(LAST UPDATE: 7/19/2009)
Developer(s): Konami, 8ing
Publisher(s): Konami
Platform(s): Nintendo Wii
Release Date(s): November 18th 2008 (
), March 27th 2009
(
), January 15th 2009
(
)
Characters: Alucard, Dracula, Simon Belmont, Shanoa, Maria Renard, Trevor Belmont, Eric Lecarde, Carmilla, Death, Cornell, Aeon, Sypha Belnades, Grant Danasty, Golem
Related Games: Power Stone, Power Stone 2, Bushido Blade, Bushido Blade 2
Story:
According to Iga,
the "The timeline goes over 1000s of years as Dracula
fights the forces of good. There is a character trying to destroy that timeline,
and due to magical forces, characters from different periods are brought
together to battle." Galamoth plots to send the Time Reaper from 10,000
years in the future into the past to destroy his rival Dracula, and change
history. Aeon discovers this and pulls together champions from different eras of history
into a time rift, in order to find a chosen one capable of destroying the Time
Reaper.
In this world, a battle has been raging between vampire hunters and their
prey for ages. Thirteen people from around the world have been called into an
alternate dimension through a gap in time. A mysterious man named Aeon appears
before the thirteen and tells them "if you pass the trial, you can have
your wish..." The trial is a battle between those assembled. But what will
they gain if they pass the trial? And how do they escape from the time gap? An
epic, era-spanning battle of destiny is about to begin.
Review:
Castlevania
Judgment, the first ever fighting game to be based on the Castlevania
series, is a "free-running" 3D fighting game for the Nintendo Wii, with gameplay
comparable to the likes of
the Power Stone or Bushido
Blade series. The character designs were done
by Takeshi Obata, of Death Note fame. Judgment features remixed Castlevania tunes,
recognizable & familiar Castlevania environments, and even classic monsters
from the series that interfere with battles. There are 14 playable characters
from various titles in the Castlevania universe, each whom uses their own unique weapon
and fighting style. All characters can also use classic
sub-weapons during battle (including magic spells, holy water, dagger, axe,
& that awesome boomerang). Thankfully, you can play the game with a classic
controller or arcade stick, or if you prefer, you can even play the game using
the Wii nunchuck for character movement, and the Wiimote for motion attacks. Judgment
also connects with the DS's Order of Ecclesia, which unlocks bonus
content.
For any kind of Castlevania fan, the
idea looks good on paper... The fact is, it looks much better in the screenshots
than it does on-screen. Graphically, there isn't much going on... Even for Wii's
graphics. I played the game on an HD-TV (which probably isn't the best option in
this case), and the game overall looked like a mildly impressive PS1
game. Then I went to Options, and as soon as I saw that the only graphic option
was "Flicker reduction", I knew it was bad news from here on out... 
So basically, you can either play the game "blurry and jaggy"
or "very jaggy". 
I'm sure the game looks better on an SD-TV, but even-so, character models are on
the skinny side and textures, hit effects & stage effects are on the drab
side. It's cool how some stages have destructible areas, but when breakable
stained glass ends up looking like blurry confetti, the effect is a miss. The
character designs are also vividly detailed, and the poor resolution makes the
details that much harder to see.
The gameplay is very fast paced, and possibly a little
too fast for it's own good... The fact that the gameplay is only 30 frames per
second doesn't help either. The animation is actually pretty good at times, but
with only 30 frames (which sometimes seems like 27), the animation clearly isn't
being used to it's full potential. I think if the game was 60 frames, not only
would the animation look much better, the game would probably play better as
well... but that's a pipe dream at the moment. The gameplay as is, isn't terrible...
For a 3rd person action game. 
Yes, at times... It's easy to forget you're playing a fighting game, and might
feel as if you're actually playing a cut & paste 3rd person action game.
There are even moments in the game where you fight against a few different
monsters at once, in which the game plays EXACTLY like a 3rd person
action game, with a bad camera to boot. 
I actually like some of the camera angles you can get with the game, since it's
free roaming and all... I personally like running toward the camera for dramatic
effect... It's kind of fun.
As a "traditional" fighting game fan, a free roaming fighting game
doesn't get me all that excited... However, I did very much enjoy both Bushido
Blade 2 and Power Stone 2 for a good chunk of
time. Why doesn't Judgment have the same effect? Well, besides the facts
I previously mentioned... Another major gripe I have is that there isn't an
option to walk, or even run slow. 
...Unfortunately you're forced to run the same speed at all times. That means
there aren't any variations of character movement, besides jump/double
jump. So you're pretty much attacking the whole time, or just "standing and
looking cool" if you prefer. It promotes aggressive fighting, but really,
character control is of utmost importance in any fighting game.
Characters have a small but decent array of attacks, some of which
look pretty cool, and there are some nice looking combos. HOWEVER, and a
big HOWEVER (if you didn't notice)... One-button super moves. 
Need I say more? Never have I pulled off a 99-hit combo in a fighting
game, by hitting one button... 
Yea...
One-button = half life gone... Where's the skill in that? Not in this game,
that's for sure. The super moves look cool the first few times though, but
watching the same exact 10-second segment over and over again becomes
tiresome rather quickly... The super moves aren't that impressive either,
but most of which are worthy to be called "super moves" at least. The
characters themselves aren't half bad overall, but needless to say, cool
characters running on a below-mediocre gameplay system can only be so cool.
There are a variety of modes at least... Including
Story mode, Arcade, Versus, Survival, and Castle mode which takes you through a
variety of missions and battles, but annoyingly sends you back to a previous
save point if you lose. 
Through Castle mode you can unlock customization items for use in Accessories mode,
which enables you to customize the appearance
of your fighters. There are at least 45 costume customizations that can
be distributed on the face, left arm, right arm, head, and body of the
characters... Some of which are rather cool & entertaining, but others not
so much. Also, all of the accessories can be used by any of the
characters, so if you ever wanted to see Alucard with a bunny tail, or Maria
with Ram horns, you'll finally get your wish... Yes, if you really wanted
to, you could give everyone in the game a bunny tail... and Ram horns.....
Disturbing. 
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Closing Comment:
As a
pretty big fan of Death Note (since the manga first came out), I can
admire Takeshi Obata's artwork and character designs in the game, even though
the characters don't look very much at all like they did in their original
games. That fact alone pretty much takes all the possible "epic" out
of these supposed "dream battles", because if you squint, it's
possible to forget you're even playing a Castlevania game at times.
Still, the theme and setting can be immersive; and thankfully the music is still
superb, though ironically enough I'm still partial to the original MIDI tracks over the
remixes.
Nah, the soundtrack in this game is definitely as badass as you'd expect.
So if you haven't figured out by now, this game is a pass... By the way, when
was a "3D Castlevania game" ever successful?!? 
...And don't even say Castlevania 64.
Also, that "next gen Castlevania title" doesn't count (yet). My point
is, a 2D fighter would have made so much more sense given the series' history.
Even if they wanted to be lazy and make a 2D fighter with 3D graphics, it likely
would have turned out a lot better than this 3D fighter/action game... Yep, I
just denounced this "fighting game" as an fighting/action game...
Ouch. ~F.Yagami, Webmaster
of TFG
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