Are you afraid of vampires, ghosts, demons and succubi? YOU ARE!? Well forget about going to the wonderful land of Castlevania for your holidays this year because you’re a pansy. But if you are like me and actually prefer to go on your holidays to places where the likelihood of certain death by werewolves is above 90% then there is no better place this winter. 1200 Microsoft points gets you flights and accommodation, but if you do fancy spending Christmas in Dracula’s castle, a word of warning. when packing your bags make sure you include a whip, for killing various creatures and monsters, meat which you can keep hidden in the walls and lots of sources of caffeine, because unfortunately you will not be sleeping on this little get-a-way.

Harmony of Despair is the latest 2D action-adventure game from Konami, and the 36th game in the long running series, if you include all the Japanese releases too. However Harmony of Despair is the first game in the series to truly embrace online multiplayer. After 25 years not much has changed but unfortunately there is a price to pay for the inclusion of multiplayer and this has resulted in a rather substandard addition to the franchise.

From the moment you jump into the game you immediately know you’re going to struggle without the aid of your comrades or some random strangers on Xbox Live, in fact I would say it is almost impossible to do it all by yourself, without getting very frustrated from death, after death, after death, after…well you get the picture. It’s a frustration which is increased tenfold by attempting to join a game because finding a match in multiplayer can, at times, be a little tedious, not only because it can take a while just to join a match, but when you do finally join one, people seem quit out because they have no say in which level they are going to play.

The game's matchmaking increases the frustration

Despite Harmony of Despair being the first in the series to truly adopt multiplayer capabilities, the core gameplay still remains largely untouched. Running around a castle full of an endless variety of colorful enemies, trying your hardest not to lose all your health despite having little to no items, killing bosses as you progress, it’s still all in there. This time however, you can choose between five of Castlevania’s favorite characters from previous titles, Alucard, Soma Cruz, Jonathan Morris, Shanoa, and Charlotte Aulin are all present, willing and able. If you’re not a fan of the series those names won’t mean much to you, but each character possesses different abilities and personal skills relevant to the game they were featured in, which is an excellent addition as each character offers up a different way of playing the game.

Castlevania games have always had some memorable enemies and Harmony of Despair is no different. They are all just as unique, familiar, fun to destroy and as infuriating to beat as they have always been. Predictably you start with low powered weapons and armor and as you progress and obtain better weapons and armor, so does the difficulty of enemies. But a great addition lies in the form of the game’s ability to auto-save either after you die, or after the completion of a level which means that whatever you find to level up around each stage will be right in your inventory upon the next attempt, making the game more convenient. Speaking of inventory, there may as well not be one, that is to say that you can’t access it on a whim like in previous titles. To change your weapons, armor, healing items and your spells, you need to find checkpoints located around the map in strategic positions, which negates the convenience of auto-saves and adds a sense of grinding as you backtrack around the map, slowing the game’s pace right down.

From skeletons, flying eyeballs, knights, angels, minotaurs and skulls, the variety of enemies is huge

As well as including a vast array of different characters from the Castlevania universe, Konami have made some other notable new additions. Unlike in previous installments of the franchise, the entire map is revealed to you from the start of each level, meaning that the pleasure you would normally get from discovering each percentage of the map is absent, replaced entirely by the need to find more loot, which is an unwelcome change. However it does make it easier for you and up to five other vampire hunters to keep track of not only where you are going but also where everyone else is in regards to the boss, which is pretty important since all team members don’t have to be present to fight the boss, after all you don’t want to miss out on fighting a boss do you? Aside from that, a newly included time limit also feels slightly alien, but is essential to keep up the pace and adds a little challenge and more replay value.

The excitement of exploration has been killed off by the unveiling of each map at the start of the level

In terms of presentation, Castlevania - Harmony of Despair is your typical, classic Castlevania game. The music is more Transylvanian than ever (more Transylvanian than The Cheeky Girls in fact), and inspires a peculiar, spooky atmosphere. As always boss fights are accompanied by some epic boss music to compliment each levels final confrontation. Weapons, magic and special moves are all executed with stylish sound effects and the little voice acting that there is, is as cheesy as it comes. This is of course accompanied by some brilliant retro/modern graphics that is a real tribute to the Castlevania games of old.

