Seven Samurai 20XX

"A Good Solid Game"

Seven Samurai 20XX has gotten many bad reviews, and I can see why. Yes, the game can get repetitive, and yes, it can sometimes be annoying, but overall, it is a good, solid game that will keep your attention for quite a while. Now lets take it apart.

Graphics- Now, let's be honest. When you first saw the opening cutscene, you were OMG!!! I was too, but I was still impressed with the lack of lag and the good sense of motion in-game too. Considering it is a PS2 game (no offense) it has pretty good graphics. Although sometimes there can be the momentary camera problem, this in no way detracts from the rich look of the game and the cutscenes. 10/10

Story- When I first saw the title, I thought "So is this a game based on Akira Kurosawa's 7 Samurai? Or is it some new original piece? I was delighted when I found that it was both. It has a more futuristic feel to it, but it is still Kurosawa's masterpiece, in essence. I was always excited when meeting the next samurai, or when moving on to the next unique scenario. Overall 10/10

Sound- Incredible. For an arcade game, you expect it to have decent music, which this game definitely has, but you'd never expect the voice acting to be so good. You can tell that the VA's actually read their lines before recording them, and they have good personality to them. The emotion usually fits, but the main character's little things he says can get a little annoying. Overlooking this fact, we have another 10/10.

Characters- Not bad. I enjoyed that the Samurai were so unique, but some, such as the short guy, are really bizarre. I mean, I liked the short guy's character, but I didn't like the thought of him fighting. Of course, I'm the kind of guy that judges a book by its cover so what do I know? I still like how different the samurai are from each other and that each one has their own background. Overall 9/10.

Gameplay- Now here's the problem. Although the Nitoh-Ryu is excellent and the slo-mo scenes are awesome, the gameplay is definitely lacking. Going through room after room and fighting wave after wave of enemies can get exceedingly monotonous. After a while, you actually can't wait for the main character to do his little dance-away-his-sword thing so long as it means that that area is done with. Overall 4/10

Replayability- Not much more that you can do if you replay it, but if you haven't played it for a year or so, it's fun to start back up with. 5/10

Rent or buy- If you want to simply see some cool stuff then rent it. If you want to see the entire story and fully experience the game, buy it for the sake of its story.

Overall- A good game that is really unique and fun to play through. If your looking for a game where you can hack **** up, while enjoying good music, excellent voice acting, and a great story, this game is for you.

Overall rating: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/07