Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

Reviewed by Jason Venter (August 02, 2010)

This game wouldn't defeat me, I told myself, not with its very first stage. For once I was even right. Two hours later, I finally had my victory. Along the way I had memorized attack patterns, grown better at my double jumps and I had found the shortest and safest route from the stage entrance to the boss chamber. With better equipment and an actual plan, I won my first round and progressed to the second stage... where steel traps impaled me, men erupted in plumes of poison and walls of flame threatened to burn me to a crisp. Remember what it used to feel like to play a Castlevania game? The people at Konami clearly do.

Reviewed by JANUS2 (August 14, 2010)

Every Castlevania has its iconic hero, a lone warrior whose duty it is to follow in an ancient tradition of vampire killers. Simon Belmont. John Morris. Richter Belmont. Alucard. Each one of these heroes has made the solitary journey through the horrors of Castle Dracula, fighting valiantly through the Clock Tower, the underground dungeon, the Marble Corridors and Royal Chapel before climbing the stairs to the Count’s throne room. It is here that each of these lone individuals fulfils the...