Harmony of Despair is a graphical love letter to the earlier Castlevania games

Unfortunately, Harmony of Despair itself plays a lot like Castlevania on a diet, “Castlevania Light” perhaps? A lot of the core features which make the previous Castlevania games so great have made way in order to implement multiplayer, and whilst the game plays like your average Castlevania game and the multiplayer is fun, it seems devoid of charm and isn’t all that impressive. To get the most out of the game, playing with your friends rather than six randoms over Xbox Live is essential. But even then, with that many people in the game, the enemies pose almost no challenge at all considering the combined damage from six people which makes for a less engaging experience. As well as taking out core features of the franchise, Konami have added a few new features into the mix, but you can’t escape the feeling that Harmony of Despair feels much more like a big fan service in preparation for the upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, rather than a fully fledged Castlevania game with a life of it’s own. It feels just like a little something to hold us over until the “proper” new game arrives.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 - The presentation of this game is delightfully nostalgic and most of all gloriously colorful in HD no less. A tribute to the Castlevania games of old.

Sound: 4/5 - Harmony of Despair has brought back many recognizable tunes from previous Castlevania games which marry perfectly with level maps and are terribly Transylvanian. They haven’t skimped on the sound effects either, its like audio ecstasy and the voice acting is as terribly cheesy and unintentionally as funny as always.

Gameplay: 3/5 – Disappointing to say the least, it lacks charm and can soon become repetitive. Single player is a bit of a drudge and the new multiplayer aspects only really shine when your playing with friends. The new gameplay mechanics such as the time limit work well but also have drawbacks and, I say this as a fan of the series, feel out of place in a Castlevania game. However other fans of the series will no doubt find enjoyment and having the most significant characters in the series all in one game is rather novel and fun.

Longevity: 2/5 - There’s no mistaking that this game is hard, its longevity is reflected in its challenge, not it’s length. With only six levels, you won’t be playing Harmony of Despair for long unless you have plenty of fellow vampires hunters who like you, always want to beat their last high score or find all the loot. It feels much like a precursor to the forthcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadows.

Overall: 3.5 Bloody, splintered, stakes to the heart out of 5 - Castlevania - Harmony of Despair is the first time a Castlvania game as truly embraced multiplayer and is another great addition to a series. By giving the fans something which they have been patiently waiting for, a traditional Castlevania experience with Multiplayer, it has seemingly done its job but will Harmony of Despair go down as one of the truly great Castlevania games? No.

- Adam Radcliffe

Red Dead Revolver was released on the Playstation 2 and the original Xbox in early 2004 to some mixed reviews and fairly decent sales. This week sees the high profile release of the sequel, Red Dead Redemption, which so far has received mostly stellar reviews. So what better time to shamelessly cash in and take a trip back in time to look at how it began?

Created by Rockstar San Diego, the studio behind the Midnight Club racing games, and published by Rockstar Games, the powerhouses behind the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Revolver was a interesting third person shooter simply because it exuded style from every pore.

Meet Red. He's the protagonist... That means hero.

The game featured a fantastic sound track by Western Legend Ennio Morricone, composer of The Good the Bad and the Ugly, which really contributes towards the authentic western feel.

Like any good Western, Red Dead Revolver put you in the role of a man out for vengeance; Red, the bounty hunting son of gold prospectors. As a child, his parents were murdered by a greedy Mexican general, out to steal their substantial amount of gold.

How did this General learn of his family’s recent find? A trusted friend betrayed them in exchange for saving his own worthless hide. Once Red grows up and becomes a bona fide Bounty Hunter, he sets out to take revenge on both the heartless general and the gutless traitor.

As well as the main protagonist there were several other playable characters at various points in the game. However, they all handle exactly the same as Red, and only really served as a way of emphasising what a bland character Red was.

Shooting fatties as they waddle towards you has never been such fun

Characters like the English sharp shooter Jack Swift, for instance, were far more charismatic. At times these side levels served as little more than distractions from the main quest. Each character was playable in the multiplayer mode, which offered up various death match games; although overall it felt a little tacked on.

The real meat of this game came in the single player story mode. The world of Red Dead Revolver was far smaller than you might expect, what with it coming from the people behind Grand Theft Auto. If any comparison can be made to another existing Rockstar game, it would probably have to be Manhunt. Each level is broken up into small arenas populated with a number of enemies. In order to progress you must defeat every enemy, and defeat the more powerful boss character at the end of the level.

There were a lot of tools at your disposal, ranging from the generic pistols, revolvers, to riffles, and dynamite. The best feature in Red Dead Revolver came in the form of the deadeye mechanic. Basically, deadeye is the equivalent of the slow motion bullet time found in games such as Max Payne and Stranglehold.

When deadeye was activated you could aim at up to six targets, be they six individual targets or just separate body parts, and fill them full of hot lead. Deadeye was also implemented in quick draws at regular intervals in the game. These quick draw moments proved to be some of the most memorable, and genuinely satisfying, moments in the game.

