Review: Castlevania Judgment for the Wii

The floor is lava...that's kind of cool.

The overall problem with Judgment really comes down to its audience. It’s a Castlevania game that offers only a few aspects of Castlevania gameplay; and it’s a fighting game that won’t appeal to fighter fans. So those players who only enjoy the hack ‘n’ slash of Castlevania and are completely inexperienced in fighting games may have found a goldmine. Everyone else will find mostly aggravation and disappointment, with the occasional “Oh, that’s kind of cool” aside.

There must be some sort of market, though, as I’ve already seen discussions of “what would you want in a sequel?” on certain message boards. What would I want in a sequel? More characters, more variety, tighter controls, faster load times (yes, they’re atrocious), the graphics of a Wii game (really, Konami, you usually make beautiful games), and recovery times that don’t meet the Castlevania norm. Keep the gorgeous, nostalgia-filled music; stay free-roaming (but not aimless); throw even more environmental traps at me; and gladly introduce characters as badass as Aeon. But really, I’d rather you just work something out with Nintendo and get some of your guys into the next Smash Bros. They’d still receive all the benefits they have in this game, just with more faces to bash.

Of course, if you find yourself more intrigued by Judgment’s potential than afraid of its flaws, you can keep up to date on both it and Order of Ecclesia via Konami’s widget. Or just enjoy the Yamane-tunes.

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