This brought up vague memories of Soul Calibur’s Wii appearance last year. Transplanting fighting game mechanics onto a Wii control scheme and nearly abandoning the founding gameplay definitely created a “wait…what?” moment when approaching that title, and the walk to Judgment no definitely produced a similar feeling. However, unlike Namco’s bizarre experiment, Judgment looks to capitalize on the series classic feel and inject it with a fresh new perspective on the Metroid-vania side scrolling series.
Still, making a three dimensional fighting game out of the franchise is one weird ass idea. Most 3D fighters hit their peak in the late 90’s, and unless you’ve got Dead or Alive, Tekken, or Soul Calibur on your shirt, people aren’t going to take specific interest in your game. Still, simplifying the controls over to blend in with Wii’s casual audience might not be that bad of an idea. Judgment is a masher (or should I saw Swinger) for sure, with both Greg and I wildly flailing the Wiimote with mindless glee. For added effect, there was a bit of strategy involved in the form of blocking, jumping, and a couple of hilariously overpowered super moves. Its depth (or lack there of) won’t threaten more established fighters, for sure, but it doesn’t necessarily have to if the game is still fun to play.
And it was enjoyable. The Castlevania specific goodies, such as being able to brawl as Alucard or Simon Belmont, were a nice to touch, and the choose-your-own-items (which I never figured out how to actually use), including the likes of crosses and holy water, will probably add a bit of flair to the standard fighting game mechanics. It’s too early to tell whether or not any of these factors will translate into a worthwhile gameplay experience, but one could do worse when trying to make a fighting game out of Castlevania.
