Castlevania Judgment

"Deathnote: The Game with the cast of Castlevania making cameos."

Introduction:

Series producer IGA has been quite adamant about the genre of the Wii's first Castlevania, he refers to it as a "3D Action Fighting" game. The concept is simple, take Castlevania characters Castlevania themed levels with gimmicks (don't blame me, the game refers to obstructions as gimmicks) and duke it out while taking advantage of the levels gimmicks. Does the transition from 2D platformers to 3D "Fighter" work while retaining ~some~ elements of franchise? Yes. Is it fun to play? Well let me hold your hand and we'll go through this abyss of unoriginality and horrid controls in Castlevania Judgment.

Controls:

Despite the fact the game can be played using 3 control schemes (GameCube, Classic Controller, and Wiimote/Nunchuck) I couldn't find myself having a good time pulling off moves. Unlike previous Wii games that register Horizontal or Vertical slashes, Judgment does neither. In fact, during the game's tutorial it urges you to "waggle" away for lack of a better word. I have tried using the GameCube control scheme but it wasn't very good, so I was left with the barely passable main control scheme. Wiiremote and Nunchuck simply do not work for a fighting game. Please say it with me now. Wiiremote and Nunchuck is not fun for any 2D or 3D fighting game. Sub-weapons (of which there are 4 per character) can be used with the A button, holding down A releases "Item Crashes".

The main problem here is while waggling the Wiiremote to attack, you need to use C to jump. Naturally you would want to use the A button on the wiiremote since you're mindlessly shaking on that same hand, but instead you have to rely on the nunchuck. Which leaves the player disconnected and second guessing where the jump button is. It's completely a disjointed experience, take for example any 3D game where the camera can be readjusted to a default position. It becomes second nature for the player to reset the camera with a close button, for example Resident Evil 4 Wii's quick turn button. It's easy enough for the player to locate and has become a staple mapped button for nearly every 3D game I've played on the Wii. And for a good reason, it's easy to locate even during heated moments and you'll never blame the control for your failure. Another problem exists because of the poorly thought out button mapping. Jump is next to block and both are cramped right next to each other. C is jump, Z is your block button. I can already remember my own heartwarming memories with the block button. I remember the time I avoided seeing a 20 second cutscene attack. Or better yet the time I jumped over Death Chamber's stage hazard that nearly killed me. Whoops, I used the block button instead of jump!

No matter how many times I trained and then tried a real battle, the button layout was awkward and the game slowed down to a halt and became a button masher. In fact, button mashing is rewarded, there are no penalties seeing as the game doesn't even care about the precision. Exchange blows with a few swings here and there, hold the special button and hope something good happens. Then there's the famed "Special" button, aka the "Win This Match For Me" button. I'm of course talking about down on the d-pad. which can only be used when your character's special meter is full. Attacking and being attacked raises the meter, the second you press the "win button" your character if he or she is anywhere near the vicinity of the other player will cue a cutscene (99% of the time because of the unhelpful controls and camera) that halts the game for 15-20 seconds. Cutscenes that last over 15 in the middle of a fighting game are not fun. None of the special attacks are terribly exciting and the penalty for being hit? More than 50% of your health bar is lost. Take for example Nintendo's Smash Bros. Brawl, a Final Smash lasts for the majority of the characters about 10 seconds. And with a few exceptions, even if they last more the game doesn't come to a screeching halt. Cutscenes longer than 15 seconds the middle of a fighting game are not fun. Did I mention 15 second cutscenes in the middle of a fighting game aren't fun? Oh I did, they aren't fun.

NOTE: Yes, you ~can~ change the control scheme, but there are 3 per controller. All of them are just as equally abysmal as the next, unlike 99% of all fighters where you can change your control scheme one by one, this has 3 preselected schemes. Maybe next time eh Konami?

Gameplay:

Uninteresting story mode with the same generic introduction for all the combatants. Combos are limited to alternating between a special and attack, the enemy can't be stunned and attacks can't be canceled into another leading to consecutive blows. And I played the tutorial, 'canceling' does not mean stopping midway through an attack combo to break the repetition. For the most part, 99% of the time you'll do a really long normal combo (since that's all you can do for a typical fight) and after you're done you could maybe throw in a few special attacks and a guard break for oomph.

The other 1%? Blocking. Block, block, and block. You wait until the opponent's generic combo is done and you retaliate. I never had my guard broken on me online, hold that block button, it's there for a reason. The story mode has problems of it's own. Completely devoid of any originality and painstakingly obvious. Who plays fighters for storylines? Well given the track record for the Castlevania franchise one would imagine at least some thought went into character's storylines. The problem I have is that they aren't adventurous, everything done in the game was done before and as much as you hate or love them, the Naruto Clash of Ninja games on the Wii don't suffer from poor camera and at least STICK with the source material for the story. This game threw the source material out, their personalities must had been an afterthought. For all 10 minutes you spend on beating a character's story mode you get a text ending. I suppose Konami was really going all out for the nostalgic effect of SNES, PS1, and Arcade fighting games. Idiotic 'padding' is presented as in stupid reasons characters from within the franchise fight each other. Then again seeing as this game already has a throwback to earlier fighters I would also assume they are just following the basics blueprints. Reaching for the sky, grade A team effort on the Wii by another superb 3rd party offering. WiFi is well, a mixed bag. This mode should had been renamed "For Masochists Only" because only they will enjoy disconnections and the company of fellow masochists who are more than happy to let you know they have a functioning spam button on their controller. Don't bother, least it has rankings, or whatever. There is some lag and you'll know it when the game displays a little bat/clock icon during a match. Out of the few matches I've tried, I haven't gotten Smash Bros Brawl level lag, still it's there so you have been warned.

