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Easier than the last.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As said in many reviews, HoD is much easier than it's predecessor Circle of the Moon.

Having played through both CotM and HoD, I must say that HoD is much easier to handle. I'm not saying just in gameplay, but also in graphics. CotM's small player makes him hard to spot in the screen at times, and gives the gamer an eyesore from straining at the screen.

Though this game doesn't have the many cards as the CotM, in HoD, you search out special items that help you in your quest to defeat Maxim. In addition, there's a side-quest where you collect antiquities to adorn Juest's room (something to do if you're really bored, but not essential to the game).

I enjoyed HoD quite alot and am going to go get the next game in the series, Aria of Sorrow!

Good game but terrible replay value

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is probably my least favorite Castlevania in the RPG series (this title, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon, and Portrait of Ruin). The gameplay is just about as good as the other 5 games but due to the lack of new-game-plus (which means extras when you beat the game) this game is not easy to pick up once you beat it. the other problem (which is related to the lack of replay value) is that the game is hard and it is tough to figure out where to go next (which leaves players frustrated and want to throw out their GBA or DS out the window). this is why I give the overall rating of 3 stars. Each of the other ones have great replay values (like Circle of the moon has certain names you can choose so that you can have higher strength or magic or whater than when you first played the game without any secrets or Aria and Dawn of Sorrow have you keep your most powerful weapons even when you beat the game, Portait of Ruin had more weapons than just a whip, and even though Symphony of the Night didn't have the best secrets, it has great replay value and it's just that great of a game overall)

Even though it's still a good game, just think twice before you purchase this game. If you get the 2 in 1 game (this game and Aria of Sorrow), I guess that's a little different because there are 2 games in one cartridge and even if this game isn't played often, at least the cart gets a little more attention.

A decent enough game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I dunno. Four days after buying this game, I'm still not sure if I really liked it. The gameplay's great, and I *think* I like the simplified magical system.
The biggest problem is the "What do I do now?" factor. The bizarre non sequiturs, like jumping through a seemingly solid wall to get an item needed to progress. Going to random, far-away (it's a huge castle!) places looking for a key needed to get to the next section of the game (and then trying to figure out which locked door the key goes to.) It's not a difficult game, just frustrating and a little unfair, since there's very few clues provided by the game. It's like the game makers said, "Hey, just toss em something randomly and let THEM figure it out - it'll increase play time!" Sure, but I don't like spending my play time frustrated.
The graphics are great. Sound's not THAT lame, but it's not CotM. Controls are just as good as the previous games. Ah,it could've been a classic game, had it been better designed.

Harmony of Difficulty

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's hard for me to offer this game a complete review because I've developed this bizarre love/hate relationship with it. I feel drawn to this game and I love it despite the jarring flaws the game has. There's more to love about it then there is to hate, however, as it is the best Castlevania since Symphony of the Night, hands down... its also a very difficult game, and being a master of Castlevania games that's saying a lot.
There are games I'm not very good at. I'm only moderately good Mario games, I've only ever beaten one Sonic game, and I am terrible at First Person Shooters, especially the mouse and keyboard control variety. Castlevania games, however, are one series that no matter how difficult they can be, I usually can clear them pretty quickly because I'm good at them. I'm an expert... in short; I should have beaten this game by now. I have 86% of the map covered, but can't get any further, not because I don't know where to go, but because those paths are blocked and I have no idea how to remove the obstacles that have impeded my progress. This is unusual for a Castlevania game to do to me. In the past such obstacles were easily removed by finding the switch, or using the correct spell, or in even older Castlevanias, whipping the blockade. Such does not appear to be the case in this one.
Enemies in this game are not so easily pushed over, unless they're bosses, oddly enough. I have found myself doing quite a bit of leveling up in order to survive the harsh halls of the latest castle as it may seem like a walk in the park to battle the bosses, but the average enemies have a distinct advantage over Juste at first, and that's something that will have you desperately seeking save points (which refill your health) and using potions... thankfully I found a luck charm which allowed me to collect quite a few of those, but despite that I still got hit hard enough to kill me before I could use them.
This game feels like a mix of classic Castlevania with the newer RPG style. I don't know how or why, maybe it's because old school Castlevania is this hard, and harder, of course that makes me more determined to beat it.
The biggest draw back to this game, ironically, is its uninspired NES style music. The music selections of this game are horrid, but thankfully forgettable. I was really disappointed that Konami didn't at least compose decent midis like they did with Circle of the moon.
Graphically the game is light years ahead of its predecessor, but I'm still convinced that GameBoy Advance can look better, as Juste has quite a lot of jagged edges that could have been smoothed out, and he looks too much like Alucard. It would have been nice to have an original design for the character. Maybe there's a plot point that covers that. Perhaps Simon Belmont married Dracula's daughter? Hopefully there is an explanation; otherwise I'd have to dock the game points for lacking originality... which the game play does not lack.
It's strange how they always come up with something new to keep the new style CV games fresh. I had feared that this style would grow as stale as classic CV games have, but if they continue to conceive innovative new magic systems, and new challenges like this it may last several more years yet. Although I do still believe these games can be and should be done, perhaps on GameCube?

