Cheap Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance (Video Games) (Game Boy Advance) Price

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Customer Reviews of Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance

Graphics: A HUGE IMPROVEMENT OVER THE FIRST GAME. Here, Konami (not some independent agency) did the graphics themselves, and that was a smart decision. And, of course, the screen is much brighter than the previous game. 4/5

Play Control: Exactly what you'd expect from Castlevania - Simplistic but solid control. If you've played any other game in the series, you know what to expect. 4.5/5

Challenge: The game itself isn't extremely challenging (if you go into battles with a ton of recovery items, don't expect to lose.) The real challenge comes from hunting down all of the Castle's secret areas, so that you can achieve a one hundred percent rating. 4/5

Theme/Fun: With the exceptions of a few blunders, Castlevania games have always been among the best games out there. And finally, we get a portable Castlevania adventure that is worth playing! Unfortunately, the game gets VERY CONFUSING, because you must travel back and forth between two castles in separate universes, and you must also do a lot of backtracking. But still, it's a good game. Expect to put many hours into playing it. 4/5

Sound/Music: Good sounds that match their respective causes, and good music. Many of the tunes are reprises of ones from classic Castlevania adventures. Every tune matches the mood of the game well. Unfortunately, as another reviewer stated, the ACTUAL QUALITY of the sounds takes a hit. 3/5

Storyline: A young man's friend is having some bad amnesia, and can't remember why he came to the castle. And there's something about a girl. Storyline is probably this game's greatest weakness. 2.5/5

Originality: This game isn't nearly as innovative as its predecessor. Rather than being a wildly original game, it just sticks to the tried and true formula of the older games, and that's a good thing for the most part. 2/5

Replay Value: Once you've completed the game, there really aren't huge incentives to play through again. 2/5

Overall: 4/5 - Whoever tells you that the days of the side-scrolling platformer are numbered obviously hasn't played this game yet. Of all the GBA launch games, this game's predecessor was by far the finest one, and this one will give you more of the same thrills that title did. If you're a Castlevania fan, or even if you're a newbie to the series just looking for some good classic gameplay, you've come to the right place.

If you liked Circle of The Moon
Konami has been bringing us Castlevania games for over a decade now. From the first adventure on the NES, which introduced us to the Belmont legacy to the classic Symphony of the Night on the PSX and amazing Circle of the Moon on the GBA, Castlevania has always been one of the best series around and every game showcased something new and grand - upped the ante if you will. Harmony of Dissonance isn't bad in any way. It simply isn't as good as the classics before it.

Don't get me wrong, Harmony of Dissonance is not a bad game, but it's not without it's flaws. Major flaws. After hours of playing this game, these flaws will become obvious to you as well.

Harmony of Dissonance plays much like Circle of the Moon. You run around a huge maze-like castle, beating enemies with your whip and special items like the holy or the axe. When you beat a boss, typically, you can go onto the next level, you gain some new ability that allows you to progress into the castle, be it a double jump, wall jump, etc.

Harmony of Dissonance takes a good deal from SoTN or CoTM and puts a twist on it. There are different weapons you can get, there is now a code book instead of DSS cards, there is an alternate dungeon. All of this is well and good, but there simply isn't enough new about this game to warrant a purchase Unless you're a die-hard Castlevania fan.

The music flat out [stinks]. Anyone telling you anything else is either lying or tone-deaf. And it's not just that the music is low, NES quality, it's that the compositions are dull, some of them are downright annoying. Gives double meaning to the subtitle Harmony of Dissonance.

The graphics are upgraded from CoTM, and all in all it's an improvement. The characters and enemies are now easy to see and there are some neat graphical and rotation effects with the bosses. Some nice stuff.

