Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Game » consists of 3 releases. Released Aug 04, 2010
Take control of various protagonists from the series's history in this downloadable 2D platformer featuring both online co-operative mulitplayer (for up to six players at a time) and extremely large levels.
Short summary describing this game.
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5 (2) 4 (11) 3 (6) 2 (4) 1 (0) 3.5 starsAverage score of 23 user reviews
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Castlevania: HD. The Good the Bad and the Undead. 10
Castlevania: HD. Sitting down to play Castlevania: Harmony of Dispair, I was excited to play a new side-scrolling Castlevania in the style of Metriod. All the way back to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Konami has been delivering ways to keep fans interested, and intrigued when playing each new interaction of this style of gameplay. After a while however, with this installment, I feel confused. I want to like it, but there are so many drawbacks to it as well. Graphics Visually, ...
20 out of 23 found this review helpful. -
Co-op can't save everything 1
The Castlevania franchise has been incredibly stubborn when it comes to trying new things, but I thought that with a new-found focus on cooperative play that all might change with Harmony of Despair. And it kind of does- but unfortunately the changes are all for the worst. Harmony of Despair can be an okay time waster when played with a few friends, but the low quality of the game itself makes it one that is very hard to recommend otherwise. First and foremost, all of the traditional strengths ...
5 out of 5 found this review helpful. -
LFG, Dracula 1
Castlevania is a name that has come to represent a very particular experience. Big castles, tough bosses, and a pretty decent length. When I first caught wind of Harmony of Despair that's what I was expecting, just with more people. As it turns out, Castlevania HD is not that game, but as it turns out that may have been for the best. If this game has taught me anything it's that funneling six people down the same corridor doesn't work. Castlevania HD is at it's best when it has your team workin...
10 out of 15 found this review helpful. -
Overdosing on loot and Somas (Cruz) 0
I’ve spent the last few days indulging in Harmony of Despair and I’m still not exactly certain what exactly Harmony of Despair is trying to be. Is it supposed to be a Diablonian gear-driven fire sale? A co-op adventure where players are made to work together to reach a common, anti-vampire goal? A developer trying to showcase as much low-resolution art on a single screen as humanly possble? An attempt to fill my heart with as much despair as humanly possible? A harmony of desperate guitar riffs?...
6 out of 8 found this review helpful. -
Misunderstood 0
It's probably been said a thousand times already about this game - Multiplayer is a MUST. If you like games like Lost Planet 2 and Monster Hunter, then you'll find a lot to like with this game. It's essentially a boss hunt, but done in the 2D Castlevania universe. And although I seem to be in the minority here – it's awesome fun. There is plenty of loot to be had, enemies to be killed, and the levels are essentially giant mazes to get lost in. The zoom out/in feature is perfect, and allows yo...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
A fantastic multiplayer game that could have been so much more 0
It's difficult to label Harmony of Despair a Castlevania game. Sure, you have the dark setting, you have Death, Dracula, and your whole posse of vampire hunters are there, but the game lacks the traditional Metroidvania formula found in just about every main Castlevania game after Castlevania II. What at first glance appears to be a dirty way for Konami to make money by reusing assets is, in reality, a relatively complex and rewarding experience for those who are able to forgive the game of its ...
2 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
short lived n' small sprites 0
Ever since I was a kid I've been living the castlevania dream. Sometimes staying up all night waiting for the next release. Once again this happened. I remember 1 year ago talking with a friend, saying that symphony of the night would be the ultimate multiplayer game. Everyone could join up, look for all the secrets together, and ultimately unlock everything together, all within the same game. So when I heard this was coming I nearly died in excitement. But now, after staying up all night for it...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Despair: It’s right in the title. 0
There’s a lot to appreciate about Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, as it shifts directions to be the co-op multiplayer game that it tries to be, but it ultimately falls flat on being a cohesive experience that can even alienate even the most die-hard Castlevania fan.Since the beginning of the Castlevania franchise, there has always been the same formulaic foundation to the game - character-action and the simple premise of waltzing right up to Dracula’s Castle, walking inside, then taking down Dr...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Awesome Game, not your SOTN. 0
I have been playing Castlevania: HD for a little while now. I truly enjoy this game. I have played Castlevania since the NES days so I experienced SOTN when it was new. If you buy this game expecting that game you will not like it. This has no story nor does it need it. It's a multiplayer based game. I like the "loot" structure of the game. It fits the gameplay well. For example I keep "farming" Chapter's 5 and 6 to get two Yasatsuna's. The weapon is one of the best in the game. Which ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
What a terrible night to have a curse... 0
This review was originally posted on my own personal blog... just an FYI. http://ricardosgarden.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-rix-review-castlevania-harmony-of.html 2010 seems to be the year of our lord Dracula. Not only is Konami's venerable vampire-killing franchise getting a proper current-gen console release when Lords of Shadow comes out later this year, but during Xbox LIVE's summer of arcade, we're given a unique take on their side-scrolling adventures in the form of Castlevania: Harmony of...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Do not be fooled by the castlevania title 4
Coming from someone who's first experience with Castlevania was the second entry in the series, Simon's Quest, I came into HoD with an open mind since like it's predecessor it had an awful lot of negative opinions of the game but experimented with some new gameplay elements much like Zelda 2 for the NES during its time. However I am a huge fan of castlevania who's played all of the metroidvania titles except for Order of Eclesia and loved them. But let's get down to the point of why this is al...