Go get this game....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania:Harmony of Dissonance is even better than Circle of the Moon. Colorful graphics you can see now, Engaging gameplay, lotsa monsters to kill. My only gripe was the music which was a minor gripe. Other than that, this new Castlevania is awesome.
What are you waiting for? Go out and buy this game!!!

One Badace Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I ordered this game from Amazon and so far I have put about 8 hours of play time into it and it's non stop action with a great plot. Its has good ol, SNES style graphix of ye olden day and its great fun. Its not too chalenging, in fact one of its weak points may be its a little on the easy side but there is a harder mode available after you beat it. Another downfall would be the sound; it doesnt have great sound. Its has pretty good effects, its very easy to see the level and the player unlike the other GBA castlevania: Symphony of the Moon. You have an inventory and many items and equipment that you can upgrade as you get further up. You have experience levels. Its got all the fun stuff about an RPG but with realtime side-scrolling style combat. ... lots of playing time you can put it with a lotta secrets and a good plot to follow as well...

Review from a classic prospective.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

A little background on me and this series. I first played Castlevania on the origional Mac, which was and still is a classic. I followed this by playing the origional on the first GameBoy.

So, I get a new GBA/SP and one of the first games I have to try is C:HOD. First impression was WOW what great graphics. So I plow into the game and find all sorts of new features such as level based improvments to your attack's, spellbooks, and much more. I think it improves the gameplay in most respects. So why didn't I give the game 5 stars?

Basicly the reason is I found that, unlike the origional games, I realy never died. Dying often was a BIG part of the first games. So ehtier this game is dialed down in skill level, or the same level based improvmets that I like so well are overbalanced in favor of the player.

The only other nagging thing I find with this game is althouth you can save anywhere (Kudo's to the developers). You restore back to the same place in the level every time. So if you do short playing sessions you spend a good ammount of time getting back to the 'meat' of the game.

Overall do the problems overcome the classic gameplay? The answer is NO not at all! Anyone that has enjoyed the classic games will feel right at home here.

hot damn

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

the game really isn't that bad, only complaint is it's difficulty. i don't think i died at all when against the bosses, no strategy was needed either...just threw crosses wildly and the thing will find it's way to death. and another thing is that you start off with the dash move. now those are the only flaws of the game. an interesting thing about the game is having to find the remains of dracula like in simon's quest. finding these is actually one of the things that they make challenging. another thing that adds value is that there are two castles within the game, castle a and castle b. they have seperate enemies and different items. map completing has become one of the things i like about recent castlevanias. this game is good for anyone that has grown to love the series, but new players should consider aria of sorrow. aria of sorrow stands as the best gameboy game of the series.

A great adventure at times obscured by myriad blemishes.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Harmony of Dissonance (HoD, for the contraction) begs to be compared with any and every Castlevania game that has appeared since the series began in 1986, but despite the large number of cameos and overall classic feel it is best to ultimately judge this title on its own merits, providing comparisons merely for reference. It accomplishes what it sets out to in providing a gameplay experience that has some incredibly strong points and a variety of goals, but tastes as though it has had some artifical extenders added into the mix.

The GBA's shoulder buttons allow you to dash left or right at nearly any time, setting an emphasis early in the game on making an attack quickly and dashing away. Tellingly, there aren't any poisoned waters you will be collecting a necklace to treat; while many upgrades will be familiar from Circle of the Moon (CotM, Konami's 2001 GBA Castlevania), Harmony of Dissonance adds some of these essential items as whip upgrades and effectively integrates them into the game. In place of CotM's DSS card system is a new Spell Fusion system which allows the player to use only the classic subweapons (a dash of holy water or a thrown axe in your enemy's face) or to pair a subweapon with a particular type of elemental magic to great effect. Inscrutable enemy tolerance/weakness come into play once again, but an Encyclopedia of fallen enemies will help you figure out what's helpful - though the trouble of changing your whip upgrade or Spell Fusion combo is usually greater than simply whipping away at the enemy would be. As a bit of a spoiler, at least one combination allows you to rotate your d-pad to get something extra out of the attack, and it's also possible to use one type of music by itself (though you must lose the subweapon first - can you figure that one out?)

The magic and item systems are responsible for the wealth of "bosses are easy" comments. Played in a traditional fashion without magic or using healing items during battle, Harmony of Dissonance is indeed challenging. Even with some use of the Spell Fusion system against bosses, they absorb many hits before you can finally vanquish them and their attacks often deplete a fourth of your life meter or more.

HoD also differs from Circle of the Moon in that characters are is much larger than in CotM, while areas are smaller in scale and don't feature the same panoramic vistas of that other title. HoD provides, pixel for pixel, more variety and actual content in all areas despite this.

