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Castlevania Judgment(s): Iga Continues to Show a Keen Understanding of His Franchise on DS, But His First Wii Title Misses the Point

Posted by John Constantine



I tried to keep an open mind when Castlevania Judgment was announced back at the beginning of July. Yeah, it seemed that making a Castlevania themed fighting game – oh, forgive me, Mister Igarashi. A 3D versus action game. Right. – was about as good an idea as a Sonic the Hedgehog fighting game, but it might be good! Stranger things have, after all, happened, and Castlevania has twenty years worth of memorable characters, weapons, and environments to pull from. The open arena play, borrowing heavily from Capcom’s fondly remembered Power Stone brawlers on Dreamcast, also seemed like the ideal foundation for the franchise’s transition into the world of fighters. Maybe it would be good fun. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be as bad as Soul Calibur Legends.



Well, it’s better than Soul Calibur Legends, but, after going a few rounds with at Konami’s fall preview event in New York today, I wouldn’t call Castlevania Judgment a must play Wii game. I also wouldn’t call it a good game. The problem comes down to the fact that, even though the game is due out in the next couple of months, it feels woefully unfinished and empty. The arenas recall classic Castlevania (the crumbling cemetery and Dracula’s gold and red throne room as seen in Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood) but they’re nothing but gussied up, barren cubes for the fighters to run about. A stray zombie rises out of the ground in the cemetery, but they’re more of a random nuisance than something to build strategy around. The actual fighting is just as problematic since Judgment uses the Twilight Princess model for basic attacks: shake the controller, and your character attacks. To say that it feels imprecise would be an understatement and the problem is compounded by a camera that completely obscures the action at worst, and confuses you while playing at best. The demo on show had three selectable characters, a barely recognizable Alucard and Maria Renard alongside a pretty swell Simon Belmont, but they were only distinguishable in appearance, their move sets all but identical. The fact that Igarashi’s first Wii title feels more like a throwaway unlockable mode from one of the more recent 3D Castlevania adventures is besides the point, though. Even if all of its disparate parts worked perfectly and in concert, the game would still be flawed on a fundamental level. There is a reason that the franchise is named after its setting and not its characters; at its heart, Castelvania is a series about a world and not characters. Which is why, unsurprisingly, the latest DS Castlevania, Order of Ecclesia, is faring much better than its console sibling.

Anyone who’s played any of Igarashi’s last seven 2D Castlevanias (excepting the excellent PSP remake of Rondo of Blood) will feel right at home with Order of Ecclesia. The tight control and smoothly animated sprites are as comfortable and smooth as a pair of worn-in boots. Ecclesia’s glyph system, the new play style replacing Dawn of Sorrow’s enemy-soul-collecting and Portrait of Ruin's dual characters, shows significant promise thanks to its emphasis on combat (that you can equip a weapon in both right and left hands is made useful for the first time in series history.) Even more impressive is the new environment. The introductory areas of the game show the same incremental visual evolution the series has enjoyed for a decade, but they feel particularly fresh thanks to a more open world and variety of locales. Ecclesia takes a step beyond Portrait of Ruin, taking the game entirely out of the castle and providing a world map. The first area of the game, a monster-filled monastery, has one of the most beautiful areas I’ve seen in a Castlevania since Symphony of the Night: a tangled forest at twilight, with interlocking bare tree branches obscuring your character, Shinoa, from view as she approaches the monastery entrance. It’s wonderful.

This gets to the heart of what does, and what doesn’t, work in Castlevania. The series has yet to be successful in three-dimensions because no three-dimensional Castlevania has been designed to have a compelling world first and good action second. When Iga finally builds his 3D castle, he’ll finally solve the 3D Castlevania mystery that’s plagued the series since the N64.

Related links:

When Good Developers Go Bad: Koji Igarashi
Castlevania: Curse of the Stupid Red-Headed Kid
Castlevania Fighting Game Elicits Anguished Moans of the Living
New Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Pics


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Comments

Ian said:

That's the weird thing...especially since the DS titles have been great right along, I have a feeling Castlevania: Judgement was because corporate said "Oh hey, the Wii...yeah, let's do a Castlevania thing.  But oh, something quick to dev, we don't have time for a full-fledged game right now.  How about a fighting game?"

September 17, 2008 4:52 PM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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