[XBOX 360] Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

 

 

 

Harmony of Despair is a game in the long line of Castlevania games, its very similar to the classic Symphony of the Night but this game has a unique twist where its specifically focused on co-op multiplayer

Theres 6 levels of gigantic maze maps where the goal is to find the boss and kill it. Theres also chests all around which give you new items , because the game has RPG mechanics as well.

You start off on level one going around collecting chests to find new equipment, you're pretty weak in the beginning and items play a significant role in how well you do. Before every stage, you have an intermission screen where you can buy new weapons and armor , you play the stages collecting gold to be able to upgrade yourself.

The game has a good first impression, the graphics and spritework is very impressive and visually appealing, the controls are great and its one of the few co-op sidescrolling platformer RPG type games, and I think the only co-op Castlevania game. The enemy designs and variety is just amazing theres so many different monsters and their animations and sprites are great

However the game has critical flaws which almost ruin the fun for me.
Level one alone took us more than an hour of just dying over and over and going back to the store to buy items, we had to grind.

Thats ok, but the real problem is the other levels.
The level design is pretty awful. Its like those paper maze maps where you draw a line to the end of the maze.
The levels start to be gigantic, with hundreds of different possible routes and rooms. And theres only one specific route which you need to take to the boss.
The bulk of the game is just spent wandering around from room to room trying to figure out what the correct path is to take to the boss, long after all the enemies are dead.
"Where the fuck do we go" is the main gameplay.
On all the levels except stage 1 and 6 you start off separated from your teammates which is strange, but we managed to meetup.
But just the level design ruined a lot of fun in this game.
Level 4 in particular was the worst level in the game, having all of these paintings you can jump into, which teleport you around the map at seemingly random, which wasted so much of our time. We would get so close to the boss, not know what to do next, jump into one of the teleport paintings, and get sent across the map to wander around some more. Just really boring.

The bosses are also really trial and error, its unlikely youll ever finish it on first attempt, you need to learn the moves and exactly what to do. We had to look up how to beat the boss of level 3, because it turns out you have to hit a switch somewhere and go stand on a bridge instead of fighting him at the first part.
We also could not beat the final boss and had to open a public lobby for some overpowered pro to come in and finish it for us.

So while all the mechanics of the game are great, the platforming, controls, its fun to collect gold and buy new items, its fun to get chests and get new gear, the enemys are cool and maps look good, unfortunately the level design ruins it with too much "Where do i go" moments.

5/10