Konami's new fighting game Castlevania Judgment certainly attracts attention. The cel-shaded title for the Nintendo Wii has huge characters that seem to fill the screen and make loud fighting-type noises. It's a rather bizarre title, and is very much a 3D fighter. The camera more or less stays behind the player but tracks the action, zooming in and out and moving around melee combat.

In the demo shown, I could choose from four characters. For my adversary I chose Death, a kind of skeleton that looked quite evil and I picked a Girl named Maria. The basis for the controls is you move with the analogue stick and swing your weapon with the remote. There are also jump and guard buttons and I somehow managed to create a combo or two using the B button. Specials are strange, and one featured an owl appearing from nowhere and pecking Death to well... death.

The level I played was a pirate ship at sea, which had a huge serpent swinging its tentacles from the ocean towards me and I actually took damage once or twice. I like the idea of hazardous environments and the controls were overall pretty solid. I saw another guy string together a combo of 99 hits so there must be some scope for complexity within the game and the game itself looks very presentable. The inclusion of selectable weapons (I could chose a dagger or a cross) makes this a game that might be worth picking up if you're a Wii owner, but probably won't go down as a classic.