Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

By Tom Bramwell Published 17 July, 2002

Hands-On Preview - Mugwum takes the Belmont's latest GBA outing for a spin

Harmony

As with all-but-one of the Castlevania games, the hero is a Belmont, in this case by the name of Juste, the latest in a long and famous line of vampire slayers. Although the language barrier masks the game's no doubt delightful dialogue and storyline, it cannot mask the basic underlying virtues of the Castlevania series. It's a 2D platformer with advanced character development, superb level design and - in this case - it makes inventive use of the GBA's hardware to produce some lovely visual effects, all to the sound of a haunting soundtrack.

Belmont begins by breaching the castle's outer walls, pursued by an enormous metallic beast which wakes in the moon's glow and looms several screens high above our hero, before working his way through darkened corridors and attics, uncovering spellbooks and slaying the undead with his trusty chain whip. As usual the whip's mechanics are incredibly ornate - you can stand still holding the B button and wiggle the chain around in the air with the directional pad to snag power-ups and other bonuses, before it flops believably at the behest of the game's consistent physics.

Defeating your enemies improves your abilities and increases your experience. Levelling up like an RPG character, Juste Belmont learns new skills as he fights - he is able to slide low to the ground after defeating the first boss, and after the second he can perform the platformer's favourite move, the double-jump. Before long Belmont can reach difficult ledges, destroy powerful enemies swiftly and with more grace and finesse, and perform spells combined with weapon attacks to improve his odds of escaping unharmed. One improvement here is the ability to lunge or retreat quickly using the shoulder buttons, which proves incredibly useful in escaping the clutches of quick-witted enemies and penetrating the defences of those with complicated movement patterns.

Dissonance? Can't find any...

The only thing worrying me as I first booted up my import copy of White Night Concerto was the impending squint-fest of a graphics engine, but fortunately I was quickly relieved of that concern. As the game's title screen appeared, reflecting beautifully in the water in front of the castle, the warm glow seemed worlds away from Circle of the Moon. The lighting is beyond acceptable, but far from bright and cutesy. It emphasizes the detail on Belmont and his aggressors' outfits and in the background, and in a lot of places it helps move the game out of the gutter of practically opaque noir and into moonlit horror movie territory.

The graphics are largely unchanged in terms of composition though, with a smattering of Mode 7 here and there, the usual neatly drawn and detailed backgrounds (which haven't aged much since their days on the Super Nintendo at the start of the last decade), and smooth character, background and weapon animations. Konami has perfected the art of Castlevania, and with the correct lighting things should be fine from now on.

So far the game is more than living up to its predecessors, with just the right amount of difficulty to keep you coming back after a frustrating death, and just as Belmont improves, the player also grows more competent in handling his abilities. One thing which I noticed however was that early boss encounters are much easier than their equivalents in previous Castlevania adventures, but if anything this just dragged me in even further, and to call the game 'easy' would be an insult - thanks to the distance between save points it requires a lot more time to attain something tangibly rewarding from a session, and before long White Night Concerto becomes Life-Sapping Black Hole. Although it's perhaps a little early to call it a foregone conclusion, Konami's latest Castlevania does appear to be a delightful addition to the series, more vibrant than its predecessors and not lacking any of the things that made them great.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 10 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hulahoops #1 10 years ago

    I continue to lament the game’s plight to this day.

    Hate to say this, but you really need to get out more.

  • ssuellid #2 10 years ago

    You think the first Castlevania was hard to see? You should try GT Advance(?) - you can hardly see anything even with perfect lighting conditions.

  • skalmanxl #3 10 years ago

    you can stand still holding the B button and wiggle the chain around in the air with the directional pad

    Ace! Loved that feature in Castlevania 4 on the Snes. This sounds more and more like SOTN, one of the best games I've ever played. The downside...I don't own the damn game, and is forced to play at my mates NTSC copy.

  • otto #4 10 years ago

    Heh - it took you three posts to comment on this article?? Thought you'd be quicker off the mark... ;)

  • skalmanxl #5 10 years ago

    Sorry, I was outside in the sunshine and improving my malignt melanoma.

  • skalmanxl #6 10 years ago

    Still haven't finished the first one, and it's my only game for the GBA. Haven't found the time.

  • bionutz #7 10 years ago

    I have settled for only three games (after throwing away some kart game and mario bros): Golden Sun (finished twice), Castlevania 63% and Tekken advance. I don't know if I should buy Advance Wars, it looks a bit silly graphically.

  • otto #8 10 years ago

    What am I missing in Tekken Advance/beat'em ups generally that people love so much? I simply can't see the point. Thirty seconds of button bashing - repeat ad nauseam. Where's the fun?

    How you can rate that above Advance Wars is beyond me.

  • skalmanxl #9 10 years ago

    What am I missing in Tekken Advance/beat'em ups generally that people love so much? I simply can't see the point. Thirty seconds of button bashing - repeat ad nauseam. Where's the fun?

    Ok, replace beat'em ups with "platformers" and you have me. Beat'em ups are great with the mates. Drooling over Tekken 4 at the moment.

  • Pirotic #10 10 years ago

    i have Strike Fighter 3 Third Strike on a CPS3 board :p a terribly under-rated game. the hand-drawn sprites are incredible.

    Never played Tekken4, used to be quiet the tekken fanatic (played as bryan or paul) but never got around to trying a next-gen update, is it anygood?
    Edited by Pirotic at 18/07/02 @ 11:08

  • skalmanxl #11 10 years ago

    Dunno really, as far as Sweden goes, arcades are either obsolete or stocked with VF2. But I hear the PS2 version will contain a 60hz option in order to compete with VF4.

    One of the reasons to why I'm getting a DC: The fighters. Love Street Fighter, I will love Soul Calibur as well.

  • Aka #12 10 years ago

    Off topic, but AGB Games have added 3D cars to their GBA racing engine :)

    There's also a poll to say how they should put the engine to good use.