'Castlevania: Harmony of Despair' Dated For Xbox Live Arcade

The ratings board in Australia must have known what they were doing when they rated "Castlevania: Harmony of Despair," because the game is a fully fledged legitimate title now, and it even has a release date set for Xbox Live Arcade. That date is August 4, 2010.

Xbox included "Harmony of Despair" as part of its "Summer of Arcade" event listed on Xbox.com, which also includes "Limbo" on July 21, "Hydro Thunder Hurricane" July 28, "Monday Night Combat" August 11 and "Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light" August 18. Each of the games will sell for 1200 MS Points, but if you buy at least three of them, XBL will give you 400 Points back, and if you buy all five you'll get 1200 Points back.

According the new XBL page for "Harmony of Despair," Konami will be including six-player online co-op, combo attacks, and the type of gigantic 2-D levels you expect from a Castlevania title with some designs stripped straight out of "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow," "Portrait of Ruin" and "Order of Ecclesia."

There will be worse ways to spend your MS Points this summer if you're a Castlevania buff. Not having played it, I can't speak for its aspirations to "push the classic Castlevania formula into the HD era," but for 2-D co-op lovers, this should be one to watch out for.

How do you think "Harmony of Despair" will turn out in the scheme of the Castlevania franchise? Are you sold on it yet? Share your reactions in the comment section below.