| | Unusually open-ended game in which you play a ronin caught in a feud between a pretty inkeeper and two feuding bands in the final days of samurai.
While the low-res, hardly anti-aliased graphics look ugly at times, and Don the Afro-wearing "samurai" stands out as a bit silly next to all the guys seriously hacking away at each other with sharp sticks, the overall visuals at times look impressively realistic, the sounds and music are high quality, and the storyline, which responds to whatever you decide to do as you wander through this valley of strife, doesn't play around. I can't say I've quite got the hang of actual combat per se as fighting with two buttons (and a third guard button) plus an analog stick doesn't quite come naturally, however in my current adventure I've actually invented some new moves, so it's been getting more interesting.
Oh, yes, when the story ends, or when you die, you start over again in the same scenario, but of course you're free to do something different this time. Plus, I think you get to keep your skills and the swords you've collected (which I hear get different abilities of their own) but I haven't progressed that far yet. So far I've been trying to play the honorable, mysterious neutral guy. Maybe next time I'll go in as a scarred, orange-wearing badass and join the weirdos sworn to revive the age of samurai. |
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