Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

|genre=Action-adventure game |modes=Single player |ratings=ESRB: T (Teen)
CERO: 12+
ELSPA: 11+
PEGI: 12+ (Double Pack) |platforms=Game Boy Advance |media=64-megabit cartridge |requirements= |input= }} Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (commonly abbreviated HoD) is a video game created by Konami for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance system. It was originally released in Japan in 2002 under the title , and is part of the Castlevania series. Harmony of Dissonance is set in 1748, and stars Juste Belmont, the grandson of Simon Belmont and member of the legendary Belmont family of vampire hunters.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Harmony of Dissonance follows the model established in the series' "reinvention" with the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. At heart the game is a 2D action-adventure with level design based on similar principles to the Metroid series. The player collects new equipment and skills by exploring the game's castle setting and fighting increasingly powerful enemies and bosses, leading up to a climactic encounter with the castle's master.

Defeating minor enemies and bosses will procure experience points for Juste and he will level up when statistical requirements are met (similar to most RPGs). Occasionally, Juste will kill an enemy, and they will drop items. Equipment can also be found scattered about in corners of the castle. These items will contribute to the main character's stats, such as his attack power, and magic power.

Juste primarily attacks at close quarters using the series' traditional whip weapon, the Vampire Killer. It can be brandished to deflect projectile attacks, reminiscent of Simon Belmont's usage of the weapon in the Super Nintendo game, Super Castlevania IV.

A variety of ranged sub-weapons are available, one of which can be carried at any given time. Using a sub-weapon drains the player's supply of "Hearts", available by smashing lamps and candelabras found in the castle. Once no hearts are left or the required number to use the sub-weapon are not available, it may no longer be used.

Harmony of Dissonance distinguishes its gameplay from that of its predecessors through a new magic system, which is displayed very similarly in the 2003 release of the PlayStation 2 game, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Various spell books are hidden throughout the castle, and combining any of these with any of the sub-weapons will provide the player with a new magic attack stronger than the sub-weapon itself. This drains a separate stock of Magic Points (MP), instead of hearts.

Unique to Harmony of Dissonance is the forward dash move, where Juste will dash forward with a short burst of speed.

Juste will also, like Symphony of the Night, gain certain Relics through exploration of the Castle's areas, which will help him to reach previously inaccessible areas, and also gain new moves to add to his repertoire; an example of these is the Griffin's Wing, which allows Juste to utilize the super-jump that Alucard uses in Symphony of the Night. Other items include the Crushing Stone, which allows Juste to charge energy into the whip, and release a powerful shockwave that can destroy stone barriers.

The castle in Harmony of Dissonance is actually made up of two castles, one that is in the physical world, and one in the spiritual world. TStructurally, each side the castle has the mostly the same room layout, but monster types, items, and other aspects vary between the two versions. The difficulty of the spirit world castle typically being harder than that for the physical world. Initially, the player can use special warp rooms that can teleport them to other castle rooms.

Like SotN, the game draws heavily from previous games for its enemy graphics. A lot of the castle's inhabitants have been drawn from SotN, and, consequently, Demon Castle Dracula X: Rondo of Blood.

Due to the game being created on a system with much less of a capacity to handle the myriad details seen in SotN, HoD's reuse of the characters is noticeably different. Resolutions have been downgraded to fit the requirements of the game's space, and some enemies have lost the use of some of their previous repertoire of attacks.

Plot

Prior to the game, Juste's friend Maxim, went for an errant with purposes not disclosed until later. Upon returning wounded, he informs Juste that their friend Lydie has gone missing in a mysterious castle. Both of them head to the castle and separate ways to find her.

Early on, Juste meets Death, who thus indicates that the castle is Dracula's castle. During the time trekking the castle, Juste notices that the castle sometimes has different atmospheres. Juste also meets Maxim several times, but is baffled by how his friend seem to change personality every now and then. Regardless, in one of their meetings, Maxim informs that the errant he went for was to collect Dracula's body parts and destroy them, just like what Juste's ancestor Simon Belmont did to end Dracula's curse on him (this event is highlighted in the game Castlevania II: Simon's Quest), but lost the parts at one point.

Later, Juste meets Death again, and Death explains that the castle has been split into two, which Juste later confirms himself while trying to chase Death. In the second castle, Juste meets Maxim again, but notices that this Maxim is not his usual friend. After managing to subdue this evil Maxim's apparition, Juste meets his friend again in the first castle, being his own self. Maxim then tells Juste that he is partially responsible for Lydie's presence in the castle, and gives Juste his own bracelet so that Juste can reach her. As Juste finds Lydie however, Death uses the opportunity to kidnap Lydie for the evil Maxim. Depending on in which castle Juste finds Maxim next, the game will end differently.

If Juste meets Maxim in the center of the first castle, he will find Maxim barely overcoming Dracula's possession of him, sparing Lydie in the process. However, the two friends are forced to fight, with Juste defeating Maxim, and the later dying in the castle while Juste and Lydie make their escape.

If Juste meets Maxim in the second castle, which he can do so only after he collects Dracula's body parts that Maxim lost, Juste will arrive too late, with Maxim seemingly having been completely possessed by Dracula and Lydie bitten. By the end of the fight, if Juste isn't wearing his and Maxim's bracelet, Maxim and Lydie will die and Juste becomes the sole survivor. Otherwise, Maxim briefly counters Dracula's possession upon seeing Juste wearing his bracelet, and Dracula, seeing that he may be defeated, summons his body parts which Juste carry and make himself a weakened form to fight Juste, but is defeated. With Dracula's defeat, Juste, Maxim and Lydie all manage to escape the castle.

Development

The game used a wider range of techniques that most players noted being non-apparent in its predecessor, Circle of the Moon. Critics noted CotM for being too dark to see on the screen of the handheld, and HoD goes in the opposite direction by presenting brighter colours and special enemy attacks. Complex parallactic effects are also used, as are occasional flashes of lightning and other graphical effects.

HoD also employs multi-jointed creatures and rotating sprites, and its animations.

Audio

A persistent false rumor is that Mana, guitarist of Moi dix Mois and Malice Mizer, composed the music for this game. In fact, Mana did not write any music that appears in the game itself; he only wrote a promotional cell phone ringtone "La nuit blanche". This ringtone was only released in Japan.

In an interview, Igarashi stated that this was the first time his development team (KCE Tokyo) had made anything for the GBA, and they had no idea of the system's capabilities. (Circle of the Moon was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe, an entirely different team.)

Reception

IGN gave a rating of 9.2.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance was re-released in North America in January 2006, along with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, as part of Castlevania Double Pack. Both games are contained on a single GBA Game Pak. This pack also appeared in Europe later that year. It was picked as the IGN Gameboy Game of the Month for January 2006.

References

External links