up to the high expectations of the series. The publication later nominated the game for its annual "Most Disappointing Game on Game Boy Advance" award, citing the music. 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. PALGNs 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." Game Informers Tim Turi meanwhile felt that its design was among Castlevanias best despite having among the worst music in the series. Notes References External links 2002 video games Harmony of Dissonance Fiction set in the 1740s Game Boy Advance games Metroidvania games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Side-scrolling role-playing video games Single-player video games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Michiru Yamane Video games set in the 18th century Video games with alternate endings Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Windows games Xbox One games