Castlevania Judgment

January 5,2009 - The Castlevania series is one that has had many twists and turns since the first game came out in 1987.  While most of the new conventions in the 2D game have been more than solid, from the emphasis on exploration beginning in Symphony of the Night and the new and fresh combat system presented in Order of Ecclesia, the 3D games have all but failed to impress critics or the series' faithful.  When word came that Castlevania Judgment would be 3D, it left everyone skeptical.  After that, everyone found out that it would be a fighter--which just turned everybody off.  Now that the game is here, it's safe to say that the game isn't horrible, but it really isn't good either.



Judgment is pretty much a knockoff of basically every great fighter to make its inception into the 3D battlefield, not unlike the game Power Stone.  Except in Judgment, the camera is either unresponsive or just plain bad.  With complicated learning curves reminiscent of Virtua Fighter, to the emphasis on weaponry resembling Soul Calibur--the game tries to do way too much at once.  The controls are shaky at best, mainly because there are only two attacking buttons, a block, and an unblockable special attack that takes a bit of time to pull off.  The developers tried to relieve some of the confusion with the controls by allowing you to use the GameCube controller as well as the Classic Controller, but everything continues to be problematic because you can't map any commands on either controller.  You might be best pressed to just play with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck anyway, since the motion-sensitive factors in the controls aren't really the most complicated.

The ineptness of the controls brings us to the characters, and there are plenty to play with in this game.  But unlike established fighters in the genre like Tekken or Street Fighter (and in this case, even Smash Bros. Brawl) is the lack of balance between any of the characters in the game.  Simon Belmont, arguably the most popular in the series is among one of the more balanced players in the game, and this remains true for most of the Belmonts using the Vampire Killer Whip as the main weapon of choice.  Other characters, including Sarah, rely more on spells to do their dirty work, but they're at a disadvantage due to the amount of time it takes to complete each move.  While that can definitely turn fighter enthusiasts off, this really adds to Judgment's depth, because as any Castlevania fan would know, not every main character was exceptionally strong.

That all means success in the game depends on the player's ability, or rather--their interest, in learning the nuances with every character.  Assuming that everybody who buys this game is a huge Castlevania fan, this can't be that hard considering the interest in every character anyway.  But to more serious players or even those who play fighters more exclusively than others, it might be a feat that isn't worth the effort.

The single player mode of the game has its moments, mainly because with the 20 characters there are in the game, and their separate stories provide a wealth of fan service to those who are crazy about the series.  Either way, it's not unlike any of the corny stories provided in other fighting games either.  Adding to the fan service is the game's wealth of extras to unlock, which is actually rather enjoyable.  Among the extras to unlock are characters, stages, and costumes you can give to the characters.  It's not much but it at least gives some depth to what you can do playing the game alone.

Speaking of extras, players who have Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia for the Nintendo DS also can unlock some special content to go with the game.  But like other games that have DS compatibility options, they're really nothing that extraordinarily changes the game.

The graphics are a mixed bag.  The menus are pretty standard, but they match the series pretty well.  The character models are well made, but they are also very disappointing.  Since Judgment is a product of every Castlevania over the last two decades, some depictions of certain characters made not match the ones you are expecting.  On top of that, the camera for the game is beyond horrid.  Since you're playing a on a true 3D plain, combat is done all over the place, but the camera makes pretty questionable judgments upon where to view the action from.  Be that as it may, while some characters and environments don't look the way we hoped, they still look very good and very crisp.  Playing on a 16:9 resolution flat-screen make the game's many lengthy cutscenes look that much better.



Sound is also a factor based on personal preference.  For the record, the voice acting is horrible, and when you turn on the game, you're forced to hear the narration of "Castlevania...Judgment!" at least twice.  Aside from the obviously poor voice acting, the game's music is great, just like the rest of the Castlevania games--a fine tradeoff.

Castlevania Judgement copied conventions from the right games, but everything was almost done completely wrong.  What should bother players and critics the most is that the developers have some means of correcting some of the errors made--like the example of the game's alternative methods of control.  But when attempting to correct those errors, they forgot other important factors along the way--such as being able to re-map the game's controls.  When it's all said and done, the fan service in this game should be enough to satisfy Castlevania followers, but it definitely isn't enough to warrant a purchase... especially at full price.

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