Castlevania Judgment
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Castlevania Judgment
Castlevania by name, Generic by game.
A while ago, Konami announced that it was bringing Castlevania to the Wii. This was obviously welcome news to Wii owners, as aside from showing some love for Nintendo’s handheld, there hasn’t been a Castlevania game on a Nintendo console for far too long. However, there was a catch. Konami announced that this would be no ordinary Castlevania game, this would be a fighter. This was met with much skepticism from many longtime fans of the series, but it had definitely piqued many a gamers curiousity. The end result is an interesting effort, but falls short of hitting the mark of expectations for a Castlevania title, let alone a fighting game on the Wii.
Gameplay
So what exactly does a Castlevania fighting game involve? Well, apparently it involves the exact same concepts as every other generic fighter out there and applies them to the Castlevania universe. That’s not to say that this is an entirely bad thing, but those expecting something more will surely be disappointed. The game offers the standard fighting game modes, Story, Arcade, Survival and throws in Castle, which might have had promise but fails to deliver anything truly innovative and simply becomes a generic "defeat X amount of enemies before moving to the next room" type of affair. Again, it’s not bad, but considering how great the Castlevania series is, it’s disappointing to see that almost no effort went into making this anything but an average fighter with familiar (and bankable), characters.
Obviously the only reason most are going to buy this is for the nostalgia factor, and a chance to geek out with some of the series’ most memorable characters. The one problem here is that none of the characters really feel all that familiar once you see them in action. They’ve been bulked up to match fighters of other games, and aside from their weapons really couldn’t be picked out of a line-up against any of the other fighting games out there. Given the short development cycle, I can understand why they cut corners on innovation in the modes, but turning your main characters, who should stand out by all rights and means, into generic and awkward looking clones just doesn’t make any sense.
Now, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the controls make or break a fighting game, and in this case, while it’s not entirely broken, it’s overly complex using the default Wii and nunchuk setup. Waggling your arms about while trying to remember which buttons to hold down, and time your attacks is just so counter-intuitive that it sucks all the fun out of the gameplay. It also doesn’t help that regardless of how manic you flail your arms, or how well you time your flailings, the attacks are pretty much all the same. Yes, there are special attacks that you can pull off, but even they lack the oomph that they should have. You’ll get no sense of accomplishment from pulling off these attacks because it seems more like luck than anything else. Ok, yes, the Super Finishers do have a great art-style and are incredibly satisfying if you can pull them off, but that’s the one high point in a series of mid to low ones.
Even using the Gamecube or Classic controllers doesn’t help all that much, with the exception of giving your arms a rest. Yes, the more traditional use of a gamepad is certainly welcome, but it doesn’t really improve the gameplay enough to up the fun factor. Still, if you eschew all expectations of what a fighting game (let alone a Castlevania game) should be, you may be able to squeak a bit more fun out of it than those who live and breathe Soul Calibur and other such fare. My advice, think more along the lines of Facebreaker than Mortal Kombat and you should be able to get through one or two characters stories. Add a friend and you may just be able to squeeze that much more out of it.
Speaking of friends, there is an online component to Judgment which actually works incredibly well. You can test your mettle against opponents from anywhere in the world, and from my experience there was little to no lag to be found. One of the coolest features is the ability to save the name of opponents you’ve faced, rather than exchanging friend codes with them. This proves that you don’t have to make that much of an effort to make the online simple on the Wii. Just giving people a chance to keep track of opponents they’ve faced in a simple manner makes a world of difference...especially since you don’t have to copy down that confusingly long friend code.
Graphics and Sound
Visually, Judgment is a slick looking fighter. Character models look great, even if they do look like they popped a bunch of steroids and raided Gwen Stefani’s closet. Environments are another story. The designs are bland and pretty generic, but you most likely won’t see much of them as you’ll be so focused on your opponent that it wouldn’t much matter if you were fighting on the moon. The camera does have a tendency to get too far away from the action at times, and that will affect the outcome of some fights, as you’ll often not be able to lock onto an opponent because you can’t really tell which way your character is supposed to be looking. Animations are all good, but the hits seem to lack the oomph that they should. The only truly spectacular eye candy in the game is that of the Super Finisher. These look fantastic, and are definitely the highlight in the game both visually, and gameplay-wise.
As for sound? Well, it’s a fighting game so obviously there’s little to listen to aside from the usual grinding music and terrible one-liners pre and post fight. It’s disheartening to see that they couldn’t have found some other way but, as it stands, Judgment follows the stereotypical formula used in almost every fighter ever made.
Value
If you’re planning on going through the game solo, you won’t find much here that you can’t find in other fighting games, and there are better ones out there on the Wii (surprisingly). Story mode and Castle will probably be where you’ll spend most of your time, but don’t expect to spend more than a couple of hours at most completing either of these. However, bring a friend into the mix, or slug it out with a complete stranger in the awesome online mode and you’ll find a few more reasons to stick around for at least a few more hours. Be warned though, those looking for a new Castlevania experience will find nothing but the characters names with which to associate the series.
Conclusion
Judgment is by no means terrible, just mediocre. It’s as if someone was reading "Making Fighting Games for Dummies", and literally followed the instructions step by step, without thinking about ways to make it something more. Considering the history of the series, there’s so much that could have been done, and just wasn’t. If you’re looking for a new fighter on the Wii, and one with a great online component at that, then give it a shot, but Castlevaniacs beware, the only thing true to the series here is the names of the characters.
Pros
+ Offers one of the best online experiences on the Wii.
+ Super Finishers look incredible.
+ Character models and environments look good, if not original.
Cons
- Controls are off regardless of which control scheme you use.
- Everything about the game is bland and ripped from other games that do it better.
- Use of the Castlevania name feels more like a cash-in.
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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