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Castlevania: HOD is better than Castlevania: COM

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: August 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Things that could have been improved with Circle of the Moon:
Graphics, some play control, the speed, and of course, the darkness in the graphics.
Harmony of Dissonance improves in all these areas. However, the music is nowhere near as good as Circle of the Moon. Think of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with downgraded music and you have Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. It's must own for all Castlvania fans. The Bosses and levels are huge like SotN.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 9
Date: August 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I haven't played this game yet (considering the fact that it comes out at a later date), but I already know that it's going to raise the bar on all action games. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is the best action game on a handheld console to date with its seamless mix between action and RPG, flawless graphics and animations, and not to forget the wonderful music tracks. Nothing has come better, but now this new title can give a run for CotM's excellency. With more fluid animations, the new fusing system, and the old gameplay intact, this looks even better than Symphony of the Night (PSX). I mean, who wouldn't want to customize your own room with items from what you find within the castle? My only problem is the lame "back to 16 bits" music, with those bips and boops, and no fully orchestrated music. But if the game is as good as it is hyped up to be, you could forget the music and keep on playing.

The music...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I first heard of this game it was the music that caught my attention. Some of it is supposedly composed by Mana from Malice Mizer (go check 'em out) So I thought AWESOME!! 'cause their music totally rocks. But then it turns out that the music is that ... electronic beep kind. Other than that the game looks great but the music... =(

Harmonius Sequel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance is possibly the best Castlevania game to date. The graphics and play control are improved, and the pure fun of the classic side-scroller all overwhelm the downgraded music. People who have played the previous Castlevania game for GBA will love this game, and retro gamers as well. Bottom line: PRE-ORDER THIS GAME NOW!

neato

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I got this game imported from Japan and it rocks. The American version isn't different except for the language as far as I know. Must buy!

Will be great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: September 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Let me start by saying that though I have not played it; I will be the first in line to buy Castlevainia Harmony of Dissonance. I own Circle of the Moon, I bought it about a year ago and I'm still discovering new areas and enemies. The graphics in HoD have taken a major step up from the CotM (which,in my opinion were already great, save the fact that it couldn't be played without a good, bright light source) Every aspect of the game has been improved (save the sound) including the length. I heartily recommend it to anyone who loves GBA and games for it. 5 stars. Order it now.

Symphony of the night Part II

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 26
Date: September 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I haven't been this hooked on a side-scroller since Castlevania-Symphony of the Night for playstation; and that is quite an accomplishment for any game to achieve.

(Note: I've been playing my Japanese imported copy of the game for about a week now, so this review is based on me actually playing the game instead of assuming how great it's "going to be when it comes out.")

The game is very similar to SOTN; much more so than Circle of the Moon. The castles (two of them) you explore are huge, and like the original, there are a vast assortment of items to seek out and equip. The spell system has been slightly changed so that you combine your subweapons with various spellbooks you find. This is much easier than the complicated magic system used in Circle of the Moon.

The graphics have been improved. The animations are more fluid, and the colors are brighter this time so that no additional lighting will be necessary. However, in putting so much of the Gameboy Advance's resources in the graphics, the sound has taken a considerable hit. The music sounds like the 8 bit Gameboy color. A bit disappointing, but it doesn't detract too much from the overall experience. Perhaps the worst aspect of Harmony of Dissonance is all the backtracking that is required for you to complete the game. Save points and warps are much more sparse, so you'll end up spending most of your time hauling yourself all the way across the castle many times.

That said, this game is pure joy to play. You acquire new items, which allow you to explore previously out of reach areas- this feverishly addictive quality keeps you coming back for more and more until you beat Dracula.

Overall, this is the best game that you can currently buy for the gameboy advance (until Zelda is released!). The gameplay is fantastic and unparalleled by anything else offered by any other game company. You need this game!

Flashier than Circle of the Moon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I played the heck out of Circle of the Moon. For some reason I had to 100% it. Anyway, this game is the sequel. I am 30% through it and it is taking a while to get used to the differences. First you'll notice that this game is much more colorful than the dark color scheme used in Circle. It kind of puts you off at first. Your charachter Juste, seems to move a bit slower and jumps a bit lower. Also, when you start, you can't spin your whip. But you eventually can equip a gem that will enable this.

In this game, you play one of the Belmonts, but look like a vampire. You even have trails when you walk. Your attacks are a bit more effective however. Although you can't change directions mid-jump anymore to whip 2 enemies at once, your whip can hit enemies who are directly behind you and directly over your head. I hated jumping up to hit a bat only to hit my head and get tagged for damage. That's been fixed now. You can wait for floating enemies to get right overhead and take them out. Makes killing bats and medusa heads much easier.

Another attack that Juste has is the dash. With the press of the L or R buttons he can dash forward and back a la the "double-tap" of the control stick in Neo Geo fighting games. I love this feature. He is just 200% more agile during fights than Nathan was in Circle. One new feature I thought was welcome was the ability to equip your whip with different gems for different desired effects such as adding a red gem to add fire damage to your whip. Also for you whip lovers out there, holding the attack button lets your whip dangle so you can whip it up, around and down just like in Super Castlevania IV.

As for the magic, more bad news, no more DSS cards. Also, no hidden walls. I LOVED finding and playing around with the cards and I LOVED searching for hidden passages in the walls. Both activities are gone and frankly, hurt the replay value in my eyes. Now you get spell books. You have to turn on a spell book, which in turn makes your secondary weapon extremly more powerful.

If you come right off of playing Circle of the Moon like I did, you are going to notice the differences. But when you start getting into it, you really start to notice that it is a really great game. It is much "shinier" than Circle of the Moon, but you learn to appreciate the style of the game quickly. Although the music in the game sounds like it's straight out of Strider for the NES (bad), I gave it 5 stars because it still beats the pants off of most any other GBA game out right now and you can really get into it almost as much as Circle of the Moon.

My god, it's Symphony of the Night on GBA...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, let me say that this game's sound is definetely not up to par with that of CoTM. It WILL remind you of an 8-Bit GameBoy Color game. You WILL be dissapointed. But that will NOT stop you from buying this otherwise perfect masterpiece of a game.

The game is, from what I've heard and seen, vastly similar to SotN, but also reminiscent of CotM, so you get the best of both worlds, as far as zombie-spank action goes. The graphics are clean, clear, and surprisingly bright, but this doesn't really detract from the overall spooky feel of the game. The controls are tight, responsive, and you'll never feel lost as far as the buttons go.

So, if you have even a marginal interest in the Castlevania series, I suggest that you do yourself a favor and pick up this game ASAP. I guarantee that you will not be dissapointed. Now all I'm waiting for is the release of Metroid Fusion in November...

If you liked Circle of The Moon

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: September 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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...

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