Review: Samurai Western - PS2

Nice idea, anyway

Wednesday, November 9, 2005

QuickView:

Good: The idea

Bad: The translation of idea to gameplay

Moral: Don’t judge a book by its cover

Samurai Western is one of those games that is released and nobody really knows or hears anything about it. When I first heard of the title, I figured it to be another below-average production from a small developer. Nobody may recognize developer Acquire but that doesn’t mean the same for their games. Most people have heard of a series called Tenchu, which had installments on both the PSX and PS2.

Samurai Western is very much a replica of what Tenchu was except that the setting is different. You also play a Samurai instead of a ninja, but you still move just as quick. Interestingly enough, you would think that the combination of samurais and the Wild West would make for a dazzling product. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn’t quite work out in the end.

Samurai Western is all about speed. You’ll feel the quickness of Gojiro, the heroine and the man you control, as he slashes and dodges the clumsy cowboys he comes across. Gojiro’s purpose in the Wild West is to find his brother who is not working in the states. For the gamer’s purpose though, he’s here so counter the range attacks of bullets with this lighting quick blade. That’s what you’ll be doing throughout most of the game, dodging. That’s how you’ll defeat most of your enemies since you only have melee attacks against their pistols.

It’s a chain of dodging the bullets while rushing one thug and moving on to the next. SW has a dodge move where Gojiro will spin wildly around as he weaves through gunfire. It’s a very effective way of making the player feel as if he’s really dodging the bullets. You’ll feel quick and the controls are actually very responsive to your movements and dodges.

It does take time to learn how to master the spinning movement of Gojiro, but after that gunfire won’t touch you. Attacks consist of your sword and different combinations you’ll be able to pull off. Like any other action game, your standard combos will build up into more powerful moves. It’s pretty basic gameplay and feels very akin to Tenchu.

One thing that‘s different is your energy bar. This bar will fill as you fight enemies and when it does you’ll be able to slow time and make quicker attacks. Generally used against bosses, it’s a nice feature but isn’t that innovative. The problem is that there is no espionage action that Tenchu featured so SW lacks some of the fun abilities of wall jumping and being able to do spectacular flips and such. So you basically are limited to dodging and attacking. You’ll soon realize that the game eventually becomes a hack and slash where your hands will feel more pain than the enjoyment you get from playing.

One of the major problems that really affected the gameplay is the camera. The levels are pretty large and enemies from all directions will surround you. The problem is that you’ll be having enemies firing from all sides and it becomes hard to dodge bullets because the camera doesn’t allow you to see all incoming fire. It gets very frustrating after it happens in almost every fight you engage in. It’d be nice perhaps if the camera was stationary and you’d be able to keep a certain group of enemies in view so that you can see when they fire. It’s really sad too because the camera has such a large impact in how a game is executed. There were definitely some times when I didn’t want to play because of how horrible the camera is.

The game’s visuals are just as bad as the camera. Characters have a low polygon count and the texturing of the game is blurry. The game appears as a PSX game or could have been made as one. The sound is nothing spectacular too. Enemies yell over the top lines that’ll either make you laugh because they’re so stupid or just sit in shame.

SW seemed to be a great combination of two different cultures and worlds, but it turns out the actual combination is bland gameplay with a horrid camera. Combine disappointing visuals and SW is a title that doesn’t feel complete; you're left wondering only what could have been.

Graphics: D-

Sound: D

First Play: C-

Last Play: D-

Gameplay: D

Overall: 63% D

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Review: Samurai Western - PS2

Nice idea, anyway

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