Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Reception

Reception

In the United States, about 126,000 units of Harmony of Dissonance were sold, and in Japan, it was not considered a "huge hit" by Igarashi. Metacritic assigned it a score of 87 of 100 while GameRankings gave it an 84%.

At the time of its release, Harmony of Dissonance received positive reviews from English-language critics. GameSpot commended it as "not just a fine Castlevania game--it's also one of the better Game Boy Advance games to come around in a while". Gamespy stated: "Despite its unevenness, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is a quality adventure that represents the best attempt yet made at miniaturizing the brilliance of Symphony of the Night." While worrying about the loss of originality of the franchise and noting that "Harmony of Dissonance almost obsessively copies Symphony of the Night", GamePro called it "a fun action game and a fine Castlevania game in its own right." The improved graphics of Harmony of Dissonance, especially the backgrounds, 3D effects, and multi-jointed bosses, received praise from reviewers, who called them "plentiful and visually stunning", and "top-notch".

The soundtrack of the game was less well received. Critics panned the music as "easily the worst Castlevania soundtrack" and "muddy, plodding, and reminiscent of the days of four-channel NES soundtracks". Conversely, GameSpot found that the music was "decent" and occasionally "fitting or even catchy", but failed to live up to the high expectations of the series. IGN felt that while not "quite as bad as importers have made it out to be", the songs "aren't nearly as nice as they have been in past Castlevania adventures." Reviewers also disliked the lack of difficulty with GamePro describing it as the game's "biggest flaw". Other criticism included predictable and easy boss battles, and "a much smaller explorable area and somewhat less compelling map design".

Retrospective reviews, however, have been more critical of the game. Considering Harmony of Dissonance "one of the more disappointing titles of the series" and "the least-impressive of the three GBA titles," retrospective critics cited the dull castle design and frequent switching between castle layers as some of the game's biggest flaws. PALGN's David Low criticized the inclusion of the "possessed ally" element from previous Castlevania titles along with the game's easier gameplay, the player character's badly animated sprite, and the occasionally gaudy environments. Looking back on the series, Mark Bozon of IGN concluded: "Still Harmony of Dissonance shows off some decent visuals as an in-between, mid-generation game, and paved the way for GBA's strongest Castlevania title, Aria of Sorrow."

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance was re-released in North America in January 2006, along with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, as part of Castlevania Double Pack. Both games are contained on a single GBA Game Pak. This pack also appeared in Europe later that year. It was picked as the IGN Game Boy Game of the Month for January 2006.