Reviewed by CL on 5/28/2004
Most of the other reviews that you'll read seem to say that this game improves on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon in every respect and is by far the superior of the two. I seem to disagree. In my mind, this is an excellent game that is fun to play and has a lot of replay value, but it is simply not as fulfilling an experience as its GBA predecessor, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.
The only department where it is safe to say that this is superior to Circle of the Moon is in the graphics department. The previous game was very dark with some nice, but uninspired graphics. This time around, Konami made it significantly brighter (which is nice for those people who don't own an SP) with more animated sprites. Also, the backdrops are nice and detailed and really put the GBA's resolution on display.
The sound in the game definitely took a hit and it is not as moving or inspiring as the first game (although the merchant music is great no matter what Gid says).
The gameplay is a little bit odd. The main character feels distinctly clumsier in the air than on the ground. It seems to be a throw back to the early Castlevania days where you were completely committed to a jump once you left the ground. However, on the ground, the use of the L and R buttons to dash in either direction makes him extremely nimble and able to dodge out of harm’s way quite easily. Not that taking damage is ever really a probably as this is probably one of the easiest games in existence. Boss rooms are marked by blue doors in this game and in Circle of the Moon. In Circle of the Moon, if I ever saw a blue door, I would be sure to go back and find a save room before heading in because there was a good chance that you'd get killed the first time through. In Harmony of Dissonance, you can go around kicking in doors with impunity because you knew that whoever was hiding behind the door was going to be the wussiest character in existence. You could go around beating down bosses for fun with a broken L and button and no pants on and still come out with hardly a scratch.
Overall, this game is a very nice experience as it has a good replay value with boss rush mode and you can even play through the game a second time with a different character! The only problem is that this game is extremely rare as Konami has discontinued it. Therefore, you're probably going to have to shell out $30 (like me) to get a new copy. In fact, I had to call around to at least 10 stores to find a new copy, and I actually bought it before I had a GBA. For $30, I'd be tempted to try Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow instead of this one. But if you can find a good copy, be sure to pick it up, you won't be sorry.
