Castlevania Judgment

"Castlevania makes an awesome fighting game?! Who'da thunk it?"

INTROUCTION
Have you ever wondered who would win in a match between Simon Belmont and Alucard? Or maybe you'd like to pit the latest character, Shanoa (Order of Ecclesia for the DS) against the first man to defeat Draucla, Trevor Belmont? Well, Konami has finally granted us this chance with Castlevania: Judgement, the first Castlevania title on the Wii. If you're anything like me, you were skeptical when you read about everyone's favorite vampire hunter-themed action platform RPG would be turned into a fighter for the Wii. I've only played two Castlevanias to completion (getting the best ending for one of them) but I believe I can safely say that I love these games and to see it turned into something that it maybe shouldn't be is just insane! Having said that, is this game even worth a try? Read on and find out.

STORY 8/10
The story greatly differs from what we're all used to, but that's probably why I liked it. 13 characters from different eras along the Castlevania timeline have mysteriously entered a rift in time created by a creature from the future who plans on destroying the fabric of time. Only one warrior who is enlisted by the time-traveler known as Aeon may step up to the plate to destroy this creature and return everyone to their proper time periods. Each individual character has their own storyline to play through which involves beating the crap out of somebody to perhaps prove something to themselves. Once again, this is drastically different from what we're used to, but the greater story coupled with each character's own story makes for a decent background for a fighting game.

GRAPHICS 7/10
Okay, let's be honest with ourselves here: noone who owns a Wii buys games for it and expects to be amazed by the graphics. Unless you're playing Twilight Princess, RE4, or Metroid Prime 3, graphics for Wii titles do not and will not get much better than this sadly. The game isn't a total eyesore to look at, but is it too much to ask for high-end Gamecube game-level graphics? Anyway, the character designs are done by the manga artist Takeshi Obata who is famous for his artwork on Death Note and Hikaru No Go. Thanks to him, we get look at our favorite characters in a serious anime style that we've all gotten used to. The characters' outfits are all very nicely detailed which is proof that Obata-sensei really took his time and was very careful even drawing something so simple as a shoe. Unfortunately, the details won't pop out and grab you by the throat seeing as how the Wii's graphics engine is the weakling of the current generation consoles. The animations of the characters are all very fluid and graceful as well as the special and finishing moves. The finishing moves of the characters often tend to be very colorful and take up the entire screen but the display always looks really good. The stages and backgrounds on which you fight are nothing too miraculous of course. There isn't nearly as much detail in the stages as there is in the character models as the arenas look like they're there just so that you're standing on something solid rather than in some sort of nothingness. Normally, the backgrounds looking dead, dark and lifeless would be a bad thing but this IS a Castlevania game after all. A vampire's castle is supposed to be lifeless dank and dark so that is a saving grace.

SOUND 9/10
Let's face it. Without great sound this series wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is today. Unfortunately, I don't really know the names of the different music tracks of the series or what they sound like, but the music is highly enjoyable. The music of each stage as well as the victory music you hear when you win a battle remains true to the gothic style of the games. Someone really knew what they were doing when they orchestrated this symphony of the night (pun definitely intended)! Sound effects are very nicely done as well. You can hear and probably even feel the crack of the whip, Vampire Killer, every time Simon or Trevor land a blow and sword strikes sound just like metal slicing through the night air. Finishing moves not only look great but sound satisfyingly sweet as well. What isn't so sweet, however, is the english vocal cast. When a character is defeated by a finishing move, you hear them let out an over exaggerated cry of bloody murder that's usually annoying. Especially when it comes from Maria Renard, Carmilla or Eric Lecarde. Some of the characters' lines are very over done while others seem to have little or no feeling at all. Fortunately, you can switch to the Japanese voice actors which sound very much superior and are not at all over done or under done. My only other gripes are that Death doesn't sound in the least bit terrifying in english or Japanese and for crying out loud would it kill anyone to even attempt a Transylvanian accent for the lord of darkness himself, Count Vlad Tepes Dracula? Other than this, Judgement couldn't sound much better if it tried.

GAMEPLAY/CONTROLS 8/10
For this section of the review, we'll start off with the gameplay. You know, of course that this is a fighting game so the basic point is to beat your opponent to a bloody pulp. As I mentioned earlier, each character has their own story mode in addition to the greater story and the story mode alone is what kept me from giving this area a perfect 10. The character you pick will face a series of other characters until he or she comes to the one they wish to confront. Halfway through the story mode, you find your self having to battle against either a few zombies or mermen in order to fight a giant minotaur or iron gladiator. This is completely pointless in all honesty since you're not rewarded with anything for winning. I guess Konami put them in there just it'd feel like a classic style Castelvania game. If that's the case, they didn't do a very good job and should have just left that out all together. Another drawback is that the first couple of characters you fight are total pushovers who barely put up a fight at all but once you pass the minotaur or the iron gladiator, the game decides to dish out cruel and unusual punishment with the rest of your opponents. To give you an idea of how hard it is: do you remember the Cerberus boss fight from Devil May Cry 3? How about the boss of the second area you decided to tackle in Megaman and Bass? Well if you do, then you know what I mean by it's something like that on normal difficulty. For those who don't know what I mean, allow me to explain it to you briefly. Your opponents will hand you your rump on a silver platter no less than five times before you even put a decent dent in their stamina. Case in point being Grant Danasty who moves (and looks) like some kind of a circus freak who will frustrate you so much that the only thing keeping you from hurling your Wiimote through your t.v. screen is the wrist strap which you may remove just to throw it anyway. On top of that, easy mode is entirely too easy. Taking candy from a baby is more challenging than this game on easy. In other words, Konami didn't balance the game out very well in the story mode. Fortunately, the arcade mode on normal plays the way a fighting game should play on normal. Your opponents put good fights without being too cheap with their hits. I found this relieving. I didn't get around to playing the Castle mode on account of I only rented the game and the rental was only five days, but from reading about it in the instruction manual I imagine it plays like the Weapon Master mode of Soul Calibur 2. For those who have never played that game (all two of you lol), you travel from floor to floor of Castle Dracula completing certain objectives and facing bosses. Upon beating floors, you're rewarded with different accessories with which to outfit your favorite warrior. That's enough about gameplay, let's move on to the control scheme. The controls are simple enough that anyone can pick up and play this game. If you like complex controls, this game probably isn't for you. Standard attacks are done by shaking the Wiimote while shaking the nunchuck makes your onscreen character dodge. Holding down the B button while shaking the Wiimote allows you execute a strong special attack and, for an extra punch, you can charge the special move to unleash an attack deals extra damage. One of the most simple controls of the game is activating your finishing move which done by pressing down on the d-pad. Unfortunately, your finisher can be easily cancelled by someone who enjoys getting on your nerves by blocking for most of the battle. It's also possible to play this game using the gamecube controller or the classic virtual console controller.

OVERALL 8/10
This game is living proof that developers can take a popular game series out of its normal genre and make it something truly worthwhile. I can't recommend this game to everyone, though. If you're unfamiliar with the Castlevania series, this game may be nothing too marvelous but long time fans will definitely enjoy this. Having said that, I would suggest renting it first then buying it if you like it and if/when you do decide to buy it, try to find it used or wait for the price to go down a bit.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/08

Game Release: Castlevania Judgment (US, 11/18/08)