Castlevania Judgment Review - PAGE 1

Special thanks to RocketXL, the good folks behind the spiffy Castlevania web widget covering Order of Ecclesia and Judgment, for teaming up with Neoseeker to make this review possible.  They've also provided us with cool gifts which we are giving away for our latest Castlevania contest!  Do check it out if you're a Castlevania fan, we've got stuff autographed by series producer Koji Igarashi and Death Note manga artist Takeshi Obata!

You could say that a respected game franchise is coming of age when it finally gets it own fighting game, particularly if prior titles in the series weren't rooted in the competitive genre.  After all, even Nintendo took the time to run away with the idea through Smash Bros., and then there's Final Fantasy Dissidia featuring a generous mix of some of the most beloved metrosexuals characters drawn from many of the games.  The Ninja Turtles are also revisiting multiplayer brawling with an upcoming Wii title from Ubisoft.  One would think it's about that time in history when action platforming series Castlevania gets the fighting game treatment of its own.  Yet from the moment of its revelation, the Wii game which would become known as Castlevania Judgment was met with skepticism and disappointment.

"Time" is in fact a most appropriate term for Judgment.  The background of the game surrounds the mysterious Aeon (a new franchise character introduced in Judgment) as he lures familiar faces spanning the series time line to trigger events, which in turn furthers his own mission.  This conveniently explains the smattering of Castlevania characters, vintage and recent, which comprise Judgment's roster.  Then again, it's best not to take Judgment too seriously story-wise, particularly if you're looking at the world through young Maria Renard's eyes.  Judgment features 14 playable characters in all, many which need to be unlocked through Story mode in order to access them in other modes.  Some choices are more curious than others, a sentiment that carries over to their artwork re-imagined by none other than celebrated Death Note manga artist Takeshi Obata.

The more important question is how can Judgment's gameplay be evaluated?  Initially, Judgment will evoke imagery of Capcom's Power Stone, with its 3D arena and control schemes more akin to action adventure titles.  Given that "Brawl"ing  was the way it was gonna be for this year's Castlevania offering for consoles, would Judgment be better off  with fighting mechanics closer to traditional 2D fighters?  Judgment certainly does away with the Hadoken/Dragon Punch motions, buffering, frame data, etc.  We can only dream at this point, but Konami does deserve credit for producing a fighting game engine that generally plays well to its intended goals.