Topic: Castlevania: Harmony of Despair reportedly sucks

[Cobra951]

From what I've been reading, it completely blows the single-player experience (the purpose for Castlevania games) to concentrate on multiplayer.  If that were the only flaw, at least several people could enjoy it together, not that I would be any less pissed.  But the whole thing apparently has been flubbed.  Eurogamer best captures my mood right now.  But even IGN, with its more neutral stance, confirms the fatal flaws.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Damn it.  I was looking forward to this one since I just recently got a 360 last month.  Maybe I'll give the demo a spin sometime since I still have my trial Gold account until the end of this month.

[K-man]

Yeah once I found out what the game actually was, my excitement dropped significantly.

[gpw11]

Never heard about it, but a Castlevania game where you can choose between Soma, Alucard, Simon Belmont, etc, would be sweet if done correctly.  It's too bad this sounds like a horrible, horrible game.

[Cobra951]

It is indeed horrible.  From what I can tell, they transplanted SOTN's and Arias' graphics into high-def without scaling them.  The result is that you can see most of the level all at once, with miniscule characters crawling all over it.  I can't see playing this game without a 54" screen 2 feet from my nose.  Eurogamer said it perfectly:  "You're gonna need a bigger TV.  Or a better game."  I don't even feel like taking the time to compose any more thoughts about this abortion from Konami.  I hold the series in too high a regard to further poison my memories of it.

[idolminds]

I guess thats adjustable.

You can adjust the camera view to three different levels of zoom as you play, taking advantage of the Xbox 360's high-definition canvas so that you can see a huge swathe of the castle and, in theory, follow the exploits of your compatriots. The three available angles are: Impossible To See What's Going On, Somewhat Less Impossible To See What's Going On, and Actually Playable.

But still, the game sounds pretty terrible.

[Cobra951]

I was too disgusted to look into details like the settings.  And wouldn't 3X zoom produce blocky or blurry displays?  [Edit:  Blocky]

It's obvious that the goal is to have a big playground for several people at once, which has exactly nothing to do with the series' legacy.  So they break up the world into a collection of small areas they dub mansions, and zoom you out 2 streets away.  OK, so you can zoom in.  What a treat.

[K-man]

I gave the demo a try last night.  I could see where this could be potentially fun, but it's hard to look at it and see it as anything more than a cobbled together Castlevania title with no real soul.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I just gave the demo a try too and its so-so.  The demo didn't have multiplayer which is the game's strong point supposedly so it's kind of shitty they didn't include at least some kind of timed multiplayer demo.  The game's music is awesome as hell, like with most Castlevania titles though.  I don't think I'll be getting this, especially since I'm going to have to have a Gold account to play multiplayer anyways, which I will never do.