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Castlevania Judgment
by Brian Tallerico
STUDIO: Konami
RELEASE DATE: November 18, 2008
CONSOLE: Wii
DEVELOPER: Konami
GENRE: Fighting
PLAYERS: 2
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
 Fight games on the Wii are a tough sell. Only a very select few can overcome the odd control structure demanded by the Wii-Mote. Sure, you can try and play them with the old-fashioned controller, but kids are picking up these games and hoping to master controls with the Wii-Mote. They don’t want to feel like they're playing their N64 again. Fighting with a remote control is usually an absolute control disaster with rare exceptions like Super Smash Bros. Brawl. And yet I approached Castlevania: Judgment with high anticipation. You would think that a fighting game based on a series where the whip and the axe dominate (two weapons relatively easy to adapt to a wrist flick of the Wii-Mote) and with as extensive a history as Castlevania would be an easy hit - maybe not a home run, but at least a double. I have the very bad news to report that Castlevania: Judgment is a complete mess. The controls, the environment, the storyline. I'm a HUGE fan of the franchise – I’ve bought each of the DS games, including the excellent Order of Ecclesia, which was just released - but Judgment is as big a misstep as they've ever had under this historical banner.
Is everybody ready to feel old? Castlevania has been around for over two decades. I've been in love with this massively influential franchise for most of my life. I remember playing the original title on the Nintendo Entertainment System before I even got to high school. There has been a version of Castlevania on nearly every entertainment system from the Super Nintendo to even mobile phones and now to the Wii. After the original success on the NES, the franchise went a little dormant in the '90s (except for the great Symphony of the Night), but the three DS games - Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia - are all must-owns on that system. With those successes on the DS, the series was reinvigorated and it was time to make the move to the Wii. What was particularly exciting was, in the twenty plus years since the franchise began, Konami had never released a fighting game with the Castlevania brand. And they probably never should again.
Characters from almost every year and era of the franchise are brought together to try and defeat Dracula - yes, again - in Castlevania: Judgment. So, fans get to play Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Alucard, Maria Renard, Shanoa, Aeon, Dracula, Death, and more. There is a story for each character, a standard versus mode, an online mode, an arcade mode, and more. All of the fighting game standard features are included, but the success or failure of these games comes down to one thing - controls. Players want to be able to master moves and feel like they're actually doing something more than randomly pushing buttons or waving the controller. The control system using the nunchuk and the remote in Judgment feels shockingly underdeveloped and random. Wave your Wii-Mote around like you're playing drums and you'll probably win.
If you can get over the random controls in Judgment, you'll still be disappointed by the design. The characters look less well-developed and thought out than even the DS, anime-based look that the series has employed recently. It doesn't look like Castlevania. It looks like a fighting game that has whips and axes. That's not the same thing. Judgment feels like an afterthought, like it could practically be a mini-game in a more extensive, adventure-based platform edition in the series. The camera control (which is RANDOM), the actual controls, the design - everything about Judgment frustrates more than thrills. Granted, I love the series and maybe we're harder on the ones we love. Perhaps I wouldn't be so critical if this title hadn't put the Castlevania brand on its cover, but when I see that word, I expect something more, a lot more, than what Judgment failed to deliver.
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