Castlevania: Harmony of Despair on PS3

At last! It took a whole friggin’ year, but Castlevania, Harmony of Despair finally jumped to multi-platform, and is on the PS3. I was afraid that this, one of my favorite franchises, might have left this 2-D curio behind on the 360, forever taunting me, but now I finally get my chance.

For those unfamiliar with the premise, HoD is a challenge game, rather than a fully realized, story-based Castlevania release. It features a plethora of new, intricately detailed, 2-D HD maps, which can be explored with Alucard of Symphony of the Night, Soma, from the DS installments, or a host of other characters from the 2-D castle crawlers. The maps all have the feel of the series standard, Symphony of the Night, but are also timed, and have lots of weird hidden goodies for up to six players to race and battle for in multi-player games.

PS3 owners may have had to wait, but this version includes the ‘Beauty, Desire, Situation Dire’ Map pack, which includes the Pyramid of Ruin level, as well as additional characters Julius Belmont and Yoko Belnades. More DLC is set to follow. The game is supposed to be available now for $14.99, but I didn’t see it in the PS Store when I ran to purchase it (and instead I ended up getting engrossed in Earthworm Jim for about an hour), so… later today?

If its not, I may just sit through SotN again. I’m gettin’ that platformer itch…