In the grand genre of fighting games, there are many notable titles: “Super Smash Bros.,” “Soul Calibur” and “Mortal Kombat.” Most people have heard of these games and hold them close to their hearts. The games listed are considered classics, or one of a kind (even though they have remakes made all the time.) Do you know what else is classic? The “Castlevania” series.

“Castlevania” originally started out as a side scroller for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and was considered one of the toughest games of its time. “Mortal Kombat” came out in the arcade in 1992 and several years later for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and was an instant hit.

Everyone loved both games.

So a very smart guy at the game company Konami thought that if you mixed the characters and themes of “Castlevania” with the gameplay and style of Mortal Kombat and put it on the Nintendo Wii, it will somehow end up being a reputable game. What actually resulted was a mediocre fighting game that probably damaged the reputation of the “Castlevania” characters.

In this game you have a 14-character roster to choose from. Following the lines of “Soul Calibur,” gameplay is basically spamming and button mashing until your character beats down the opposition.

This is where the bad Wii controls come in. The Wii’s claim to fame was its motion controls. Motion controls and fighting games do not mix. The strange motion based combos of Judgment will have you whipping and flailing around like a moron (keep those Wii straps on, kids). If it weren’t for the fact that the game is also compatible with GameCube controllers, I probably would have given up after my first fight and wrote an even more scathing review.

If you’re playing the computer in the game’s story mode, then you’ll most likely blow past the first couple fights with ease. Then around fight number seven the computer difficulty spikes so ridiculously that you’re getting the stuffing beaten out of you with combos and moves that no human could ever even think about pulling off. Also, you as the player can target the computer, so good luck keeping the computer in out of your characters blind spot.

Basically what goes down is that the characters are thrown into a time rift for some reason and fight each other. I’m pretty sure that my ten year old cousin could come up with a better story. All in all, the story is bland and poorly written.

Surprisingly, the buttons (and motion sense if you’re using the Wii remotes) respond pretty well and are easy to get a feel for. The movement is tight and it feels nice to move when you’re not being stun locked into a corner by one of the computer players, that is.

I’d give the game a 5/10, and wouldn’t want to play again.