Blood Will Tell

"A lot of Fiends. A lot of boss fights."

Introduction: Hyakkimaru is a samurai whose 48 body parts have been stolen by the Fiends. He sets out on a journey while meeting up with the thief Dororo (who could pass as a boy) to defeat the 48 Fiends and reclaim what is rightfully his. Dororo was first a manga, then adapted into an anime, video game, and is now being made into a live-action film. The character designs, who were originally created by Osama Tezuka in his manga Dororo, were now given an updated look in the game by Hiroaki Samura. (You may know him best from his work Blade of the Immortal.)

Gameplay: Since this is an action game, you'll be killing a lot of demons and Fiends. When you defeat a Fiend, you regain a body part, and in some cases you regain a new ability. Though there is no difficulty settings, it's not too hard for the most part. Some Fiends are harder than others, while some are easier. If you really have problems with a Fiend, you can stock up if you haven't by getting cannons, bullets, getting your spirit meter full, and maybe even some extra lives by collecting Jyukai's medicine. My only complaint with some of the Fiends are that their designs are repeated. In every chapter, you have to play as Dororo at least once except for the final chapter. Besides the 48 Fiends, there are a lot of different demons. With 60 different enemies to defeat, there is plenty of killing that you may or may not want to indulge in. Using combos on them can score you items.

Graphics: One thing I noticed is the lack of vibrant colors. Yes, you won't be seeing any rainbows or tie dyed shirts. The colors are dark, which I think the developers were trying to give off the sense of sorrow that the Fiends are causing. The FMVs are nice.

Sound: The music isn't the greatest, but it's not horribly bad either. There's not too much variety, as most of the music is the same in every chapter. However, the music does fit pretty well. The dubbing is well done.

Controls: The controls are pretty simple. You get that whole tutorial training at the start, anyway. Hyakkimaru can double jump, dash forward, dash to the side, roll, backflip, etc.

???: There is one major thing that confused me, and that's why the Fiends didn't take Hyakkimaru's two most important body parts. The body parts that make the biggest difference between a man and a woman. You know what I'm talking about. Well, if you don't... I don't know what to say.

Closing: Blood Will Tell is a fun action game that lasts a decent amount of time. With some pretty cool characters (my favorite being Tanosuke), good gameplay, and a lot of boss fights, Blood Will Tell should interest most gamers. If you liked Dororo before playing the game, it should interest you. I'm not sure if this is a 100% faithful adaption, seeing as I haven't read or watched the anime/manga, but I would guess it's close enough.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/01/06