1 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
When Worlds Collide 0
Released as part of Xbox Live Arcade's annual "Summer of Arcade" series; Kogi Igarashi and Konami returns to bring out a new excellent and unique 2D "Castlevania" game subtitled "Harmony of Despair."The game has well known protagonists from recent Castlevania games including "Aria/Dawn of Sorrow's" Soma Cruz, "Order of Ecclecia's" Shanoa, "Portrait of Ruin's" Johnathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin, and "Symphony of the Night's" Alucard fight through six large stages in Dracula's castl...
1 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
This isn't a sweet Harmony 0
The Castlevania series isn’t known for its’ overhauls. While it took on the form of a Metroid style game with Symphony of the Night to get people to coin the term “Metroidvania”, it has pretty much been the same formula over and over since then, for better or worse. When it was announced that Harmony of Despair would be a multiplayer-driven and not a story-driven game, people raised eyebrows, and those eyebrows can be kept high to some extent knowing that this isn’t exactly the...
1 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
Castlevania at its finest! 0
I'm a huge Castlevania enthusiast and have been playing games in the series for nearly two decades. Note that I have only played it in Single Player mode (Xbox Silver Account). Let's start with this notion - Game is absolutely stunning and engaging, it keeps you hooked. Presentation is fabulous, first time in HD, it looks great! (sprites have not been redrawn so they don't look super crisp but they have transitioned quite well for the first time to current generation consoles, it has a distinc...
1 out of 6 found this review helpful. -
Fun is in the Eye of the Beholder 0
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (hereafter "HoD") is a fascinating core idea plagued by a dozen design decisions that stop it from being something truly great. It is the rare XBLA release that still has a solid multiplayer community some time after release (more than half a year at the time of this review), offering a rare combination of 2D sidescrolling, loot grinding, and speed running that makes it difficult to categorize. Think Diablo, except with the core play mechanics that prove demand...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Review 0
By - Tom M.Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is the game no Castlevania fan asked for. While pleas of a true, HD adventure in the 'Metroidvania' style go unrequited, Koji Igarashi and team at Konami developed what can only be described as Symphony of the Night mixed with Monster Hunter. The focus of this game is the multiplayer which is new territory for the series. The game ultimately reflects its conflicted nature, as there are some genuine bright spots integrated with baffling design choices.In...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Do not play alone! 0
Castlevania HD is a strange title, its clearly aimed at online co-op play and is as much about getting rare loot as anything else, however, it uses assets and mechanics from a series of tradional single player action rpgs and it shows in parts. To break it down to its simplist parts, Castlevania HD is made up of parts of the DS/PSX side scrollers, you can chose from the likes of Alucard or Soma and your aim is to get from where you are on the map to the nasty boss monster sitting usually in th...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Co-op Vampire Hunting 0
I never knew that a platform game could work so well as a online multiplayer game. Other great game in the Castlevania series, some new fresh ideas. Although multiplayer could have been more fleshed out and drop in and drop out co-op would have been nice. It's starts of hard but after a while you soon have better equipment and it's still as much fun every time. For me this is one of those games that gets better over time as you soon figure out all the things you can do and what all the stats me...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
My Case in Favor of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair 0
I've been quite disappointed at the reception this game has been getting from "pro" critics. The way I see it, this is the kind of experimental design many of them would say they want to see more of, but now we see that when something truly innovative comes along, they just throw a fit. It d istinctly sounds like they wrote the game off in as many ways as they could as fast as they could based solely on initial first impressions. I have a theory as to why this is; it seems "pro" game criti...
0 out of 3 found this review helpful. -
Give it a few hours and you get hooked 0
I feel like this game didn't get a fair shake by reviewers due to it's learning curve and investment time needed to really enjoy it. But once you "get it" it comes together pretty well, and it's a blast to play with friends once it comes together. Sort of reminds me of Demon's Souls in that way. I'd say it's a 4/5 but i'm giving it a 5/5 just because we seem to be condemning unforgiving games these days. I hope this changes as it's nice to throw a wrench in things and really challenge the pl...
0 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Friends that slay together, stay together 0
Note: in light of the DLC and updates, I decided to rewrite the review entirely. Like Pokemon, Nintendo's beloved critter-collecting franchise, Castlevania has all the popularity in the world yet the least progression from game to game. The same "Metroidvania" style of using abilities to access other rooms way across the map has still been a staple of the series yet not offering much changes aside from the occasional ability system (cards to souls to glyphs) so I guess it's fitting 2010 saw 2 o...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
There should be more multiplayer online platformers like this 0
Lwppopz8/10 I never knew that a platform game could work so well as a online multiplayer game. Other great game in the Castlevania series, some new fresh ideas. Although multiplayer could have been more fleshed out and drop in and drop out co-op would have been nice. It's starts of hard but after a while you soon have better equipment and it's still as much fun every time. For me this is one of those games that gets better over time as you soon figure out all the things you can do and what al...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
The Castlevania you didn't know. 0
Loot is in chests. Everyone loves loot. Castlevania has always been one of my gaming soft spots. Not only did it introduce me to insanely asinine enemies and heinous staircases, but it presented an addictive atmosphere riddled with mythological monsters, magic, and absolutely rockin’ music. When I heard Harmony of Despair was going to combine all my favorite Castlevania heroes under a six-player multiplayer banner, I calmly excused myself, promptly stepped through an alternate dimensi...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful.
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