Alright I got this in the mail today Amazon Prime 1 month free trial FTW!!
And here are my impressions after playing a few matches and exploring the online options
Okay out of all the control schemes my favorite by far is Wii remote and Nunchuk type B, (Type A an C makes wii remote shaking your primary attack and it doesn't feel good) in type B it your main attack is B and wii remote shakes are only used for your special finisher (when your special gauge is full) and a more powerful version of your A+B attack and the nunchuk shake allows you to do a dodge.
Gamecube and Classic Controllers are fine just some of the button commands are a bit weird so you would have to experiment which control type you would prefer the most unfortunately I didn't find any way to completely customize the controls but in general with the 3 types that each control style has (wii remote+chuck, classic, gamecube). For people who like using dpads apparently the dpad is disabled in the game with an exception the down on the wii remote which either fires your subweapon or hyper attack(depending on what control type you pick) but the good news is that there is really no need for it. Speaking of control types you can't change between styles A,B or C mid match but only in the main game menu which is a pain but it saves your control preferences so you don't have to change them each time you boot up the game or your save file(the game has 3 save files as odd as that sounds for a fighting game), and luckily there is a seperate control profile for wii remote+chuck, Classic and gamecube controllers which is nice .
Before I move on to game play I do have to note one semi-annoying thing, if you want to play with Wii remote and nunchuk or Classic Controllers DO NOT have a gamecube controller or a wave bird receiver in controller slot 1 or 2 because the game will assume that you will be using a gamecube controller because the game senses controller changes automatically (during the middle of the fight you can change between controller types just by plugging in what controller you want).
Now as far as gameplay, it's a shallow fighter so don't expect this game to be something like street fighter, virtua fighter and so forth. This game reminds me a lot of powerstone and the gamecube/wii naruto fighting games because the combo system while fairly simplistic it's satisfying and very fun. The game is a full 3d fighter and it doesn't snap you on a 2d pane so you will have full 3d movement in the fighter like powerstone does. Each level has hazards like enemies, enviromental effects, spiked floors, poisonous water, guillotines and those swinging axes on a chain all of them are typical Castlevania hazards you would find in the games. In story mode you can't turn them off but for versus matches it asks you if you want to turn hazards on or off. Some of the AI is cheap but beatable and the game is balanced in general but some characters are simply better than another or like how some fighting game enthusiast would group fighters in tiers.
The graphics are actually quite nice for a Wii title featuring full widescreen with no black bars there is also a deflicker option for people who want to turn it on or off, and the game runs at a smooth 60FPS. The graphical effects for each finisher and special looks awesome. The stages look fine and all of them are quite big and roomy each stage is different enough to make them feel unique. If you hate the english voice acting there is an option for Japanese voice acting.
The options for online is very robust for a Wii game, but it still has a traditional matchmaking system you can set it to look for matches in your local continent or worldwide. I played about 3 matches and I experienced some small lag but nothing game breaking. Since the game does have 3 save slots I don't know if each save shares the same friend code or generates a different one since I didn't bother testing it.
The game is a pretty good package with some minor gripes and it looks like IGA and his dev team put a lot of care into it, for a "fanfare" type of game it's a really good one and it's a fun light hearted fighting game with a solid single player, online and multiplayer modes. Its a 3rd party game done right and a fighting game done right on the Wii whether if you use Wii controls or traditional controls.
EDIT: If any one is wondering, the DS connectivity unlocks Shanoa, Aeon and a couple of items and accessories. The data transfer take like 2 seconds so it looks like that it's just a simple unlock code. I wasn't paying attention on my DS screen if it unlocked anything in Order of Ecclasia.
Topic: Castlevania Judgement... not what anyone expected ever... EVER (Read 73483 times)
