I will freely admit that I got into the Castlevania series a little late. Sure, I played a little of the original but I never really owned a NES so the time spent playing was few and far between. So the first real shot at the game for me was with the Sega Saturn and the Japanese import of Symphony of the Night. I was hooked from there.

The GBA has already treated me well with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Even though I loved that game and played it to death, it wasn't perfect. Character animation was pitiful, some of the game mechanics like the magic card system were almost too much and, since it was a first generation game, it suffered from not being able to correct the coding to take advantage of the slight hardware change which made the graphics seem overly dark. Nearly everything was improved to an insane degree for Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, and this game truly feels like a worthy sequel to SotN.

Let me just get the bad stuff out of the way so I can gush about what is good with this game. Unfortunately, Konami completely dropped the ball when it came time to compose and code the music. Even though CotM didn't have the best music during the game, it at least had the phenominally mood setting choir piece at the title screen. No such luck here. Even the first track you hear is lacking in what you would expect for the Castlevania series. What we get is low grade midi tunes that really sound uninspired. Overall, it would really only affect longer time fans of the series since someone just picking the game up isn't going to notice or care. Luckily, it does not really affect your overall enjoyment of the game.

The rest of the game, thankfully, is damn near a portable dream come true. First of all, they fixed every single aspect of the visuals that you can think of. No more two frames of walking animation from your main character. No more dim and muddy screens. No more dull backgrounds. What we get are vibrant and fluid characters, bright backgrounds and more parallax than you can crack a whip at. Some of the background effects are simply stunning. From rolling mode 7 clouds to the creepy shadows that appear when lightning strikes, there is a lot to look at in this incarnation of Castlevania. There is one effect that really impressed me and it was so subtle that most people would probably miss it. Towards the top level of the castle, there is a walkway where you can see one of the clock towers. As you move through the walkway, the clock tower actually ever so slightly rotates in 3D in the background, creating a very slick effect which is just impressive to see in action.

All of the characters and even enemies in the game look incredible. Plenty of animation and color apparently was the order of the day when creating this game. The GBA really shows off some of it's graphical might in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. There's even a large number of screen filling enemies that use mode 7 effects which should make any vampire hunting fan giddy. You're lead character, Juste Belmont, looks nearly identical to Alucard in SotN, even down to the color changing trails you can set. Some people were annoyed at this, saying it was unoriginal, but I'll be damned if I didn't admit that Alucard was one of the coolest video game badasses ever to hunt bloodsuckers.

The story is standard fare for a Castlevania game. It is not an earth shattering series of plot twists or anything, you have an erie castle, the kind of all Vamps waiting for his time to strike and, of course, Death. The game is actually a lot more like SotN than it isn't. There are very similar aspects, such as a castle with two equal parts, shops where you can spend money, etc etc. Hey, you can say they were being unoriginal all you want. The game works, and it works better than most games can ever dream to. I'm not complaining. (Although I would certainly not mind a new console version... PLEASE!!!!)

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance tweaks a lot of the gameplay that was found in CotM. The whip is still the weapon of choice, however the slack whip is back (although the spinning whip is available as a powerup,) and you still have to earn a bunch of movement powerups like the double jump, super jump, etc. However, there is no run powerup in the game. It's replaced by the shoulder button controlled left and right dashes that were found in SotN, which surprisingly come into play more than they ever did in SotN. It's not too bad once you get used to it. Other then that, the gameplay is right at home for any Castlevania fan.

Even though the DSS system of CotM offered tons of features, it was very unwieldy and really only offered a few spells which you would use on a regular basis. HoD changes all of that with the Spell book fusion system which offers fewer options than the DSS card system, but is definitely more usable and even allows you to change setting without going to the game menu using control button combo shortcuts. The graphical effects for the spells are very decent and the magic feels way more balanced than it was in CotM, which allowed you to almost abuse magic in lieu of actual combat. The spell books are used in conjunction with the sub weapons to trigger spells. It's an elegant system that works great for the game.

I will admit that the game is on the easy side. Not that I'm complaining. I don't need a game to try and actually kill me to have fun. I can appreciate a good game even if I am not forced to play it for 52 weeks straight to beat it. The replay options are a little thin compared to the previous GBA game, however there are still some fun options, such as the Maxim play through of the game after you beat it for the first time. (Much like Richter's game in SotN.) The unique mode is the Boss Rush mode which allows you to run through the game's MANY bosses one right after the other until you either destroy them all or die trying. For whatever reason, they also chose to add a sound test mode.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is just an awesome game. Fans of 2D side scrollers and especially fans of the series owe themselves a treat with this title. It is just one of those games that I find myself playing over and over again. I played through every mode of CotM and maxed out everything in SotN on the Saturn. This game isn't any different. And after everything is played and maxed out... I go back for more. Please, Konami, don't stop with this series and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE deliver that rumored PS2 full sequel to Symphony of the Night. Until then, thank you for at least not giving up on the series and delivering quality titles along the way.