CASTLEVANIA JUDMENT
Castlevania Judment is a 3-D fighting game for the Wii based on the saga of the same name.
The game has 14 characters from different games of the series, each with different moves and attacks. Examples include Death, Dracula, Shanoa, Trevor Belmont, Simon Belmont, Cornell.
The game received huge critic and had little commercial success. This article will talk about what it did wrong and what it did well.
What made the game fail
First of all I would like to give my opinion and that is that the game is much better than people think. Judment was hurt by prejudice and was punished before it even had a chance to show what it had.
Prejudice: It is true that it was the first time Konami tried to make a Castlevania fighting game but it was not the first time somebody does it, many other franchises have made similar fighting games or mini-games. Even if the game turned out to be bad as many expected it is unfair to dismiss it without trying it before, it is like believing that a book is bad just because the first page is not very good or the cover does not impress. In fact I showed the game to some friends who had never heard anything about it and they liked it, I will not say that they loved it but they certainly did like it.
Character design: something that keep people away was the design of the characters arguing it had a style similar to the anime death note (both drawn by the artist himself) than casltevania’s older versions. While that is true the original designs were outdated, that is normal in a saga with many years. In addition to that Castlevania already had changed many times their art design. Almost every new game has a new artist so it's not something so extraordinary that the characters look different from game to game. Finally to emphasize that saying that a game is bad just because you feel the character design is ugly is unfair. A game consists of many elements, not because one of them is not pleasant the others also become bad, also ugliness or beauty are a personal opinion of the player.
3-D fights instead of 2-d: this is more for players of fighting games than for fans of Castlevania, they did not feel comfortable with the game since most fighting games are at 2D using depth (third dimension) just for dodging. They were not comfortable with the game and that is understandable since judgment never intended to be a game in 2-d as King of Fighters or Blazblue. Even among major genres of games exist subgenres and they feel different but only because it is in 3-d it does not makes it bad, just different, but once again it is understandable that players of fighting games did not like it.
More like an adventure game that fighting game: the controls and settings have trapa, sub-weapons, deadly falls and gave a sense more like an adventure game in "boss mode" than a classic game of fighting, players of fighting games did not like the game play but that is not a bad thing. The game was intended for fans of casltevania, and being casltevania a platform adventure game is normal not to do it in the classic style of fighting games. If Konami would have wanted a popular fighting game they would have just made a new game without being tied to any of their franchises, but Judgment was a spin-off and was thought for the fans of the series, that’s why it would not made sense to make the game play like a classical 2-d fighting game.
Castlevania Judment is a 3-D fighting game for the Wii based on the saga of the same name.
The game has 14 characters from different games of the series, each with different moves and attacks. Examples include Death, Dracula, Shanoa, Trevor Belmont, Simon Belmont, Cornell.
The game received huge critic and had little commercial success. This article will talk about what it did wrong and what it did well.
What made the game fail
First of all I would like to give my opinion and that is that the game is much better than people think. Judment was hurt by prejudice and was punished before it even had a chance to show what it had.
Prejudice: It is true that it was the first time Konami tried to make a Castlevania fighting game but it was not the first time somebody does it, many other franchises have made similar fighting games or mini-games. Even if the game turned out to be bad as many expected it is unfair to dismiss it without trying it before, it is like believing that a book is bad just because the first page is not very good or the cover does not impress. In fact I showed the game to some friends who had never heard anything about it and they liked it, I will not say that they loved it but they certainly did like it.
Character design: something that keep people away was the design of the characters arguing it had a style similar to the anime death note (both drawn by the artist himself) than casltevania’s older versions. While that is true the original designs were outdated, that is normal in a saga with many years. In addition to that Castlevania already had changed many times their art design. Almost every new game has a new artist so it's not something so extraordinary that the characters look different from game to game. Finally to emphasize that saying that a game is bad just because you feel the character design is ugly is unfair. A game consists of many elements, not because one of them is not pleasant the others also become bad, also ugliness or beauty are a personal opinion of the player.
3-D fights instead of 2-d: this is more for players of fighting games than for fans of Castlevania, they did not feel comfortable with the game since most fighting games are at 2D using depth (third dimension) just for dodging. They were not comfortable with the game and that is understandable since judgment never intended to be a game in 2-d as King of Fighters or Blazblue. Even among major genres of games exist subgenres and they feel different but only because it is in 3-d it does not makes it bad, just different, but once again it is understandable that players of fighting games did not like it.