Graphics:

Let's just get this out of the way, the art direction is horrendous. It has some polish but for the most part it looks maybe a little bit better than GameCube's Soul Calibur 2. One complain I have with some Wii games is the lack of 16:9, but you won't see me complaining about that here. Looks good, but not up to Wii's better looking games such as Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It doesn't have the charm Zack and Wiki had either, so I really don't know what to say. The models are ok, the character redesigns are terrible, but the level themselves are miles ahead of the other fighters on Wii, I'm looking at you Naruto Clash of Ninja. Oh and I'll be the first to say it, these 'hyper attacks' aren't that fantastic. The background changes to a generic locale for EVERY attack. That means, regardless of your character, whenever you press the hyper attack you'll trigger the same generic background to pull it off. I can't understand why you don't see the attacks in each stage. No eye candy to be found, sadly considering Castlevania's fame for 2D artistic direction and sprites, that didn't exactly carry over here.

Audio:

The majority if not all the soundtrack consists of older Castlevania tracks remixed. No complaints here, fan favorites like Vampire Killer and even new tracks from Order of Ecclesia made the cut. One music related complaint and it is very minor is the fact you can't really choose the music you want to play on a stage, it all depends on the 2nd character who you fight. And the voice acting is horrible. Unlike PS1's legendary voice acting of say Resident Evil 1 or Symphona of the Night, this is let down, especially in the year 2008. This is mind boggling, after coming straight out of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia which had an amazing cast of voice actors, how did they let this falter? Also if you were expecting any type of fan service, as in you know what's certain famous line then think again. For all the fan service I read about the game, I see none. None of the charming personalities of the characters make the game and the only similarities are the attacks, it's a let down really. Regarding the dialogue in the game, it's rather poor. Mind you Castlevania isn't known for it's storyline but the cast of the franchise had nothing going for them with their personalities. I'll even go as far as to declare Shanoa the winner. Even characters you'd expect to interact with each other before a battle with special conversations have nothing to add but their generic battle phrases. Yes, there are some lines, but that's half. Half of characters you'd expect to interact don't say anything at all.

Final Thoughts:

This game is hard to appreciate. You'll fall in love with the presentation if you can tolerate the character redesigns but the gameplay truly breaks the game. The controls are RIDICULOUS. They do not work. I don't need to use a GameCube controller to review a Wii game, why should I? I could cope with the Playstation 2 Castlevanias, they had at least working functional controls and there was a general idea that needed some tweaking. The case can't be said here, the engine just doesn't work. Here's a short list of potentially bad luck during a fight, and by luck I mean flawed game design: Missing a special because of a faulty camera, attacking a zombie or anything else but your opponent due to lack of lock on. (Z-Targeting it was invented in 1998, take notes Konami), 15-20 second special attacks (especially if you know your opponent or yourself is dead, it's a waste of time, ESPECIALLY online), controls that feel like working with you or against you, depending on the time of day, the position of the planets, and if God is in a good mood to humor you.

This is usually where I'm suppose to utter the lines "If you're a fan of the series blah blah blah blah", well don't. As a fellow Castlevania fan and a gamer, I urge you to please not buy this game. This isn't what we want. I don't care what company you support, as a fellow gamer to another, do not buy it. Do not rent it. It is a bland fighter, if you can even pass it off as a fighter, with the cast of Castlevania. Do you want the 1999 Castlevania game with Julius Belmont? Support it by not buying this. The only redeeming quality is the soundtrack, but why spend so much for a subpar fighting game? It doesn't take any risks and it's so simple, devoid of any skill and challenge, why bother tormenting yourself through a series of battles that repeat themselves, even online.

To recap:

Good:

-Um....killer soundtrack?

Bad

-Control schemes, all of them are horrible.
-The combat itself is boiled down to block and attack. With no way to punish the attacker. You wait it out by blocking and maybe some running but that's the core gameplay.
-No, seriously that's all you do. Both you and your opponent can break guards but almost all the characters give away the cue since they're rather slow.
-Art direction. Nothing else needs to be said. I don't want to talk about it.
-WiFi, loading screens within loading screens. FOUND AN OPPONENT, loading, SELECTED CHARACTERS, loading, SELECT STAGE, loading. And maybe some in-game loading via lag!
-Shallow storymode, the concept was rather cool and I would had loved for them to pull off something good.
-Anything that Maria utters. Anything at all that comes from her mouth is cringe worthy.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/08

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