The good impression: http://kotaku.com/5025585/hands-on-with-castlevania-judgment
"As Iga said, Castlevania Judgment is not your standard 3D fighting game. You move in full 3D, almost as if you were playing in a room in one of the various attempts at bringing the platformer to into the 3D arena. There are objects to smash (and in Dracula's case, possess), power ups to be gained, and spectacular special moves to master, but at its core the gameplay is a very simple, pick-up-and-play affair.
The controls are pretty basic for a Nintendo Wii 3D fighter. The X button blocks and the C button dodges. Wiggle the WiiMote to attack, holding A for certain attacks or B for super attacks. Wiggling the nunchuck has your character dodging in a character-specific fashion. Maria slides out of the way, while Alucard disappears in a puff of mist, reappearing a short distance away.
I took on Konami's Jay Boor, who turned out to be relatively good at navigating Alucard, beating me only twice during the two rounds we played. Fights are smooth, enjoyable, and filled with nifty little moments that will have you recalling Castlevania games past. Maria's spellcasting is especially entertaining, with a wiggle of the Wiimote and a press of the B button bringing down a giant heavy object on top of the unfortunately blocking Alucard's head. The final match ended with me finding the perfect combination of mashed buttons and wiggling, launching Maria into a spectacular fire attack that left Alucard in flames, just in time for the round timer to run out, causing me to lose. Damn round timer.
So far I like what I see. It really isn't just a 3D fighter. It's something else entirely. It felt a bit more like a Dragon Ball Z fighter or a Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series game than it did Tekken or Soul Calibur. The only question I was left with really was, "How many characters are going to be included in the game?"
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The less positive one: http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168685&p=44&sec=PREVIEWS
"After having barely recovered from the atrocity that was Soul Calibur Legends, I'm disheartened to see another beloved franchise suffer an unwarranted genre migration on Wii. Rather than answering fans' pleas for a new Castlevania with 2D gameplay or churning out a Wii Remote-enhanced port of Curse of Darkness, Konami has shockingly chosen to dabble in a field they have little expertise in. That said, this is clearly their best fighting effort since 1993's TMNT: Tournament Fighters on the Super NES and Genesis... but again, that's not necessarily saying much.
Although Judgment's graphics look sweet in still screenshots (assuming you can stomach the, to put it kindly, "highly stylized" character designs), in motion, they're not so hot. A sluggish framerate and preponderance of jaggy edges spoil the game's impressive-for-Wii lighting and shadow effects. Perhaps a few more months in development can solve these issues.
I'm less hopeful for Judgment's gameplay, which inelegantly combines gesture-driven melee attacks, projectiles, and one-button supermoves. Occasionally, the long-distance tossing and dodging clicks, feeling a bit like Power Stone, but more often than not, the action's eerily reminiscent of Soul Calibur Legends. Most characters appear to have limited move sets and nearly identical combos, and the depth and complexity of Virtua Fighter or Tekken is nowhere to be found."
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The video:
Judgment begins at 5:40.
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The negative impression's focus on what Judgment is makes me suspect the man never gave the game a fair shake. The video seemed alright, but fighting games aren't really my thing.