Deadeye aiming is a brilliant feature

Like a lot of Rockstar games, at times the controls could be a bit fiddly, particularly the movement controls. Your character could duck behind cover, roll out of the way of fire, and perform hand to hand combat, but overall you really fighting up close with your enemies was a bad idea. The game was at its best when standing at one end of a deserted ghost town, firing off shot after shot at enemies standing at the other end of the street.

As well as gun fights, you would be right in expecting other Western staples, such as train robberies, saloon fights, and horse riding. For the most part the big set pieces, such as the attack on the train, were exhilarating, although a little clunkily put together.

That is probably the best thing you could say about Red Dead Revolver; it was a neat game with a ton of good ideas. The only problem being that the execution was a little off. It’s probably safe to say that Rockstar are aware of the game’s faults, as the sequel Red Dead Redemption shares little in common with the original. In fact the only links between Red Dead Revolver and Red Dead Redemption are the inclusion of the Deadeye mechanic and fact that it has a protagonist that rides a horse.

There are a number of thrilling set pieces, including this attack on a train

Red Dead Revolver is available for both the Playstation 2 and the Original Xbox and should be available at a fairly low price online. It is one of the original Xbox titles that will work on your Xbox 360, and if you are lucky enough to own an old 60GB model of PS3 then you should be able to play it on that too.

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for the ultimate Red Dead Redemption review.

Whilst the popularity of Pokémon has certainly dwindled in recent years, in the Western world at least, The Newb Review thought we’d send out tom01255 to take you, our beloved readers, on a trip down memory lane and try to explain just why Pokémon Yellow was so great.

Let’s begin with something of a contentious statement. Pokémon Yellow is the epitome of handheld gaming. Forget about Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Super Mario and even Tetris. Yellow combined a compelling story and intuitive gameplay mechanics, but the underpinning idea; that of reinventing bug collecting as a worldwide phenomenon was so Japanese kitsch, it really shouldn’t have worked. But massive sales have shot the Pokémon franchise way beyond that of other titles; topped only by the Mario franchise in terms of absolute sales figures.

The idea of catching and exploiting various creatures should have presented the vulgar rebirth of a cock-fighting mentality. But the overwhelming charm of each species and the emphasis on love and respect for Pokémon in order to succeed (a notion that falls short when you consider the game doesn’t allow you to particularly mistreat your Pokémon – it would have been nice to beat Bulbasaur is all I’m saying) gave players a subtle moral message that is missing in a world where shooting people in the face is often touted as the height of gaming prowess.

Don't ask what Ash is doing with his other thumb

The gaming premise is simple; you battle creatures one on one, knocking opponents out to achieve victory. Winning battles grants experience, which increases the strength of your Pokémon, and capturing more powerful Pokémon bolsters your team. Strategy is introduced with the use of elemental abilities. Each move and Pokémon is categorised by element, with fire beating grass, water beating fire etc.

Sure, try to burn a water pokemon, that'll work wonders... Moron

If you haven’t ever played Pokémon Yellow, I urge you to rush out and get a copy right now. Later generations of the game convoluted the game’s structure with overly ambitious night and day mechanics and a tag team structure that is needlessly confusing and bars new players from the franchise. The bare-bones battling with a choice of four moves for each of your creatures is all you need, and the added strategy of carrying only six Pokémon at any time means you really have to think about the situation you are about to encounter and which Pokémon to take.

Ok, so the game can be beaten relatively easily if you grind through to level cap your Pokémon, but doing this isn’t in the spirit of the game. By adding your own challenge, either by seeing how fast you can complete it, or trying to get the lowest level Pokémon possible into the Hall of Fame at the end of the game, Yellow presents as tough a challenge as anything out there.

Personal hygiene isn't his strong suit but "Mankey" is a bit harsh

The game roughly follows the narrative of the animated series, with Pikachu unwillingly following you in the beginning and slowly appreciating you as a trainer more and more throughout the story. Whilst Red and Blue offered a choice of three starting Pokémon, Yellow forces Pikachu upon you. But you have the opportunity to attain the three starting Pokémon from various people on your journey.

When you get to the ship in game, let your Butterfree go and wipe the tear from your eye as you do so. Sure, you lose a strong Pokémon that has taken hours to raise, but I guarantee it will make you genuinely happy. Not only have you given Butterfree the freedom he so craved, you’ve helped strengthen him to survive in the wild. Gaming doesn’t get more beautiful than this.