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Intro  Returning
with a vengeance, Konami brings the world of Castlevania back to the Game
Boy Advance with Harmony of Dissonance. It has been 50 years since legendary
monster-killer Simon Belmont vanquished Dracula. It seems destined that the Belmonts
will never have peace as Simon's descendant, Juste Belmont, is called to hunt
down Dracula's relics. After Juste's friend Maxim returns battered and bruised
from a long journey, his failing memory can only recall that their childhood friend,
Lydia, had been kidnapped. With only the location of a castle in mind, they both
set out to save their old friend. Join Juste in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance,
one of the best platformers to date.Gameplay: 9.5/10 Castlevania has always had a strong lineage. Ever since the days of the NES, players have been hunting down Dracula and his band of demons. Over the years, the series has seen some improvements and tweaks to enhance the original style, whether it was by adding outdoor levels with night and daytime, magical powers, dashes, etc. While there was a brief and disappointing stint in 3D, Konami wisely chose to return the series back to its 2D roots with the North American release of Symphony of the Night. While not much has changed since that outing, the game's core design has been balanced so well that it borders on perfection. In this outing, players will control Juste who, like Simon and the others before him, is a capable vampire-killer with an affinity for whips and is an expert with axes, holy water, boomerang crosses, and whatever else he can get to magically pop out of candles. Along with dashes that allow to quickly avert danger both in front and behind him, Juste can also learn other abilities like the always-handy double jump and the slide. Along with this arsenal, various articles of clothing and armor will be found during the journey that can be worn to upgrade his statistics, along with whip enhancements that can add extra damage with fire, lightening, and so on. Spell books are also laying about the castle and the magic within will work alongside sub-weapons to bring forth thunderous winds, ice blasts, and other monster-killing goodies. The relics that must be hunted down are particularly useful to Juste as they will unlock extra features, whether they are physical such as the slide and double jump, or informative, such as enemy damage, their names, types, and so on. All of these items play an integral role in Juste's journey of survival through the castle as it's packed with bloody-thirsty monstrosities. Old favorites like zombies, bats, and bone-throwing skeletons make their return, but new oddities like the ape skeleton that throws exploding kegs as well as some revamped crossbone-throwing skeletons sporting some hot pink adornments; if Dracula thought that dragging out hypercolor-style neon tones would throw players off their game, he was right. Along the way, Juste will have several encounters with Maxim who will slowly degrade into insanity, and the fallen enemies will make way to level-ups that will build to the final encounter. The story is told in a timely manner with appearances by Death to help break up the spots where Maxim goes missing and the castle layout is well done to allow for a balanced portion of save points - where health can replenish, but that requires the player to save - along with caches of power-ups to combat the increasingly deadlier enemies. I found one puzzle particularly weird as it had no real explanation of what was needed or why, though that was the only time I had a problem. Everything is laid out so that progression is at a consistent pace, and the castle map helps with documenting unexplored areas and save points. One small thing that got to me was that the items aren't random, so it's possible to find a candle that gives 100 gold and just keep re-entering the room and getting the gold at the same time; this certainly isn't a problem, but at some points I really could've used a potion or a cure instead of a mini heart or bag of cash. Tack on the fact that the spells are extremely powerful and the game's difficulty isn't much of a challenge - thank Konami for unlockable goodies - and you have the few downsides of what is an excellent title. Those
are really the only problems I had with Harmony of Dissonance. I found
this to be the culmination of years of refinement, with a result that acts as
the perfect example of how a platformer should be. While some may be tired of
the series as its additions have been minor, and veterans might scoff at the difficulty,
the monster-killing still remains a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one that
is well worth partaking in. Graphics:
9/10 Sound:
6.5/10 Control: 9.5/10
Overall:
9/10 [ top ] | |||
