An interesting idea for a game. I give it a 7 versus a lower score due to it being a relatively novel idea and working well in what it attempts to accomplish (i.e. being a multiplayer metroidvania style game). However, it can feel sluggish at times, and the feeling of exploration and discovery is noticeably absent once you've finished the paltry 6 levels. Granted, finding new items is always exciting, but it seems like there is too much grinding to be done. Overall, I find HoD to be a positive experience and worth a try, but perhaps only for those who are fans of the series. Playing a game like this really makes you thirst for a real Castlevania 2-D adventure on an HD console, though...… Expand

GameZone 55 The entire game can be completed in under an hour with an organized team, although a Hard difficulty will test the skills of the most devoted fans. Beyond that, there is nothing to keep players' interests past an initial run.

Whoever decided to put an 8-bit graphics style game on XBLA is a bit out of touch. Now I'm not saying 8-bit is bad, but let's be honest. This game came out in the same month as LIMBO, a game that managed to look gorgeous with only two colors, and Lara Croft GoL, a combat platformer with very nice graphics. The game was unoriginal, offered a terrible navigation and menu setup, and looked like it was from the 1980s. Not worth the money.… Expand

Sacrifices were made to change castlevania into a multiplayer experience. Unfortunately the dissection of a large castle into many smaller ones reduces the need to explore past sections the way other castlevanias did. Then to increase longevity they made really amazing drops very rare. While these sacrifices do severely hamper the castlevania experience they do allow for multiplayer fun. On the other hand the single player experience is more of a crawl. If you find games fun where you are farming bosses for loot (like an mmorpg end game) and are a fan of good responsive 2d gameplay you will find this game enjoyable. Just don't go in thinking it will feel like castlevania.… Expand

I will be honest about this, when this game first came out and I was on a drive to by all this years summer of arcade games I was really angry that this was one of them. I then gave up on the notion of Microsoft's offer to acquire 1500 msp for buying them all. Like many of you I found this game to be just awful. A few weeks after it's release though I decided to fire up Castlevania Symphony of the Night and I was reminded why I loved that game and the series so much. I then re-downloaded Harmony of Despair and saw a completely different game. One that was great with outstanding rpg elements massive character selection and items up the ying yang. This game is both a great single player experience and a multiplayer extravaganza. Graphically there is no denying that HOD is well advanced in visuals over any other 2d Castlevania game ever made. The Hd visuals are crisp and run very smooth. After playing it you can go back to SOTN and realize how aged the game really is. The sounds and the music in this game are top notch for the series with many tunes that you will just want to hear over and over again. The gameplay itself is amazing as a platformer and an action adventure game rewarding players with better skill and mastery over their characters with more of an advantage over someone that is a novice. The game has puzzles to be solved, some of which can only be done in co-op but nothing that would take away from a single player experience. The game itself offers 6 characters to choose from and an equal amount of castles to play, with dlc promising new characters and levels on the way. Ironically I found Castlevania HoD to be my favorite of all the summer of arcade games in the end and I urge everyone to give this game the chance it deserves as the reputation it currently has is an injustice to the makers of the game, the series and us the fans. Konami got it right people and their efforts should be rewarded not condemned.… Expand

Castlevania Harmony of Despair is a good game with good gameplay and a good story. konami forced the door to the ps3. konami but do not stop with all the DLCs we want Trevor Belmont, Sypha belnundes, grant Albus, Hammer, John Morris, Eric Lecard, Christopher Belmont, Juste Belmont, Maxim and many others as well as maps new course.