Okay, so he didn’t actually use the word “casual.” But in an interview with Game|Life’s Chris Kohler, Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi dropped a variety of hints indicating that he was less than happy with the new “3-D versus action game,” and that he feels pressured to create cheaper, more casual gaming experiences.
While we hesitate to heap criticism on a title so obviously in need of TLC, we won’t pull any punches — when compared to modern 3-D fighters, or even action games, the build of Castlevania Judgment we saw at E3 sucks like the series’ trademark vampires. But if Igarashi’s own words are any indication, we may be judging Judgment far too harshly.
Why a fighting game? Igarashi told Game|Life:
“Fans have been asking me for a while to do a Wii game using the Wiimote as a whip. But Castlevania is the type of game that fans play for hours at a time, and to swing the Wii remote for hours at a time is a very torturous endeavor. Tiring. So I thought about it a little bit more and thought that if it was a timed sort of game, that you played for a limited time, that would be a nice fit.”
But Igarashi insists that it’s not really a fighting game, and not just because it incorporates freedom of movement. It also has to do with the relative precision of that movement:
“Unlike a fighting game, which requires very precise timing and button pressing and movements, this one’s more of a pick-up-and-play game, where you’re collecting items as you’re playing.”
When speaking of the unlikely transition to to 3-D, Igarashi alludes to some sort of pressure to innovate…
“Up until now, Castlevania has focused mostly on the 2-D side-scrolling types of games which have made it successful. But to expand the franchise, I have to try creating other types of things,” he says.
…and later on, reveals the directions in which he feels forced to move.
“Wii is selling, but the ‘gamer’s games’ aren’t selling. That’s what I’m concerned about,” he says. “I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible, the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer.”
“I have to adapt to the times, but I can’t alienate the core fans,” he concluded.
Taking special note of Igarashi’s comment about the need to lower the development costs of core titles, Kohler provides these quotes as evidence that Jeremy Parish — 1UP editor and host of Retronauts — may be justified in his belief that Castlevania Judgment’s current state reflects a lack of funding for Igarashi’s real vision.
But I don’t think so. In light of Igarashi’s other comments, the other road towards success seems far likely.
If you were handed a “pick-up-and-play” game with simplistic controls, where you could make a variety of flashy things happen just by waving your arms, and that was meant to be played for limited periods of time, what would you call it? I don’t know about you, but I’d call it a casual game. And reflecting on my recent experience with the title, that’s exactly what we’re getting.
In complete honesty, I can tell you Castlevania Judgment (as shown at E3) is imprecise, shallow and quickly grows stale… but I could just as easily say Castlevania Judgment has simple, pick-up-and-play controls, doesn’t require players to expend mental energy and is best played in short bursts. It’s just a matter of perspective — and if the game truly is designed to be casual, that first perspective may be grossly unfair.
Some may argue that Konami will have a hard time selling a casual Castlevania to a hardcore audience, and judging by E3 reactions I’d tend to agree. But as Igarashi said, Konami is trying to “expand the franchise” — and there’s more than one way to do that. In Judgment, it’s not just gameplay that seems to fit the casual mold; thematic considerations may also be skewing towards the mainstream.
While it’s easy to look at Judgment and imagine Konami is catering to nostalgic Castlevania fans with the game’s collection of remixed classic tunes and familiar attacks, it could be just the opposite — they may be trying to draw new players into old classics. The striking shift in the Castlevania art style indicates that they’re not entirely focused on appeasing existing fans, and may instead be trying to leverage the Japanese Death Note phenomenon to attract new blood (the popular manga has spawned an anime series, two live-action movies and a novel, in addition to games and various merchandise) and hoping that the “gateway drug” effect then inspires those fans to seek out prior Castlevania games to learn the backstories of the newly Obata-ized characters — just as Roy and Marth’s inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee inspired many to consider Fire Emblem.
Even though you can usually find me situated firmly on the hardcore side of the fence, I believe there’s tremendous value in encouraging all kinds of gamers to immerse themselves in our favorite series. If nothing else, the larger audience that results will hopefully ensure that much more funding for the titles the hardcore fans dream of.
For our hands-on impressions of Castlevania Judgment (from the potentially problematic hardcore standpoint) click here.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
[...] we’re being too harsh? Recent comments by producer Koji Igarashi suggest that Judgment may be a casual game. Tags: Castlevania, Castlevania Judgment, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, fighting game, Koji [...]
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