xbox live | Castlemania

Giant Bomb’s quick look at Harmony of Despair is funny

August 14th, 2010 • Stephen Munn

I laughed out loud at “I have like ten of those.” I then proceeded to laugh at many other things in the video after that. It occurs to me that the conventions of this series are absolutely ridiculous. I mean, Castlevania is pretty damn stupid. Why do we love it so much?

I also chuckled at the [...]

Harmony of Despair future DLC alleged, includes Maria, Julius, and pyramid from Portrait of Ruin

August 8th, 2010 • Stephen Munn

I’m done ignoring rumors about future Castlevania releases, particularly those that include images. Leaks about Judgment, Ecclesia, and Despair all taught me to just believe Konami will do anything with this brand, whether it’s exciting or not. The latest is this bit of information about upcoming downloadable content for Harmony of Despair. All we have available [...]

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair review

August 7th, 2010 • Stephen Munn

CastlevaniaHD_09

Here it is, folks. Castlevania HD. The vocal fans here on the Internet have been begging for a 2D sprite-based Castlevania on consoles since Castlevania Chronicles, and this generation has brought us two: Adventure Rebirth, and now Harmony of Despair. Alas, it may not be exactly what you were hoping for. Maybe that’s not fair. I say that because it’s not even close to what I wanted. Heck, Adventure Rebirth was closer to what I was looking for, and that game was a little bit sloppy.

What is fair is to look at this game for what it was meant to be, and evaluate it based on how it succeeds at its goals, as well as how fun it is. The concept, execution, and fun factor are all on the same level here: bleah.

Continue reading Castlevania: Harmony of Despair review

Has anybody been able to play Castlevania: Harmony of Despair online yet?

August 5th, 2010 • Stephen Munn

Look! This is what multiplayer might look like!

I’ve just finished my review of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and I’m not publishing it yet. It’s not pretty. The game is very underwhelming. I don’t like the single player at all, and I have yet to be able to get any form of multiplayer to start up. [...]

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair coming August 4th, new screens

July 6th, 2010 • Stephen Munn

CastlevaniaHD_11

Many fans have been asking for a modern 2D Castlevania on home console for years, and Konami’s set to provide something close to that with Harmony of Despair. As part of the Xbox Live “Summer of Arcade,” Despair will arrive on August 4th for 1200 Microsoft Points. The game takes place in stages “inspired by” the three Castlevania games on Nintendo DS, oddly enough, and leans heavily on a multiplayer component.