When viewing the map, Castle A, Castle B, or an overlap of the two can be chosen. It’s all kind of just one ledge after another. Level design seems a little hasty at best, and the platforming elements are repeated again and again. However, if you’ve been around the block a few times, the cracks will start to appear and Harmony of Dissonance will begin to feel a lot like “Castlevania-lite.” For starters, the layout isn’t nearly as intricate as before. If you’re new to the series, you’ll be able to take most aspects of the game at face value. The game is still fun to play, it just has a bit of a “been there, done that” feel to it. Even the idea of “relics” are reused, and while several may have different names, they serve identical functions to those in SotN. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the inclusion of such elements, but it does tend to feel a little too much like Symphony of the Night at times. Whereas the number of the items and their availability were scaled back for Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance copies SotN in a more straightforward manner, complete with in-game currency and a shop (well, multiple shops really) in the castle. Maxim’s role and identity are initially shrouded in mystery, while he slowly regains bits and pieces of his memory during his time in the castle and his occasional run-ins with Juste.Ī background taken directly from Symphony of the Night.Īnother concept taken directly from SotN is the inventory system. The two establish that their childhood friend Lydie Erlanger has been kidnapped and soon find Dracula’s castle where they set off to find her. Maxim has been away for some time, and returns badly injured with little memory of the past 2 years of his life. Juste Belmont, at 16, is now the current wielder of the Vampire Killer whip, and he runs into an old friend named Maxim Kischine. The year is 1748, 50 years after Simon’s latest adventure. Although not explicitly stated, one can infer that Juste is probably the grandfather of Richter based on the dates given in various games. Our hero, Juste Belmont, is the grandson of Simon, which places this installment firmly between the events of Simon’s exploits in Castlevaniaand Castlevania II, and Richter’s era spanning Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. Whereas the previous Circle of the Moon took place back in the 1800s with a wholly different subset of vampire hunters, Harmony of Dissonance better interconnects with other established plot points and brings us back to the Belmont family. The original Castlevania storyline bounces all over the place from release to release, and this game is no different. However, even the most non-discriminating gamers will notice that Harmony of Dissonance is a bit of a different animal after logging an hour or so of gameplay. Superficially, the games are quite similar, and if you were merely watching someone play both games, you’d be hard pressed to point out any major differences. I just finished Circle of the Moonnot more than a couple of days ago, and I thought that I’d be in store for more of the same with Harmony of Dissonance. Say what you will, I don’t care, I did what I did and I had fun doing it. As per the norm, I chose not to beef up my stats or inventory from the beginning, but instead to give myself an edge by using codes for infinite health, hearts, and magic. I also employed the use of the elusive GameShark SP to make things a bit easier for me. When the concept totally bombed, the company took the franchise back into the realm of exploratory 2D sidescrollers with RPG elements, a genre/style that would be coined “Metroidvania.” Circle of the Moon, the predecessor to Harmony of Dissonance, began a long line of SotN clones and also kicked off a trilogy of Castlevania games on the Game Boy Advance.įor the record (and if you’ve been keeping up with these reviews with any frequency you probably already know what I’m about to say), I spent the majority of my time playing Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance not on a GBA, but on the big screen with the help of my GameCube and Game Boy Player. Top 10 Castlevania Games You May Never Have Playedĭeveloper: Konami Computer Entertainment TokyoĪfter the sleeper hit Symphony of the Night, Konami took a(n expected) stab at 3D with the N64 games Castlevania(colloquially referred to as Castlevania 64 to avoid confusion with the original) and Legacy of Darkness. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD
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