Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

THE BAD:
to short

SUMMARY:
This is a good addition to the castlevania games, another fine job on the GBA, this was the first one and then AoS was another, but one before this CotM, that was horrible, not to rag on that here, HoD, was a game that had cool characters evil and good, Juste (good) was a cool character with his whip, and you could add stuff to equip on the tip, then Maxim (Evil) he was cool because you got to use him after you beat him and he has a sword, sorry but after playing all the castlevaniasbefore it, I played with a whip (except SotN)...but got tired of using the whip and liked using the sword, which is why Maxim is good in HoD, Alucard was awesome in SotN, and Soma was good in AoS...

THE BAD:
-too short
-not enough magic combos at your disposal, per sub-weapon
- its a little easy
-the experience points that the enemies give out decrease every time you gain a level, making level 99 impossible to get to

SUMMARY:

This game would be better than Circle Of the Moon if it wasn't so short and easy. Its not too easy though, if your new at the genre you might have some trouble but i only died once(i mastered Circle of the moon, so i was prepared for this). there are also 2 castles, one evil one and one uhh more evil one, you will occasionally have to switch through both of them.
If your new to castlevania and wondering what its like, i think you should pick this onr up, its brighter and faster paced than Circl of the moon.

THE BAD:
-i didn't really like the idea of combining magic books with sub weapons, wince you can only carry 1 cub at a time
-bosses are too easy
-navigating through the castle is sometimes confusing
-the music wasnt ass good as the other game's
-should've been cooler whip add-ons

SUMMARY:

Man, is this a good game! It's so addicting I couldn't put it down.It combines great 2D action with RPG elements> The bosses looked so cool! but were too easy and navigating through the castle is kinna hard(its hard to remember where you gneed to reurn once you got the item needed). This game is worth checking out if you liked the first one and if your into good 2D RPG games

THE BAD:
too short, and too little things to collect

SUMMARY:
-should had made the game with much higer level......
-items to collect should be more.....
-also able to trade items with friends
-more magie items
-able to choses the main role
-more bosses to defeat
-able to lenghten the wipe
-alter weapons like swords or knifes

THE BAD:
Can get a little too complex in areas, giving a lot of cunfusion. Also, although less so than Circle of the Moon, the dark game doesn't bode well with the dark GBA screen.

SUMMARY:
This was a sequal that I was all over - the second Castlevania made exclusivly for the GBA, and I had high hopes, mainly because the first was absolutely brilliant. I wasn't dissapointed.

Harmony of Dissonence takes all of the aspects that made Circle of the Moon so great and improved on them. I recieved this with mixed feelings.

The graphics are superb. Not exactly testing the GBA, but they look a lot nicer than games that do, if you get my drift; its not power, its skill that ultimatly decides the quality of a game's graphics. This is shown very well, and although its too dark for a GBA game, the textures are extremily good, as is some of the animation, and the spell effects are magnificent.

The sound is great, and although the music isn't quite as good as Circle of the Moon, it has some great tune's (including the best rendition of the classic Castlevania theme 'Vampire Killer', I've ever heard), and as before, really helps set the atmosphere of the game.

The enemies look as great as usual, albeit slightly bnigger and more compicated than they were in Circle of the Moon - some enemies filling up half the screen. Also, there are typically huge boss creatures, all being great fun to attack.

The gameplay is much like what came before - a strong RPG element, coupled with platofrming and action creates some of the best platofrming gaming ever. As before, you can get loads of extra items that let you do various different functions, from double-jumping to wall-kicking.

As usual, there are loads of sub-weapons to be had, however as much as I'd like to say I love the new magic system, I can't, its combination of spellbooks and sub-weapons just doesn't hold a candle to the DSS system of Circle of the Moon. Still, it can be lived with, with a game of this quality.

Sadly, the game can get very complex, up to a point where its almost impossible to play through frustration of not knowing what to do next. This is because you later get a function to change the castle that you explore, do a few things you couldn't do before, then change back. Sounds confusing? It is. And sadly, without any instructions telling you what you're actually meant to be doing, it just gets annoying.

Still, putting that aside, this is a more than worthy sequal, less linear than the first, and neither better off or worse off for that. Its a great, worthwhile game, and that's all that really needs to be said now.

THE BAD:
since i have to put something here, the music isnt as great as circle of the moon, but it is still good.

SUMMARY:
this game is very addicting, you'll find your self sucked in like you were with super metroid. go buy it now!! a nice feature is that the game starts out fairly easy, than gradually gets more and more difficult as Juste gains levels.