Samurai Shodown V

"It's a Sho(w)down! Between Samurai!"

I recently worked my way through Samurai Shodown V on the PS2; so is it any good?

Yes and no.

First off, the game has some serious flaws. The first is related to the difficulty settings and the new 'sword meter' feature. So when you strike, you use up some of your sword meter. It replenishes when you're not striking. The higher the meter, the more damage you do when attacking. This is a cool idea as we all know that being a samurai is all about killing your foe in a single stroke. And a full sword meter means you're looking at 2/3+ damage to your opponents life bar. Awesome! Unfortunately on the easy difficulty settings the AI doesn't take this into account. So it makes few, opportunistic strikes as you'd expect from difficulty one.

And then slays you in a single stroke and looks boss!

The reverse problem is also true. On the harder settings the cpu characters go mad and perform huge strings of attacks you don't feel.

The other major problem with the game is that there is little to zero difference between how the characters play. You expect a few clones (Kyo/Iori, Ryu/Ken etc.) but most of the characters have about three moves, including a mix of projectile/rising/travelling, which are executed in the same way for each character. So the impressive roster of twenty something fighters is actually worth about six, with most of them 'pulling a fireball' on a D/DF/F/A move. Which is boring.

The final issue with the game is the 'super-ace-hyper-mega-you-die-now' moves. You have two types. A slow-mo custom combo style move which is only usable under certain conditions which occur as often as hen's teeth and near useless. And a super art style unique attack which deals less damage (on average) than a full sword meter heavy attack and is performed in the same way for each character. And prevents you from using the aforementioned slo-mo thingy.

So with screwy AI that rewards cheap gameplay, little actual difference between the characters and no real super arts to master; does this game offer anything at all?

Actually it does! The two main selling points of this game should be the graphics, which are beautiful, and the sound, which is awesome.

The sprites are huge, colourful and exciting. Plus the character designs are cool. There are all the traditionals (i.e. cute girls, brooding ninjas, complete freaks, huge haired heroes etc.) and they're done well. The animation on each character is great, and some of them have companions, such as a hawk or wolf, which look good and add to the spectacle. Despite the lack of difference between the characters you will probably want to play through it with more than one of them - going for the weirdly-tripped-out endings. They are worth sitting through the 'nails boss to get.

On a side note, whilst the boss has an 'uber' mode, during which he is invincible (and he's not shy about using it more than once per bout), he strangely puts up less of a fight than some of the other characters.

The sound is amazing too. There are loads of music tracks, which are a cool mix of atmospheric sound, j-rock style guitar fests (a la Dynasty Warriors) and traditional feudal Japanese instrumental pieces. In short, music designed to make you feel like a samurai as you play. The in game chatter between the characters if fun too ("I'll fix your problems!").

In summary, an okay game which has a fantastic look and great sound, but little else going for it. It's best enjoyed casually in 2 player mode, perhaps a rental before buying is a good idea.

One of my friends hit the nail on the head when he described this game as 'SNK does Darkstalkers'.

Peace!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06