More like an adventure game that fighting game: the controls and settings have trapa, sub-weapons, deadly falls and gave a sense more like an adventure game in "boss mode" than a classic game of fighting, players of fighting games did not like the game play but that is not a bad thing. The game was intended for fans of casltevania, and being casltevania a platform adventure game is normal not to do it in the classic style of fighting games. If Konami would have wanted a popular fighting game they would have just made a new game without being tied to any of their franchises, but Judgment was a spin-off and was thought for the fans of the series, that’s why it would not made sense to make the game play like a classical 2-d fighting game.
Other details about the game
* each character has an average of 10 techniques without counting blocking, dodging, the powers of the sub weapons and charged sub weapons. This gave a variety of attacks to the game making it more intense.
* Environments have traps and can even change if you destroy them. The traps could be turned off, but having them added more excitement to the fight putting a factor of "insecurity" to it. My personal favorite is to break the gears of the clock tower and make the enemy character fall to his death with them.
* The characters were varied and had many magical powers all of them giving an impressive view of the "magic" in the series. The best example might be Shanoa that was capable of casting powerful wind spells as well as invoking weapons (the weapon you just need to attack) such as swords, bows and arrows, daggers etc.
* Finally a video says more and better the things so here I leave one that shows what's in the game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOoV3gXFNnM
Rating
I give the game a rating of 7 / 10 because although I consider it good is certainly not the best of its kind and has its flaws. Also add that if you're a fan of the series and know all these characters you will most likely enjoy it more.
Healing
It is true that the game was not a commercial success, if it had better publicity it may done better also Konami did not defend their product against prejudice. Not always a good game is successful but if you know it's good you have to help or convince others that it is, using demos, displays and advertising is usually the best way.
Recycle: Recycling in games is often used to say that some game copied elements like enemies, characters, settings and history from another game and that is clearly a bad sign, but recycling in this case is to take the good ideas of the game and improve them before using them in another game. Undoubtedly the best way to say it is that, if the complaints were that the game looked a lot like an adventure game and there are many powers and movements, instead of wasting all that use the inspiration for a jugment adventure game. For example, using a 3-d Shanoa with all jugment attacks and perhaps more I think would be very welcomed by almost all fans of castlevania community. Just do not let a good idea just because the game was not successful (perhaps because it was poorly implemented or because other bad ideas drowned the game)
en español
Castlevania judment es un juego de peleas en 3-D para Wii basado en la saga del mismo nombre.
El juego tiene 14 personajes salidos de diferentes juegos de la saga y cada uno con sus distintos movimientos y ataques. Ejemplos de ellos son la muerte, Drácula, Shanoa, Trevor Belmont, Simon Belmont, Cornell.
El juego recibió grandes críticas y no tuvo gran éxito de ventas, y bien este artículo hablara sobre ello, que hizo mal y que hizo bien.
Lo que hizo fallar al juego
Antes que nada quisiera dar mi opinión y esa es que el juego es mucho mejor de lo que la gente piensa. Judment es un juego lastimado por el prejuicio que se desarrollo sobre el castigándolo antes de siquiera darle una oportunidad de mostrar lo que tiene.
Prejuicio: Es verdad que era la primera vez que se intentaba hacer un juego de peleas de Castlevania pero no es la primera vez que se hace, muchas otras sagas han hecho juegos de peleas o mini-juegos similares. Aun si el juego resultaba ser pésimo como muchos esperaban es injusto descartarlo sin probarlo antes, es como creer que un libro es malo solo porque su primera página no es muy buena o su portada no impresiona. De echo mostré el juego a unos amigos que nunca habían escuchado nada sobre el y les gusto, no voy a decir que les fascino pero sin duda les gusto.
Diseño de los personajes: algo que alejo mucho a las personas fue el diseño de los personajes diciendo que se parecían mas al diseño de death note (ambos dibujados por el mismo artista) que a sus versiones pasadas. Si bien eso es verdad los diseños originales de muchos eran ya anticuados, eso es normal en una saga con tantos años además de que castlevania ya ha cambiado de diseño de arte muchas veces. Prácticamente cada juego nuevo tiene un nuevo artista así que no es algo tan extraordinario que los personajes se vean diferente de juego en juego. Finalmente recalcar que decir que un juego es malo solo porque te parece feo el diseño de los personajes es injusto. Un juego se compone de muchos elementos y no porque alguno de ellos no sea agradable los demás también se hacen malos, además de que el decir que se ven feos o lindos es una opinión personal del jugador.