At release, HoD was considered to be a significant step up from CotM in terms of graphics with many highly detailed backgrounds taking the place of CotM's usually repetitive ones (in addition both games have paralax scrolling in many areas). Visibility is now less of an issue with the introduction of the GBA SP and the GB Player, but at the time the "neon castle" approach was very appropriate (it reminds one of the original Rastan arcade game in a way), and fans were relieved for the reprieve against visits to the eye doctor and purchasing Afterburner kits. Harmony goes overboard with tons of large artwork pieces to be found that fill a good section of the screen and many large details filling in parts of the environment - it actually manages to compete with the third GBA Castlevania, Aria of Sorrow. Unfortunately, this game also contains some amazingly ugly and repetitive areas; a few of the game's tallest shafts are nothing but a series of floors to jump onto over and over, with a slow elevator in the middle. Harmony would have been served better to have some of these less interesting areas spruced up a bit; a few superfluous elements to the game should've been axed to make it happen. The save rooms in particular simply look pathetic, with a silly bouncing ball in the middle. The sprites for the three main characters also aren't anything to look at; your hero's running animation is comical. Overall, though, many of the trippy graphical ideas come off excellently.

HoD has taken a severe pounding for its music. Notably lower in quality than Circle of the Moon's neat music which at times sounded on par with the SNES; the reasoning here is that to provide the (usually) incredible graphics they had to fall back to PGM sound - basically back to programming sound for the Game Boy Color. Given this, the music sounds very good, with some incredibly strong tracks such as Successor of Fate (the Entrance theme), Offense and Defense (the next area BGM), and Chapel of Dissonance (the Sky Walkway area BGM) is rather nice as well. That said, some of it might be favorably described as a strange attempt to set the mood (the Luminous Caverns track)...or simply unpleasant to listen to and even depressing. This is a mixed bag, but Juste's Theme (the Entrance Theme again) has become a personal favorite from not only the game but the series.

There are some other minor quirks, and the game employs a trick to allow more of the same castle to be visited (along the lines of SotN). I felt that this idea was executed brilliantly overall; sometimes the changes are quite stunning and unexpected. On the down side, some interesting references to previous Castlevania games in the item list were botched for the English translation - Sypha (the female magician from Castlevania III) became Cipher, and a curious item that allows you to fling fireballs from your whip when at full health is no longer called Christoper's Soul. There's also a bit of (humorous!) unedited translation in the script that should keep you chuckling. The "true endgame" is very hard to find and figure out, but the pieces are all within your reach early on.

This is a great game - not great enough to make one a fan of bangles and room decoration, but it's a solid game overall with some incredible moments that few other games have.

Harmony of Dissonance

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The ever lasting Castlevania series hit incredibly high on the GBA with the release of Circle of the Moon. Circle of the Moon being one of the best Castlevania games ever made (though, once again, nothing compares to Symphony of the Night). Harmony of Dissonance, the second of the GBA games, is also a fantastic game.

Castlevania almost never tells a different story. This time it's Juste Belmont out to defeat the evil count. Castlevania hasn't been about story so much as it's been about gameplay. Harmony of Dissonance certainly does have good gameplay.

Once again, Castlevania takes on a Metroid feel as you explore through the castle. Some areas can't be reached until you've got certain abilities and have defeated certain bosses, but for the most part, the game is highly non-linear. You can tackle the game in almost any order you feel.

Juste arms himself with a whip. It's the only weapon he uses. You can press and hold B and it'll dangle and you can control it, but you'll almost never need or use this move throughout the game. Juste can also use secondary weapons such as the Cross, Axe, Holy Water and Dagger. There are a few more than this, but these are the basics that have been in just about every Castlevania game. Now, however, you can combine them with different kinds of special magic books. While Juste can only carry one sub-weapon at a time, the results of combinging it with an elemental magic book is different. There aren't nearly as many combinations as the Circle of the Moon's DSS Card System, but it gives the game enough variety to the point where it isn't stale.

Harmony of Dissonance isn't a hard game. In fact, in comparison to Circle of the Moon, it's incredibly easy. Even the games bosses are not much of a challenge at all. It's a fun trip, but it's a lot easier than your standard Castlevania.

However, despite it's ease, the game looks absolutely fantastic. The GBA's power really shines with this game. The environments are decorative, and they're not quite as dark as Circle of the Moon's. The bosses and castle design also look refreshingly fantastic.

Then we get to the music. The music really should've been better, but to clear a couple of things up, I'll tell you why the music isn't a fault of this game. For one, if you disliked the music... good. You're NOT supposed to like this music. The subtitle of the game is, after all, Harmony of Dissonance. The music does a great job of giving the feeling of dissonance. It's easily demonstrated in how people negatively feel about the music. So the music IS horrible, but it isn't meant to be good. It's meant to give the feeling of dissonance and it succeeds simply because most people don't like it. So no, you're not supposed to like the music in this game. In fact, you're supposed to hate it. So the reviewers saying the music is terrible are absolutely right. But it's not supposed to be good.

Harmony of Dissonance is a great addition to the Castlevania series, but it really doesn't do much to separate it from others in the series.

The Good
+Fantastic visuals
+The music gives the feeling of dissonance
+A lot of variety to the gameplay
+Great bosses and exploration

The bad
-The music, as many have said... isn't good, but it's not supposed to be likeable
-It's way too easy

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