I was very skeptical of a fighting game on the Wii, especially one branded Castlevania. A series, it has to be noted, not really known for being a fighter, or even for doing 3D well.
Jesse picked up a copy of the game a few nights ago, mostly for hilarity sakes. That being said, we did not go in thinking this game would be great. We are both fans of the fighting genre, though neither of us play on the competitive level. Mostly because we have a house rule wherein you have to choose a different character every round until you have played through all available characters.
When someone can defeat you with only one character out of a cast of a dozen or more, we are… unimpressed.
On the surface, Castlevania: Judgement feels like a cross between Powerstone and Soul Calibur. There is some minor item collecting as you run around the arenas, but nothing that will greatly change the course of a battle.
With the Wiimote/Nunchuck combo, it degrades very quickly into a wagglefest. That’s exactly in line with what I expect of a Wii fighter. After a few rounds, we switched to the Gamecube control scheme, which felt much better in most ways. Though the button placement isn’t great, especially the jump button. The attack and charge buttons, B and A respectively, would have made more sense if they were swapped.
The biggest complaint with the fighting system is that the super moves are executable with a single button press. This is good for simplicity, but very unsatisfying from a game play perspective. Especially since they always take down exactly one half your opponents health.
It often becomes a race to fill your meter and execute the attack before your opponent can.
Did I mention they result in an unskippable cut scene of the move being performed? Has no one learned from the Final Fantasy Summon moves?
Amongst the regular modes of play there is “Castle mode”, in which you make your way through Dracula’s castle. It played a little like Soul Calibur 2’s mission mode, where battles have different battle conditions (health slowly drains, 20% less attack power, etc.). The problem I had with it was it quickly becomes very repetitive. Besides the regular cast of characters, you often fight Dracula’s minions in this mode. It’s too bad there were only four enemy types for the entire game.
I have to mention the character designs. I know Takeshi Obata is quite popular thanks to his Death Note series, but his re-designs of the Castlevania characters are nothing short of baffling. They are virtually unrecognizable in these incarnations. Oh, and Dracula is wearing a dress.
It is fun as an easy pick up and play fighter, but I would consider it a renter.
