As a fan of Fire Emblem, I decided to check out Advance Wars for the DS. This is my first encounter with the series. Everything here is great, but the thing that annoyed me the most is that the difficulty seemed to spike suddenly at one point, which was a little discouraging. Other than that, AW: Dual Strike is a fun game.

It's a wild world. Go out there and play

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Other than some low-quality voice acting, Baten Kaitos: EWatLO is one of the best RPGs that I've ever played

A step up in the voice acting department, and a new gameplay system make Baten Kaitos Origins a worthy prequel to EWatLO.

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Without a doubt my favorite NES game of all time

A bold move on Konami's part. While the idea of taking characters from a Sidescroller-RPG genre and putting them in something as foreign to the series as a fighting game may seem obscure, we need to remember that Mario does this all the time. Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario Strikers, and so forth. With that in mind, a beat-em up fighter isn't too bad of a spinoff title for the Castlevania Series. Unlike most fighters, such as the Street Fighter and Soul Calibur series', the movesets in CVJudgment are limited, in a similar fashion to that of the Super Smash Bros. series. You have your basic attacks, your specials, classic Castlevania sub-weapons such as the Knife and Holy Water that can be obtained in battle, and the super move, in this case called the Hyper Attack. The controls may seem rather clunky and tough to grasp in the first time you play, whether or not you use the Wiimote and Nunchuck, Classic, or Gamecube controllers. Fortunately, the game provides interactive tutorials that allow players to learn and apply these skills. As for the playable cast, you have 13 characters from previous titles in the Castlevania series, and one completely new character. Considering how many beat-em-ups have nearly twice this many or more playable characters, this may have a tendency to annoy some players. However, consider that this is Castlevania's first attempt in the fighter genre. I personally view the small, yet nicely varied, cast as a stepping stone towards what could be a compelling subseries in Castlevania's story. They didn't want to be too ambitious, is the way I look at it. Some fans have complained about the lack of two characters at this point: Richter Belmont and Soma Cruz. Soma, I'm not entirely sure why he was left out, but Richter? There are already two whip-wielders available in the game: Simon and Trevor, both of whom share a couple similar attacks. Adding a third whipfighter into the mix would lead to more clones. Now, this isn't to say that I don't have my complaints about the game... or rather, just one big complaint. When I played, I felt no compelling reason to try other modes besides Arcade and Story, other than unlocking character accessories. While it's to be expected from a title in the genre, all characters do is fight in every mode. Don't get me wrong, Castle and Survival mode are indeed enjoyable features, but some may find no interest in playing them beyond messing around or trying to beat the game down to the last accessory. Now, that aside, Castlevania Judgment is indeed an enjoyable title. It's not as developed as most titles in the genre, but it's an impressive first attempt, and a perfect first title in what could become an enjoyable Castlevania subseries. Among giants such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and other hot 2008 releases, Castlevania Judgment stood out for me as the most underrated title of the year. Anyone interested in Castlevania or fighters should check this out; the style is a nice change of pace. The final word? Castlevania Judgment wins my personal award for Game of the Year 2008, just for having the guts to take the series in a new direction in a generation of gamers who like the same thing over and over again.

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