Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance

I read it in the magazine/reviews, saying that music was way out of line, outdated like good old NES time.. I wouldn't say it's THAT outdated, and also it was good enough, more than enough to create and convey the classic atmosphere of Castlevania series. What I really liked about this series was the graphic. Personally, I'm not really into graphic when it comes to gaming, however, graphic plays a significant role in Castlevania series and I'm more than satisfied with the graphic, which they managed to produce. The movement of Juste, the protagonist of the game, is simply unbelievable, par with the one from the Symphony of the Night for PlayStation.

Ok, I'll get to the point. I really welcome the idea of expanding the whole map so players can spend more time, which i find myself being thrilled like in PS version, like they did for Symphony of the Night for PS. However, the way they expanded, or more accurately doubled the size of the map, wasn't that inspiring like in PS version. In PS version, they included this 'inverted' castle, where every single area looks and is brand new, with all new enemies...whereas in this version, it was just simply doubled instead of being 'new'... So though you were going back and forth to get from Castle A to Castle B, it felt like you were just running around the same castle with little bit of change here and there, which you could tell it was done poorly with no solid effort. I was more frustrated then found pleasure out of this poor, poor effort of simplying doubling the original castle, compare to awesome PS version (I might be complaining about this simply because i have played PS version, for those who haven't played PS version, i'm not sure about how you will take it as..)

I didn't think the bosses were that easy, or may be it's just me who were having hard time with them. My point is that if you are there to fight with the bosses with no potion or any kind, I don't think there are lot of people out there who can say that they can manage to beat every single boss easily with confidence. It looks like the boss fights turned out to be easy one because of there's unlimited, literal unlimited supply of potions from merchants- Okay, may be you can control yourself from using no potion at all, but the VERY ESSENCE OF CASTLEVANIA SERIES HAS BEEN THIS 'THRILL' YOU GET FROM FIGHTING EVERY SINGLE BOSS WITH LIMITED HEALTH, PERIOD. The very serious flaw of PlayStation version, the flaw that the game became way to easy toward the end, has been fixed in the Circle of the Moon, the previoius GBA version by having consistent difficulty, yet that 'similiar' problem, I wouldn't say it's similiar but overall-wise, the game was on easy side when you compare it with previous Castlevania games. Of course, this game has this RPG element to it and character has to become stronger to face stronger enemies, but the game was still on the easy side.
I believe they could've done something by drastically raising the difficulty as the game progresses.
Now, why would I give this game 5 Stars with all the critical flaws I just mentioned above? Well, I don't know, but it seems like it's hard to find a 'worthy' game, worthy enough to finish it all the way, devoting my time out of busy schedule these days. So I figure that it offered enough elements and fun factor to finish it all the way in couple days. It's a great game. Well, it's a Castlevania game and i might have this favoritism for the series, however, I'm satisfied with this very series for GameBoyAdvance from objective perspective as well.

Enjoy it!

PS: Don't forget to get the 'real' ending

This is my first review, but since reviews always help me out I wanted to return the favor. First off if this is your first castlevania game for gameboy, dont by it, get the other castlevania title, circle of the moon, than go from there. If you liked COTM and are thinking of buying this, I suggest it.

The graphics are better to start off with, and the normal walking monsters throughout the map are also more of a challange. On the downside, the bosses are much easier and the sound is much worse. You also only have 3 save files, but there is a new quicksave which comes in really handle if you have to stop playing in a hurry.

The magic system has been changed from cards to spellbooks, your spellbooks go off of which subweapon you use. I'm not sure if I like the change, but its livable.

The RPG system is the same and the game is still fun to play. Considering I'm deployed in Afgainstain right now, I have all the time in the world to play games, so I'm happy to have this one. It's worth the money.

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   Written on October 10, 2002
   Summary: Go get this game....
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!!!