Let me preface this with the fact that I love Castlevania. Aside from a few of the 3D games I think most of the Castlevania games are dang near a perfect 10. Between Super Castlevania on the SNES and Symphony of the Night on PS1 (or Saturn import) I can't tell which is the more perfect game. I love 2D adventures and Castlevania serves up some of the best (Super Metroid still being my favorite).
Okay, so I've been waiting for Harmony of Despair for a few months. I heard they were making a MULTIPLAYER 2d Castlevania and I was pretty well ready to throw down whatever they asked to play this game.
Last night I loaded up the demo and, well, it wasn't good. The first thing I noticed is that I had a goal in the complete opposite corner of the castle and 30 minutes to get there. The next thing I noticed is that I didn't know where I was because I was looking at about 1/4 of the castle. After a great deal of frustration I would find that I could change the zoom by clicking in the right stick. In multiplayer this would be useful to see where everyone is, but in single player I don't see the point. Other than the fact that the boss is shooting lasers out of its mouth all the way across the castle (watch out!).
The demo only allows you to play as Alucard, which is pretty cool since Alucard is pretty much the most bad-ass non-Belmont available throughout the series. I would think they would save him for an unlockable, but whatever works, right?
The gameplay is about as Castlevania as it gets. You can double jump, scoot back, all that, even your downward kick attack (sadly, no gravity boots for super jumps). Pressing down and attack briefly turns you into a wolf, and you can take vapor form, but I couldn't find a use for it. The control maps is almost identical to SotN as well, save that your right hand action is now "Y" and the "B" button is reserved for an equipped spell. The gameplay is just as tight (at least for Alucard) as any other Castlevania. That's a good thing.
Once you've explored the castle a bit you'll find that monsters now are fewer in number, are slightly more powerful, and are no longer restricted to the room in which you found them. This becomes particularly frustrating any time ghosts or Amalaric Snipers show up since they're already difficult to kill.
The next thing you'll find is that you'll have to pull the right trigger to open chests. I don't know why, but you do. And then you'll go into the start menu and find out that the helmet that should be saving your noggin can't be equipped. Nothing can. You have to find a room slightly like a save room to equip anything or swap out your items. While this makes almost sense in a practical way (since Alucard and his buddies shouldn't be able to carry around 87 swords, 36 sets of armor, 45 helmets, and a handful of shitake mushrooms in the first place) but damned if we haven't been spoiled by all the other games! At least let me eat the roasts when I find them!
And before you start thinking of how to make this game 'practical' let me just say that it's not supposed to be practical in any way. If it were practical there couldn't be a half-vampire double jumping around a structurally unsound castle infested with Devils and Mermen. Hell, if I found myself with a whip that slayed zombies and the like you better believe I'd eat the ice cream sitting quaintly in the corner after vanquishing the possessed bookshelf guard.
It may not seem like much, but not being able to equip on the fly really takes away from this game. Perhaps it's something that add to the multiplayer experience, but I have yet to play with anyone. To tell the truth, I got completely stuck in the castle after exploring for ten minutes. I found every dead end and impassibly high wall, got frustrated and turned off the machine. Then turned it back on and killed zombies in Dead Rising in a vain attempt to make up for the time I lost NOT killing undead in Harmony of Despair.
Harmony of Despair is 1200 MS points, or $15 in the US. That's half the price of a DS Castlevania game and I still can't see buying it unless a few friends had already taken the plunge to see if the multiplayer is even worth it. And being that I'm probably the biggest fan of Castlevania in my various circles that will likely never happen.
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