No, this isn't about Dave Grohl or Foo Fighters (another review for another time). But I do have a confession to make.
I forgot two more handheld games I beat in my time off.
Sorry!
Castlevania is a series with which I am not super familiar. I have played the first and second, but never beaten them. The one with which I had the most exposure as a kid was Aria of Sorrow, which my friend on the bus had. We played it for a while til we got stuck, and then abandoned ship. I really liked it, though, and had it on my list of games to beat. So I did.
It's amazing. I love the RPG elements that it has, and the system by which you can steal an enemy's soul and use its powers is amazing. I've always loved games which show you tantalizing areas which are unreachable, and then you can go back through and unlock them later with new abilities. This is commonly associated with Metroid and Castlevania, although I trace my love for the concept to Link to the Past, with its many bombamble (spelling?) walls, heavy rocks to lift, and pegs to pound covering the only path to dungeons, caves, and precious pieces of hearts.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow doesn't just scratch that itch. It does it as masterfully as any game I've ever seen.
Other great things about Aria of Sorrow include the fantastic soundtrack, excellent controls, fun bosses, huge map to explore, large range of weapons, armor, and accessories to equip, and excellent difficulty curve. I died just the right amount of times, and never felt like the game was too easy or too hard.
It was occasionally a bit easy to get lost in, as there's no clear direction for where to go next, other than exploring more blacked out spots on the map. For a game as exploration focused as this, it can be forgiven, but there were several times which I had to cop out and go look up where to go next, a sign of poor game design.
Harmony of Dissonance is also good, but not quite as good as Aria of Sorrow. The music is downright dreadful, the hitbox on the whip is a bit weird, I miss the presence of other weapons besides the whip, and the controls aren't quite as fluid and responsive as Aria of Sorrow, particularly when jumping and attacking. I did like the fact that you could dash forward or backward, and used this to get around the map quickly and enjoyably. Probably the biggest knock against Harmony of Dissonance, however, is its difficulty. It's childishly easy, which is frustrating. All in all, however, it's an experience worth having, because the core Metroidvania experience of exploring and unlocking successive areas of a huge map with new abilities is definitely here. If you're picking one to play, though, definitely go with Aria of Sorrow.
I'd give Aria of Sorrow a 9.5/10, and Harmony of Dissonance an 8.0
-TRO
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