[Playing…] Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

I am one of those people who, despite loving games like Metroid, when I finish one of them, I feel “stuck” and avoid any other similar game for a good while.

That is why, despite having dedicated many hours to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997), the first game in that saga that totally adopted the style of the MetroidI didn't play any other Castlevania similar in a long time.

Recently I wanted to play a game like this, so I started Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, that was created by a large part of the team that made Symphony of the Night, something that is notably evident throughout the game. At least I have had the feeling of controlling Alucard instead of Juste Belmont, due to their enormous resemblance and the fact that they share the same special abilities and experience similar situations. In fact, even the design of the main characters is almost a carbon copy of what was seen in the 1997 game. I know that they are the work of the same artist (Ayami Kojima), but even so, I don't think it was necessary to make them clones.

The story of this game tells us how Juste Belmont and his friend Maxim are looking for Lydie (a friend of both) who has disappeared. During their search they find a huge castle that they immediately associate with that of the evil Dracula, something illogical, since the evil vampire was eliminated by Simon Belmont (Juste's ancestor) 50 years ago. Inside the castle they both separate to cover more ground and that is where the player takes the role of Juste and begins the game.

From the first minute we can consult the game map that will show us in a schematic way the path taken, the safe areas and the teleporters. Due to the enormous number of paths, corridors and secrets in the game, the map is an essential piece to advance.

As usually happens in this type of games, In less than 10 minutes we will reach several closed roads, in some cases there will be a stone wall, in others, a wall and in others we will see a path that is too high to reach by jumping. By elimination we will end up choosing the valid path and we will be able to advance through the game, eliminating enemies and bosses until we get more skills for Juste or we open the previously closed paths in any other way.

As in Symphony of the Night, our character goes leveling up by gaining experience with enemies eliminated. If we search the castle we can also find items that increase our maximum life or hearts (which, as always, will be used to use secondary weapons). On specific occasions we can find a store where we can buy and sell objects.

Our character's strength, defense, agility, intelligence and luck can be improved by equipping him with items that we will find in the game (or that enemies will drop). For example, if we equip armor, our character will receive less damage, if we put on an item that increases our luck, enemies will drop rare items more frequently.

Juste cannot change his main weapon (his whip) but he can You can add elements that give it new properties. For example, there are stones that give you the ability to make fire, ice, electricity or wind attacks (ideal for attacking enemies who are weak towards these types of attacks). We can also use a metal ball that will increase the damage of the whip and even shoot fireballs from it (a tribute to the Castlevania classic Game Boy). The whip will also be in charge of breaking the stone walls that block our path, but first we will have to get the necessary item to improve it.

Juste's inventory is something that must be reviewed from time to time, since within it we can read the descriptions of the items, which will help us know what they are and, in the best of cases, will give us clues to guess secrets of the game (which are quite a few).

Within it we can also activate or deactivate the spell books (which spend a magic bar and are used in combination with the secondary weapon we carry) or take a look at the enemy data, see what objects and experience they give when defeated and what their weaknesses are. We can also look at a series of collectible objects that Juste will use to decorate one of the rooms in the castle (it's an absurd detail, but I found it very funny and I didn't stop until I had all the decorations for the room).

From time to time we will find a special item that will give us a new ability for Juste (sliding on the ground, double jump, super vertical jump...) which are generally the key to accessing areas that were left unexplored. Between these skills, the stone that allows you to break walls with the whip, the two keys and Maxim's bracelet, we will access the entire castle.

The castle map is quite large, full of totally different areas and varied enemies (some are repeated with different levels of strength). Just as it happened in Symphony of the Night, we will explore 2 castles, which increases the maximum percentage of the game to 200% and lengthens its duration a lot. Fortunately, Juste can do quick slides with L and R and we can also use teleporters to reach different areas of the castle in a second.

The story of the game will unfold little by little, as we will find other characters to talk to (basically Maxim or Death). I'm not going to explain what happens, but (once again) the story is extremely similar to what happened in Symphony of the Night.

The game has three endings: The bad one (defeating the final boss in the first castle), the regular one (defeating the final boss in the second castle) and the good one (defeating the final boss in the second castle while carrying specific items). To access the combat in the second castle we will have to find all of Dracula's body parts (as in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest) something that is entertaining until you realize that one of the pieces is hidden in such a way that you can walk past it a thousand times and not see it, since it is behind a normal wall, like the ones we find in each room of the game. It is true that there is a clue within the game that “tells us” what to do, but it is not something very clear, in fact I read that clue and misinterpreted it several times, to the point of ignoring it, so I found that piece of Dracula by pure chance.

I'm not against hard-to-find items, but I think that everyone who is necessary to complete the game with the good ending should not be behind magic walls or hidden in save game areas. This game has quite a few objects that are difficult to obtain (some boots that allow us to fly, others that allow us to jump infinitely) although the prize of objeto más escondido se lo lleva el libro de invocaciones, pues también hay que traspasar un muro o mejor dicho, hay que traspasar un techo.

Gráficamente está bastante bien para ser una Game Boy Advance, los sprites son bastante buenos (aunque el protagonista tiene un reborde y unas sombras de color azul que personalmente, no me gustan nada). Hay variedad de enemigos, aunque algunos están reciclados de juegos anteriores (algo habitual en los juegos de esta saga), pero también hay otros (sobretodo jefes) que tienen una aspecto alucinante. Los escenarios también están llenos de detalles, pero se nota en qué partes pusieron más trabajo (siento predilección por la zona de los esqueletos). Hay zonas concretas del juego donde podemos interactuar con ciertos elementos para avanzar (mover cajas, activar mecanismos).

Musicalmente es bastante correcto y quizás eso decepcione a muchos fans de la saga, pues los Castlevania suelen estar muy por encima de correcto en cuanto a músicas se refiere. El propio productor del juego (Koji Igarashi) comentó que la banda sonora se sacrificó a favor de los gráficos del juego.

La duración del juego es bastante amplia, la historia inicial puede durar casi una decena de horas y si queréis encontrar todos los objetos (incluyendo los difíciles que comenté más arriba) podéis echarle unas cuantas más.

Una vez hayamos completado el juego con el final bueno, podremos volver a rejugarlo utilizando al personaje Maxim (solo hay que poner su nombre en una partida nueva). Maxim es muy poderoso y puede acceder libremente a casi todas las zonas del castillo desde un inicio, pero no puede cambiar su equipamiento ni usar objetos y solo puede usar las armas que lleva desde el principio, lo cual hace que completar el juego con él sea una odisea.

También podemos desbloquear el test de Sonido y el modo Boss Rush, donde podemos enfrentarnos a diversos jefes del juego (hay varias dificultades). En este modo podemos usar al clásico Simon Belmont (con su sprite de 8 bits) si hacemos el Konami Code cuando salga el logo de Konami.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance es un juego recomendable para todos aquellos que quieran jugar a un Metroid (either Metroidvania) y diría que es obligatorio para todos los que adoraron Symphony of the Night debido a se siente como si fuese una segunda parte del mismo. Si buscáis un Castlevania de desarrollo clásico, es mejor que lo evitéis, pues incluso tratando de hacer lo mínimo para ver el peor final, tendremos que dar muchas vueltas al Castillo.

Este juego no es difícil de conseguir ya que tuvo dos versiones. La original publicada en 2002 y la versión posterior, lanzada en 2006 en un cartucho llamado Castlevania Double Pack que incluía Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.