Dave Long
06-21-2002, 07:07 AM
Wow...this game's pretty amazing. I played through to one of the six endings last night (number 5) and was completely in love with the combat by the time it ended. For those that don't know, this is a PS2 game from the makers of Tenchu on PSOne. You play a Samurai who wanders into a mountain pass where two sides are warring over a local factory and the government waits patiently in the background for the two sides to destroy each other allowing them to take over the factory as well. It's set at the end of the Feudal era when Samurai were trying hard to stay alive and keep alive their heritage.
The game is super cool and plays kind of like those books where you flip to page X or Y depending on your choice of action. Using conversation trees, you can end up fighting for one side, having both sides hate you or even just drifting through town taking on whoever you'd like. There's also the ability to fight for the few remaining townspeople. There are plenty of diversions in the path leading to at least one fantastic end sequence that I've seen. By the end of the game last night, I'd killed 88 people and about 50 or more of those came in the last 45 min. The final brawl lasted through four locations and was just incredible!
I think the reviews I've read are a little low for this game. There's quite a bit of innovation and the sword fighting is super deep, yet I've seen reviews go on about graphics and saving, neither of which are problematic for me at all. One of the best parts of the game is while in the middle of a fight, positioning yourself over a turnip, mushroom or other health item and while fighting kick it in the air, grab it and chow down! One reviewer noted that you've got to sheathe the sword to do this... not true. While in the final battle last night, I had to do a lot of defensive fighting to position myself just where I wanted to be able to eat while fighting. That also means the camera is rarely a problem because fighting where you've got room to move, and hence unobstructed view, is crucial. Nothing's worse than backing up and stumbling over a dead body to fall on the ground and leave yourself exposed to attack. The camera isn't at fault there, it's the player.
Anyway...this game is worth a rental at the very least and for me anyway, it's an important part of the PS2 collection. It's one of the few games that I felt like I was really playing a role and made simple decision making a crucial immersive element. By the end, I was in a blood rage standing next to the Samurai I was fighting for and we fought back to back, swords blazing, in a wild fight.
--Dave
The game is super cool and plays kind of like those books where you flip to page X or Y depending on your choice of action. Using conversation trees, you can end up fighting for one side, having both sides hate you or even just drifting through town taking on whoever you'd like. There's also the ability to fight for the few remaining townspeople. There are plenty of diversions in the path leading to at least one fantastic end sequence that I've seen. By the end of the game last night, I'd killed 88 people and about 50 or more of those came in the last 45 min. The final brawl lasted through four locations and was just incredible!
I think the reviews I've read are a little low for this game. There's quite a bit of innovation and the sword fighting is super deep, yet I've seen reviews go on about graphics and saving, neither of which are problematic for me at all. One of the best parts of the game is while in the middle of a fight, positioning yourself over a turnip, mushroom or other health item and while fighting kick it in the air, grab it and chow down! One reviewer noted that you've got to sheathe the sword to do this... not true. While in the final battle last night, I had to do a lot of defensive fighting to position myself just where I wanted to be able to eat while fighting. That also means the camera is rarely a problem because fighting where you've got room to move, and hence unobstructed view, is crucial. Nothing's worse than backing up and stumbling over a dead body to fall on the ground and leave yourself exposed to attack. The camera isn't at fault there, it's the player.
Anyway...this game is worth a rental at the very least and for me anyway, it's an important part of the PS2 collection. It's one of the few games that I felt like I was really playing a role and made simple decision making a crucial immersive element. By the end, I was in a blood rage standing next to the Samurai I was fighting for and we fought back to back, swords blazing, in a wild fight.
--Dave