For anyone who has tinkered with the Castlevania series since the good old NES days, you’ll probably jump for joy once you get your hands on Xbox Live’s next chapter of the series – Castlevania: Harmony Of Despair. Bringing back all of the side scrolling, annoyingly difficult action from the past, Castlevania is a great throwback to a legendary series. However, if you are a newbie to the game, you may want to save your loot and try something else.
Review
First things first, Castlevania looks absolutely nothing like a game you would find on Xbox 360. What you get is a pixelated look that is pretty lousy if you are attempting to compare it to anything on the 360. But it’s an honorable throwback to those who truly care about the series. It’s nothing more and nothing less than that.
If you are still interested once you get past the obvious, it becomes all about the gameplay. It handles like your typical side scrolling game. You jump, attack and throw stuff. That’s about it. Again, if you’re familiar, this is fine. Where the game becomes a headache is trying to figure out exactly what does what in the game. There’s no real instruction manual. You just fire up the game and are hacking and slashing. You’ll come across weapons, magic and gear, but trying to figure out how they work is a nightmare. Eventually – after much trial and error – you’ll figure out what is what and it is all smooth sailing. That is, until you realize that playing this game by yourself is an absolute no-no.
Castlevania: Harmony Of Despair was made specifically for six players to play together online. Each level is pretty large and you’ll have 30 minutes to get to the end and defeat the boss. By yourself it is almost impossible and simply no fun. But with friends, it’s pretty interesting. There will be certain items you won’t be able to access without a partner. The bosses are increasingly difficult and it will take a team to defeat them. On the single player mode, if you die, it’s a wrap. Whereas when you are playing with others, if you die, you will become a skeleton that can still fight until someone revives you with the “Water of Life.”
Recommendation
Simply put, Castlevania is for the die hard side scrolling gamer who has been enamored with the title over the years. Playing in online with a time is pretty fun and offers a good bit of challenge. But if none of this appeals to you, steer clear.
Pros
- If you like old school Castlevania, you’ll love this
- Multi-player is a blast
- Pretty challenging
Cons
- Graphics leave much to be desired
- Not for newbies to the series
- Instructions? We don’t need no stinking instructions (actually we do…we really do)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
