Castlevania Judgment was a failed idea from the start. A 3D fighting game amalgamation of past Castlevania games for the Wii? Just saying that sounds all wrong. I tried to remain optimistic throughout its development since the screenshots and game footage shown pre-release showed some promise, but deep down in my heart I (and surely every other Castlevania fan) knew the game would be a stinker in the end. And sadly it is.
Eyeballing its menus upon boot up, Judgment shows off a staggering roster of play modes. Arcade, Versus, Training, Tutorials, Survival, online play, interconnectivity with Order of Ecclesia on the DS (don’t own Ecclesia so unfortunately I couldn’t test this), a Story mode for each of the game’s 14 characters, and even a neat Castle mode that sees you working through floors of a castle completing various missions on the way to confront Dracula, unlocking character customization accessories along the way. There really is a ton of stuff to do.
Unfortunately the rest of the game is so dreadful you won’t want to explore all of these initially enticing modes. Judgment is a mish-mash of a game that combines elements of Soul Calibur, Smash Bros. and Power Stone into one mess of a 3D fighter. Everything about the game is just wrong: the graphics are muddy and bland, the character designs are generic and uninspired, the camera is a total pain in the ass, the characters are completely unbalanced (some far too weak, some way overpowered), the voice acting is laughably cheesy, and the fighting mechanics are so simplistic and shallow that even a casual gamer would grow bored with them after a few battles.
Attacking requires nothing but wild flailing of the Wii Remote. There’s no subtlety involved in the force or direction of your swings whatsoever. Just swing away and your character’s attacks are the same over and over again. Konami was kind enough to at least offer optional schemes for the GameCube and Classic controllers, and using these standard control methods does work better. However, instead of wild remote flailing you’re still just button mashing, so the game still isn’t very fun.
Smash Bros. Brawl aside (since it didn’t force crummy motion control schemes on us!), fighting games and the Wii simply don’t belong together — Castlevania Judgment is further proof of this. This game is a permanent stain on the Castlevania legacy and yet another reminder that the series just doesn’t work outside the realm of 2D. Hopefully Konami will finally realize this and quit wasting valuable time and assets on these awful 3D spin-offs. I doubt that’ll happen, but I can dream, can’t I?
Pros:
+ Massive mode selection
Cons:
– Shallow, poorly balanced fighting mechanics
– Lousy character designs
– Ugly, dated graphics (even for the Wii!)
– Unwieldy camera
Game Info:
Platform: Wii
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 11/18/08
Genre: Fighting
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1-2
]]>
Well would you look at that. Castlevania Judgment, the Wii fighting game based on the classic Castlevania series, actually looks pretty good. Still not completely sold on the idea of a Castlevania brawler, but maybe it won’t be as blasphemous as originally thought.
]]>
I shit you not. Konami has announced a new Castlevania for the Wii and it’s not an action/adventure/platform/RPG game like usual. Oh no, for some reason Konami thought it was a good idea to turn the beloved franchise into a fighting game called Castlevania Judgment. Castlevania Judgment will bring together past and present Castlevania icons and let players duke it out using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to “slash, stab and whip their way across a variety of stages and environmental elements with various surrounding objects as weapons.”
I’ve already had plenty of experience with motion-control Wii fighting games and sorry, it gets shallow and repetitive in a hurry. Castlevania‘s legendary producer Koji “Iga” Igarashi and famed manga artist Takeshi Obata are working on the project, and the game will feature two-player online play and interconnectivity with the upcoming DS game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, so those are all positive signs that provide maybe a little bit of optimism. But I don’t know, a Castlevania fighting game just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I sure hope Konami proves me wrong. We’ll find out this fall…
]]>“We wanted to take this addition to the signature Konami franchise in a direction that really sets it apart from the previous Castlevania titles in the series,” said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “The Wii Remote
and Nunchuk capabilities, along with the iconic characters, make this game the ideal entry point into the fighting game genre. This combination is certain to thrill old and new fans of the franchise. “