Like I said in the Konami press conference live blog, I'm not a huge fighting game fan. I've been known to go a few rounds with Arcana Heart from time to time, but I'm more into the moé action than I am about the player versus player. Still, a Castlevania fighting game is something I had to see --and on the Wii, no less.
Hit the jump for some hands on impressions on Castlevania Judgement.
The first thing that grabbed me about this game was the look of the characters. You can play as Alucard, Maria, Dracula and Simon. Alucard basically looks like Sephiroth, while Simon gets the hardcore emo treatment, right down to his burgundy spiked hair and narrowed eyes. Despite that, they definitely look good and fit well with the feel of the series. Good so far, right?
A Konami rep jumped in with me so we could do a versus match and get a feel for the controls. You use the Wiimote and the nunchuk, and this is the first fighting game I can remember playing where you shake both to make your character perform different movements. A waggle with the Wiimote results in a basic attack, while the same movement with the nunchuk allows you to perform a quick roll to escape a blow. I didn't mind it, but I think it would take some getting used to.
You also have access to powered up attacks, which is kind of a given, but what is neat is that you can use items in your environment to inflict damage on your opponent. While playing, I hurled a lit candlestick at my Konami friend and set him on fire momentarily. You also are able to choose a secondary weapon to attack with from a distance. I chose the knife, which was handy to hurl when my opponent ran around the room avoiding me.
Unfortunately, I only got to go three rounds with it as other people were waiting to play, but my initial impression was that Castlevania Judgement was not a game I would buy. It isn't because of poor quality, but more because my devotion to the series is about the side scrollers and this is not a genre I am big on. If it was a Castlevania RPG, I would have already run screaming down the hall with my hair on fire, but that's a given. I think fighting fans may have some fun with it, though.
I made the mistake of looking less than enthused as I put the controls down, at which point I noticed Koji Igarashi standing behind me wearing a look of disapproval. He then explained (with the help of a translator) that I had to be punished for not falling madly in love with his game and proceeded to strangle me, which left me kind of breathless and excited. I think he originally intended it as a punishment, but since we were both kind of enjoying it, it wasn't that effective. You've got to love those kooky Japanese.
P.S. - Hey Iga ... call me.
Contest:
7:34 PM on 07.16.2008
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Have you played Power Stone? How close is this to that?
--, seriously this is weak sauce
...
Unless it's Friday night...
Regginator.
I would like to know more.
*shakes head in disappointment and walks away*
The controls.
The camera.
'Power Stone' worked well as a 3D brawler because of its angled, isometric camera (and over the top awesomeness).
From what I have seen of this, though, it may suffer from a similar problem as MP in 'Zone of the Enders' (WHICH KONAMI FAILED TO ANNOUNCE A SEQUEL FOR ;_;) - a 'parallel' camera trying to capture the happenings of a 3D battle on one screen. It led to odd situations of being in 'front' of and 'behind' your opponent.
To be fair, the camera in that game automatically switched behind each character while the other was in the background.
I hope and wish that Konami would use a similar camera system as found in 'Power Stone.'
As for the controls, the accuracy of waggle controls for both the Wiimote and nunchuk are obvious concerns.
That picture up there proves my point.
Looks like you're having fun at E3, lucky you.
Too bad you didn't snatch the hat off his head and wear it for that pic...
Bad Dudes!
High five?
Colette gets to cover all the cool stuff.
Also, that must have made the trip worth it for Igarashi haha. Someone not calling sexual harassment on him ;).
I really want to like this game, being Castlevania and all.
They'd better have some pretty awesome "hook" to grab people.
Games like this make me sad. This pretty much guarantees that another Castlevania game worth playing won't be coming along any time, soon. Same thing happened with Perfect Dark Zero. If they had just made a remake of the N64 version, they would have sold a millions. Now, that's never going to happen, because investors are understandably scared about backing another PD game when the last one performed so poorly.
Bah.
I just hope there's an oldschool costume for Simon... the Chronicles version looks cool, he's just a little too bishi for my tastes. :P
As for Castlevania Judgement, i'll have to check other impressions of it first. I know if I had a Wii, I'd welcome a game like this. Just how many beat em ups are there on Wii? Not that many.
Konami will keep 2d Castlevania on handhelds, where there's more money to be made. Its too risky to do on home consoles (that's why SotN was on Live/PSN), but if they do change their minds, I think what Capcom are doing with Megaman 9 and Nintendo with Wario Shake could have them make a new home console 2D Castlevania.
Also, I'd make this game exactly like Powerstone.