![]() Players will commonly play in the first of three views - a close-up action view that exactly emulates earlier games. Even if only one of the characters finds the hidden chest, everyone receives some variation of the reward.Ī fascinating feature replaces the familiar mapping mechanic that has been a hallmark of the series for years. No matter the reward, every partner shares in the windfall. These treasures can be restorative items, new weapons or armor, or money. However, along the way players will find treasure. These cooperative challenges seem to be characteristic of the level design in Harmony of Despair, with lots of interweaving paths through the level - each of which lead to level completion. ![]() However, in a chamber far below, a door opened for Alucard. Eventually, we came to a lever, but pulling it didn't affect anything in our path. One of Shanoa's powers let her ascend to a ledge that Alucard couldn't reach, so we left our co-op partner behind and continued alone. We played as Shanoa in one sequence as Alucard ran along nearby. As you tackle these encounters, the game includes a scaling difficulty curve that responds to the number of players in the game. Players can stick together throughout the climb to the end, or separate out and help each other in less direct ways. Players navigate through the level as fast as they can (a timer counts down your remaining minutes and seconds) and gather treasure on the way to the level's boss. These smaller levels are meant to be tackled in a short time frame. These large multi-pathed levels have lots of rooms and variety to them, but each individual level is smaller than the sprawling maps of previous games in the series. We saw Chapter 1, entitled "Caught in the Cradle of Decay". First, the game is divided into levels rather than one large dungeon. Once in the game, the initial layout looks very like any of the recent DS Castlevania games, but there's a surprising number of things that are different after some investigation. Each of the different characters has unique strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. We saw Alucard, Soma Cruz, Jonathan Harris, Shanoa, and Charlotte, although it's entirely possible that there are other vampire hunters yet to be revealed by Konami. The game can be played single-player, but its real innovation comes in the form of six-player simultaneous cooperative online play.Īs the game starts, players are offered a choice between several familiar faces from the Castlevania canon. Harmony of Despair is set up as a classic 2D sidescroller, but the structure of the gameplay is an entirely new approach for the franchise. Igarashi and crew are crafting a brand new entry in their classic franchise exclusively for XBLA, and we took the game for a test drive. ![]()
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