game is specifically made with the player’s failure in mind, and you keep all the gold and items that you found during your run. Before you go in for another try you can visit the shop and buy some new gear or healing items and equip them. Items have to be equipped to an item slot like any other piece of gear, so there’s a bit of strategy in choosing what sort of items you want (restore HP, restore MP, etc.) and how many to bring along.

Each of the 5 playable characters – Soma Cruz, Alucard, Jonathan Morris, Shanoa, and Charlotte Aulin – are from previous Castlevania games and have many of the same powers and abilities as they did in their original incarnations. Every character also has a number of different colored costumes to choose from so you won’t be confused when all 6 players decide to play as Alucard.

The ability to tackle a level with 6 people is the best thing about Harmony of Despair, and will likely serve as a gateway for many people to get into the Castlevania series. Being able to play with a friend and have them teach you the ropes is a brilliant addition. Even better is the fact that your characters are persistent between single- and multiplayer, so if your friends are way ahead you’ll still be able to catch up on your own time.

Playing with friends is great, but the inclusion of score leaderboards means that even as you are crusading against Dracula and his minions together, you’ll be competing against each other for leaderboard spaces. After a particularly good run you can even save a replay video to share on the leaderboards, or download videos of people who are above you and learn their high score secrets. The inclusion of the bestiary that lets you know how many points each type of enemy is worth is also a nice touch, and makes Harmony of Despair a dream game for people who enjoy chasing leaderboard positions.

When you finish the game once, your journey doesn’t have to be over. Upon completion of the game, you’ll unlock ‘Hard Mode’, a second run through that is far more difficult and has its’ own leaderboards. The game has a fairly difficult normal mode, but hard mode is a nice addition for people who finish the normal mode and just want more. Masochists and people with something to prove will likely love the ability to kick things up a notch as well.

The biggest complaint that people have had about this game is the use of recycled art assets. Ever character, enemy, room, and boss is an HD upgrade of something that appeared earlier in the series. As such, if you’re an avid Castlevania fan there’s nothing new or particularly impressive to see here. Even the bosses and rooms that are particularly cool are things you may have seen before, but the the HD upgrade has everything looking great up on the big screen.

Summer of Arcade 2010 is in full swing and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair continues the trend of quality set forth by the previous two titles, LIMBO and Hydro Thunder Hurricane. It’s easy to recommend Castlevania, and the amount of time you’ll put in makes it more than worth the price of admission. Grab a friend, grab your favorite vampire killing tools, and put the Count back in his coffin.

Score: 9 out of 10