Summary
An enjoyable, but merely average entry to the series.
The Good
If you've ever played Castlevania before, specifically Symphony of the Night, you'll get what's going on here very quickly. Harmony of Dissonance sticks very much to the formula that its predecessors laid out for it, and that's mostly a good thing. You play the role of Juste Belmont, who's taken on the family responsibility of keeping the vampires in check. In this particular adventure, you and your friend Maxim are charged with exploring a mysterious castle that has (yep, you guessed it) appeared out of the mist.
...I wonder if Dracula's involved?
Okay, recycled storyline aside, the game play of HOD is pretty solid. The castle is laid out on one gigantic map much like prior Castlevania games, and within it you'll find plenty of items including sub weapons like axes and daggers, equippable gear like armor and boots, and, of course, monsters. Lots of monsters.
The variety of creatures you face off with during the course of the game is pretty impressive. There's also a healthy number of boss battles to be fought, and all the critters, big and small, are quite pleasing to the eye. A lot of artistic direction went into the graphics that represent your enemies, and it helps keep the game interesting.
For people who enjoy unlocking things, HOD offers a few decent Easter eggs. A boss battle mode becomes available once you finish the game for the first time, and there's a bestiary which keeps track of the monsters you've killed, along with descriptions and potential weaknesses. The weirdest diversion this game has to offer is the collectibles, which are random items of furniture and interior design that are dispersed around the castle, which, when collected, help to decorate a particular empty room in the castle. Every time you visit that room, any collectibles that you've attained since your last visit will be placed accordingly. Interesting, but kinda strange...especially for a Castlevania game.
The Bad
It's not hard to see that Konami wanted to capture the same feel for this game that they had for Symphony of the Night. Unfortunately, by comparison, Harmony of Dissonance feels distinctly average. Even though the platforming jumping, puzzles, and combat live up to the Castevania name, I just could shake the feeling that I've done all of this before, and there wasn't anything particularly new here.
I also cry foul to the design chosen for your main character, Juste Belmont, who, for no apparent reason, looks more like a vampire than anything else you encounter during the entire game. The grayish skin, white hair, and over-the-top Victorian outfit just don't seem to be the stylings of a vampire hunter. If I could hazard a guess, I would say that Juste's look is heavily inspired by Alucard from Symphony of the Night, but why, Konami, why would you make a character look exactly like an existing character from the same series?
The bosses of HOD, although nice to look at, fail to pose much of a challenge to you through the course of the game. For most of them, you can prime up your most powerful spell or sub weapon and blast away until the creature is toast. Though the easily frustrated among us will certainly appreciate not having to spend hours trying to figure out how to beat a certain enemy, most of us (specifically Castlevania fans, who are used to some pretty stiff competition) will feel unsatisfied from the challenge this game has to offer.
One final, quick note: the music in this game is positively horrible. Keep the volume low.
The Bottom Line
While the core design of Harmony of Dissonance shows a lot of potential to make a truly memorable Castlevania, the final product, with the flaws that it has, bumps this title down to a simply passable platform adventure game. Nothing is so wrong with it that it's completely unplayable, but Castlevania fans are used to a higher standard of game than what's presented here. Some casual gamers might enjoy Harmony of Dissonance, but most will probably want something more substantial to sink their teeth into.