But graphics and sound aren't what makes a game. Even though I hate the sound and love the graphics, I won't let that alter my score. I'm grading this game on gameplay. The gameplay is where it's all at. And this is where Harmony of Dissonance is lacking. The castle design in Circle of the Moon is far superior. In Harmony of Dissonance you'll find yourself wandering aroung for hours, partly due to poor maps, sometimes having to walk across half the castle to get to where you want to go. And when walking across the castle takes five minutes each time or more, it gets to be annoying.

Okay, so that part's not that bad. The thing that really degrades the game for me is that it's way too easy. In past Castlevania games, you got to a boss, and he was a challenge blocking your way. You had to memorize complex patterns to show him who's boss. In Harmony of Dissonance, most bosses are insanely easy, follow the simplest of patterns, and take off only a smidgen of health when they hit you. [lame]. I don't like frustrating, but I don't like feeling cheated, either. And well, it's a Castlevania game- IT SHOULDN'T BE EASY!!

All in all, this isn't a bad game. If it was the first Castlevania game, it would be brilliant, but most of the game simply seems to be what the game designers loved about previous Castlevania games. One of the problems with the game is that it's a rehash, and it plays way too similar to old Castlevania games. And it's too easy. Way too easy for a Castlevania game. Next thing you know, we're gonna see an easy Contra game...

Castlevania continues it's reign of quality
The Castlevania series are my favorites, for sure, and this one's another gem for the collection.This one's about Juste Belmont, blood descendant of Simon Belmont,a master vampire hunter who has slayed the Count on multiple occassions. The plot is different than just slaying Drac though. Juste's friend Lydie has disappeared within the walls of Castlevania, and Juste and
his childhood friend Maxim Kischne set out to find her, yet everything ends up going awry somehow...Just to boot, Maxim's body is invaded by Dracula's spirit...BUT...The real aim of this game is to find all of Dracula's Remains (Fang, Tooth, Nail, Ring, Eye, Heart) though most players will not realize this without help from a strategy guide of sorts...

As for the actual review, there are a variety of things right and wrong with this game. To boot, we have superb graphics, boasting some of the most vivid, easy-on-the-eyes background scenery on the Game Boy Advance, but the blue aura surrounding Juste makes him seem somewhat out of place. Not to mention when he walks and jumps, he seems like he's magnetically attracted to the ground-but that's a completely seperate problem!

The castle is huge. There's so much to explore, and I'm glad they brought back the teleporter system, which predecessor Circle of the Moon sloppily butchered. There are two castles, one being a harder version of the other (a Symphony of the Night element.) with greater puzzles and challenges. Everything's easy to adjust to, and it never seems like you have to guess where you're going, which is another thing Circle of the Moon did wrong. Also brought back is the currency system with the Merchant's Shop though the items are a little cheap...which can add or take away challenge depending on what the player wants...even though the game is challenging without being strenuous as it is.

The music is well orchestrated, but the sound quality is a throwback to the days of NES. A select few compositions are simply superb, while the rest are mediocre. Listen closely for the one in the Sky Walkway, which is haunting. Moving on...

The bosses are redundant and often pointless (Getting a jewel that inreases MP restoration rate for getting rid of one of the game's harder bosses for example...and MP is not important) but some are unique and well-thought of (the Devil, for example.) Death (Grim Reaper) also makes a lovely appearance (or four) One thing they stole from Symphony, however, that they shouldn't have is the cheesy dialouge. Yes, it's back. Misplaced curse words and utterly stupid scriptwriting at some points add a flavor of kiddy gameplay to the game- not that the game is, however, a kiddy game. My biggest qualm, however, is that the game is simply a pain (...) few points, if that tells you anything. Some enemies have no pattern to them, hence, they're so unpredictable that it makes the game frustrating. But you'll adjust over time, and the good far outweighs the bad. The best of the three Castlevania GBA games, by far, if simply for the replay value (very, very high...) and the overall quality. It would have made a successful Playstation game. The 2nd best in the series, in my opinion, even with the negative points.

BOTTOM LINE: Harmony of Fun
GRADE: A