Castlevania Judgment

• by McKinley Noble
• November 18, 2008 00:00 AM PST

Every time Castlevania steps outside of its 2D comfort zone, the series suffers from the simple fact that the whip-cracking gameplay doesn't work in 3D. Castlevania Judgment is no different. At its best, this experiment by Konami is a barely competent fighter punctuated by a sloppy camera, horrible character design, and clunky physics. Warning to Castlevania fans: buying this game may encourage a sequel. Choose wisely.

THE VERDICT by McKinley Noble At its best, Castlevania Judgment is a barely competent fighter punctuated by a sloppy camera, horrible character design, and clunky physics.

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Not-So Familiar Faces

It's clear that Castlevania Judgment had a lot of potential going out of the gate. There's a decently sized roster of characters available from the start in Versus Mode, including favorites like vampire-hunting forefather Simon Belmont, rebellious half-vampire Alucard, and the series' newest female lead Shanoa. Each fighter has a distinct set of moves that takes advantage of their canon abilities, topped off with two stock super moves that can drain up to half an opponent's life. In the various battlefields, you can also use famous sub-weapons like axes and holy crosses by picking them up from random spawn points in the field. It's really a shame -- all of these things would work so well in the game's favor if the gameplay and character design wasn't so shoddy.

Trying to hit your opponent in Castlevania Judgment is like pulling teeth, thanks in equal portions to the utter lack of a targeting system and a camera that absolutely refuses to give you a decent angle on the action. Even a simple auto-aim system would have been helpful, but you'll have to manually line up the narrow range of your attack weapon to strike anything. Even worse, while you'll have trouble trying to connect on basic attacks, the enemy A.I. will have no problem pelting you with every sub-weapon on the map. The frustrating combat system doesn't improve, even after hours and hours in the story mode, which requires you to play 12 times through in order to unlock all the character and beat the final boss.

Good Effort, Poor Judgment

One thing that Konami wanted to accomplish with Castlevania Judgment was the feeling of wielding a whip in combat, but you'll realistically spend more time furiously shaking your Wii Remote in a vain attempt to turn the tide of battle. Personally, using the classic controller is the best way to go, even if you're handy with a Wii Remote anyway. The button layout is much friendlier than the motion control, and it's infinitely easier to pull off combos that way.

Even the character design in this game lacks polish, and it ultimately detracts from the Castlevania feel as much as the fighting system does. Whereas Symphony of the Night and Order of Ecclesia had excellent art design, Castlevania Judgment is a step down from Portrait of Ruin in terms of quality. Characters like Simon, Maria and Shanoa look nothing like any of their previous incarnations, ultimately making the roster look generic and ill-planned.

While I want to give Konami credit for trying something new with the series, the obvious missteps and overlooked elements of Castlevania Judgment makes the game look and feel like a cheap cash-in. Moreover, the omission of simple things like decent targeting is inexcusable. For seasoned fighters and Castlevania fans, this game will be frustrating. For casual gamers, it's an exercise in masochism. If you're considering playing this game, I highly recommend renting it before adding it to your permanent Wii collection.

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