Castlevania Judgment Review for Nintendo Wii

System: Wii	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Konami	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Konami	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Nov. 18, 2008	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Teen	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

Castlevania Judgment also has a non friend-locked online mode, which works startlingly well. Although there is the normal lag and occasional framerate drop that occurs in fast-paced online games, the matchmaking system is quite speedy, and you are able to keep track of online friends and rivals through a liberal roster system. Castlevania Judgment definitely excels in the online department, and it is too bad that most of the actual gameplay elements are what hinder its great online capacity.

Castlevania Judgment screenshot

The graphics in Castlevania Judgment are poor, even by Wii standards. As I’ve said before, the character design is just terrible, but there are numerous technical issues that just exacerbate the sub-standard look of this game. The different character animations look very bad, especially during battles, and cinema scenes are full of jagged edges. Although the different characters sport a fair amount of detail, the different stages are incredibly bland and feature few interactive elements. Animations are very repetitive as well, adding to Castlevania Judgment’s stoic look.

Sound in Castlevania is hit or miss. The score is nice to listen to in parts, but it can be annoying after too many playthroughs. The voiceover on the other hand, is poorly done and very repetitive, both in English and Japanese. Each character only has a handful of stock phrases that are used before and after a battle, and these will try your nerves very quickly. Even the dialogue in the story mode is repetitive and of very poor quality.

Although most didn’t expect great things from Castlevania Judgment, this game really had some potential. The castle mode as well as the online functionality proves that this title could have been really fun. However, the simplistic combat as well as the shoddy graphics sink this title to a near-unplayable status. Sure, Castlevania Judgment sounds great on paper, but in practice it just doesn’t measure up to what it could be. It ends up being a failed experiment, not worthy of rising from Dracula’s crypt.

By Amanda L. Kondolojy
CCC Staff Contributor

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

2.3

Graphics
Character design is very poor, and there are a lot of jagged edges and dull environments. Animations are also very clunky and repetitive.

2.5

Control
The battle system is far too simple for the controls. Using the Wii-mote feels imprecise, and using the GameCube or Classic Controller just feels boring.

2.9

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Some of the background music is nice, but dialogue is poorly voiced and extremely repetitive.

3.0

Play Value
There isn’t much to the story mode, but the mission-based dungeon mode adds some variety to the mix, and the online mode works surprisingly well.

2.6

Overall Rating - Average
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Select from many of your favorite characters from the 22 years of Castlevania games.

Characters designed by the famous manga artist Takeshi Obata.

Gorgeous characters and 3D environments rendered beautifully on the Wii.

Battle across several stages with environmental elements you can use to your advantage in battle, including objects to pick up and throw.

Engage in head-to-head battle via Wi-Fi connectivity.

Connect with Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS) to unlock special items