Castlevania Judgment

The game feels more like a boss-rush version of a big action game that it does a traditional fighter, and somehow comes off as the best 3D Castlevania game Konami has produced so far. [Jan 2009, p.110]

If you work at learning the game, and view it as something that’s not necessary Castlevania proper, Judgment can provide a decent romp. If you're looking for a good lighthearted fighter, Judgement is outclassed by Brawl. However, if you like Soul Calibur but don’t own a PS3 or Xbox 360, Judgment is your only real alternative, and it’s not as terrible as people have been saying.

It's by no means as bad as you may have heard. [Apr 2009, p.89]

It's a case of missed opportunity with Castlevania Judgment. The concept sounds so enticing, but it doesn't take long to realize that the series has not done a good job of creating memorable characters. It tries to implement creative ideas, but nothing really clicks and both die hard fans and fighting game enthusiasts will be discouraged by gameplay that's anything but immortal.

Castlevania Judgment is a lot better than it should be given its brief time in development and small budget, but still not half as good as it could have been. Thanks to the injection of some good ideas and heaping piles of love for the series, Judgment does justice to the Castlevania name, though just barely.

The game is a mixed-bag, for sure, but the highs slightly outweigh the fighting genre side effects.

Looking at the graphics and sounds, Castlevania is fine. The controls are very simple, but at the same time not always that good. Overall a great Castlevania game, but not for full price.

Quotation forthcoming.

Judgment is by no means terrible, just mediocre. It’s as if someone was reading "Making Fighting Games for Dummies", and literally followed the instructions step by step, without thinking about ways to make it something more. Considering the history of the series, there’s so much that could have been done, and just wasn’t.

We don’t mind a Castlevania fighting game when it’s done right but Judgment just isn’t able to pull it off well thanks to a number of problems that make this a unimpressive fighting game. All is not bad, though, seeing as the collection of characters bring something different to the battle, but it’s not enough to recommend this one.

Instead of treading in familiar action territory, Castlevania Judgement introduces us to a fighting genre with Castlevania characters but the overall Castlevania feel and quality that the series usually displays suffers quite a bit with this change.

The simplistic combat as well as the shoddy graphics sink this title to a near-unplayable status.

The end product fails as a fighter, as a part of the Castlevania series, and as a video game in general.

Multiplayer over WiiConnect 24 works surprisingly well, but a functioning online system isn’t enough to get over the broken, unresponsive, and unentertaining fighting mechanics of the game.