Peleas en 3-d en vez de 2-d: esto es más bien para los jugadores de peleas que fans de castlevania, ellos no se sentían a gusto con el juego puesto que la mayoría de los juegos de peleas son en 2-d usando la profundidad (tercera dimensión) solo para realizar esquives. Ellos no se sentían cómodos con el juego y eso es comprensible puesto que jugment nunca intento ser un juego en 2-d como king of Fighters o blazblue. Aun entre géneros principales de juegos existen subgéneros y se siente la diferencia, pero solo porque es en 3-d y se juega como 3-d no lo hace malo, solo diferente, aunque una vez mas es comprensible que a los jugadores de peleas no les gustara.
Parecido mas a un juego de aventuras que a uno de peleas clásico: los controles y ambientes con trampas, sub-armas y caídas mortales daban una sensación mas a un juego de aventuras en modalidad “solo jefes” que a un juego clásico de peleas, esto nuevamente alejo a los jugadores de luchas puesto que no les gusto la jugabilidad pero no es algo malo. El juego estaba dirigido para los fanáticos de casltevania, y siendo casltevania un juego de aventuras y plataformas es normal que no lo hicieran en el estilo clásico de los juegos de peleas. Si Konami hubiera deseado un juego de luchas popular hubiera simplemente echo un juego nuevo sin estar ligado a ninguna de sus sagas, pero Jugment era un spin-off (un giro que hacen de una saga para crecerla) y estaba echo pensado en que fans lo jugarían por eso no tenia el menor sentido que lo hicieran en el estilo clásico de un juego de peleas.
Otros detalles sobre el juego
* Cada personaje tiene en promedio 10 técnicas sin contar el bloqueo, esquive, los poderes de las sub armas y sub armas cargadas. Esto daba una gran variedad de ataques al juego haciéndolo mas intenso.
*los ambientes tienen trampas algunas de ellas mortales y algunos ambientes incluso cambian mientras se les va destruyendo. Las trampas podían ser desactivadas pero el tenerlas daba mas emoción a las paleas poniendo un factor de “inseguridad” a las peleas. Mi favorito personal romper los engranes de la torre del reloj y hacer que el personaje enemigo caiga a su muerte con ellos.
*los personajes tenían variedad y tenían muchos poderes mágicos todos ellos impresionantes dando una vista a la “magia” que hay en la saga. El mejor ejemplo quizás sea Shanoa que era capaz de hacer poderosos hechizos de viento además de invocar armas (el arma que justo necesitara para el ataque) como por ejemplo espadas, arco y flecha, dagas etc.
*en fin un video dice mas y mejor las cosas así que aquí les dejo uno que muestra lo que hay en el juego. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOoV3gXFNnM
Calificación
Al juego como tal le doy una calificación de 7/10 ya que aunque lo considero bueno ciertamente no es el mejor de su tipo y tiene sus fallas. También añadir que si eres fan de la saga y conoces a todos esos personajes muy probablemente lo disfrutes más y te guste más.
Curando
Bien es verdad que el juego no fue un éxito comercial, si le hubieran echo mejor publicidad quizás eso hubiera sido diferente pero kolami no defendió mucho a su producto. También poner la demo en otros juegos quizás hubiera ayudado pero en su momento era casi un proyecto independiente del director Igarasu así que no tenían tantos recursos. No siempre un buen juego tiene éxito pero si sabes que es bueno tienes que ayudar o convencer a los demás de que lo es, usar demos, exhibiciones y mejor publicidad es usualmente la manera.
Reciclar: usualmente el reciclaje de los juegos es usado para decir que copian elementos como enemigos, personajes, ambientes o historia y lo pegan en otro juego y eso es claramente un mal signo, pero reciclar en este caso es tomar las buenas ideas desaprovechadas del juego y mejorarlas en otro juego, sin dudas la mejor forma de decirlo es esta, si las quejas fueron que el juego parecía mucho a un juego de aventuras y hay tantos poderes y movimientos, en vez de desperdiciar todo eso usar al jugment como inspiración para un juego de aventuras. Por ejemplo usar a Shanoa en 3-d con todos los ataques del jugment y quizás mas creo seria muy bien visto por casi toda la comunidad de fans de castlevania. Simplemente no dejar que una buena idea muera solo porque el juego no tuvo éxito (quizás porque fue mal implementada o porque otras malas ideas ahogaron al juego)