Kyle Orland writes:
"0:00 I found Castlevania: Judgment nigh unplayable in the roughly five seconds I spent with it at E3, so that bodes ill. Then again, with the bar set this low, it may just beat my expectations.
0:01 An overly serious voice invokes the title on the preview screen. "Castle-VAN-i-a ... JUDGMENT!" Oy.
0:02 An effeminate guy in a white overcoat walks slowly down a bridge. Cut to a white owl in a forest and two guys fighting fiercely, one with whip and one with sword. Neither lands a single blow, they're both so good at deflections. A pentagram appears below them and the owl flies off to a castle set against a mountain ledge. He lands on a little girl's staff. The guy in white has a sword with a large clock in it and uses it to reverse time or something. The sword guy in the forest gets some wings while a cross on the back of the whip guy glows. Abrupt cut to the title screen. What the hell was that?!
0:03 And on the title screen, a woman speaks the name in the same super-serious manner: "Castle-VAN-i-a ... JUDGMENT." Dude, it's not even that great of a name...
0:04 After setting up the save file, it's off to Tutorials to "learn the game's various controls and techniques." Maybe that was the problem at E3 ... I just didn't know what I was doing...
0:05 "I sense the power of a Belmont within you, but you do not yet seem to grasp the fundamentals of combat," says ... some guy, I dunno. A cool remix of the Castlevania theme plays in the background, marred by some awful grinding noise. What the hell is that?"
The motion-controlled maverick of a console that had everyone from age 9 to 99 swing a TV remote to bowl and painstakingly recreating themselves as Miis, had its share of hits, but even so, some titles didn’t quite get their due.
Love this game (played on Vita) and i think i got pretty far, but never finished because i refused to look up a guide 😎
Same with me, played for like 50 hours, found a puzzle I just couldn't crack and decided to let it go. Great game
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "It’s been a Castlevania-packed week here at Link-Cable as we’ve spent nearly every day covering the series and reminiscing about our favorite moments from the revered franchise. But now it’s time to turn away from the light and take a deep dive into the darkness that is the worst games from the series. Yes, while the vast majority of games that bear the Castlevania games are genuinely good there’s enough monsters lurking in the shadows to fill us with dread of ever stepping back into Dracula’s castle. So grab your whips and your wall-meat, things are about to get"
It's unfortunate how LOS2 turn out, great gameplay mechanics let down by mostly bad level design and dull story.
LoS1 is among the best games i played, it reminded to rush into judging a game without trying it.
LoS2 had good combat.
It's how the end of the game was lackluster and felt unfinished.
Knew that Number 1 was going to be Castlevania Judgement. So many people judge the game without even playing it. It was a fine game with some flaws like most games, no where near the worst.
Simon's Quest is one of my favorite games of all time and ahead of its time. It felt like an action rpg, the day/night cycle was awesome and different, and when I figured out how to take the tornado to the other side I was excited. I beat the game in the early 90's and still have great memories playing it.
I know this would never happen but I would love to see a From Soft remake of Simon's Quest with Miyazaki developing it. It would hold up well as a souls-like experience.
Simon's Quest is always the bastard child of the good Castlevania. It was frankly ahead of it's time.
It's "cool" to hate on that game. Apart from being obtuse because of the localization, the atmosphere, gameplay and music still makes it one of the most memorable Castlevanias. It laid the groundwork for 2D exploration games down the line.
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "With the right amount of creativity any game series can be successfully spun-off to deliver something fresh and exciting, as the 10 games we honored a few months back as the best spin-offs ever showed off. Well today we’re looking at the other side of the coin at the spin-offs t hat may have intrigued us once but when they released we just wanted to go back to the way things should be and forget that the idea of expanding upon established game worlds ever crossed our minds. So today we are calling these terrible games out, hoping that they can serve as cautionary tales to the pitfalls of trying to spin-off a beloved franchise."
DOA Venus Vacation is probably the best... But also the most restrictive in terms of modding.
Didn't think Extreme Beach Volleyball was that bad. If anything, the PsP was probably the worst (imo anyway).
Also, some other spinoffs I would also add on the list are Akiba's Beat, Slashy Souls, Banjo Kazooie N&B (not terrible but I'm pretty sure everyone wanted a third game, not some racing spinoff), LBP karting (not as good as Modnation Racers), MGSurvive, Resident Evil Survivor, Pacman 2 Adventures, Pokemon Channel, Hotel Mario, Street Fighter The Movie game, Twisted Metal Small Brawl and Guilty Gear Overture.
