Way of the Samurai

"Wow...this is a lot like Bushido Blade..."

Introduction: At first glance on the back of the box, you'd probably think ''Hey, cool! This sounds like a pretty solid Action-Adventure RPG!''. At least, that's what I thought. I read the part about there being 40+ swords all with their different abilities and moves. I thought that there would be a fairly sophisticated stat system for defeating enemies and maybe (just maybe) a system for copying opponents moves.

I admit, I was blown away at the intro, being a total sucker for Japanese kung-fu I-can-fight-100-guys-at-a-time stuff. The intro led me to believe that there were multiple characters. I even thought you might be able to buy and sell swords. I thought it would be a deep and fast paced action game.

But I was wrong...I was very wrong.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are quite well done, having some pretty nice lighting effects and such. The main character (I won't call it by a name, because it's varies from person to person) is pretty well done, with some decently animated outfits and faces. The backgrounds and sky are also very well done, especially during the nighttime where you cast long shadows and the moonlight is very slight. The environment is fine, it has the basic wind, etc. But I would have really like to see some random rain or snow, maybe even lightning storms. The final battles would have been so much better being waged in the pouring rain, but alas, all you get is sun and clouds. It’s mind-numbingly average, although the attack animations are by far the cream of this game’s graphical crop.

Sound: 6/10

It falters here. I've heard 2 musics in the entire game. The ''normal'' music and the ''battle'' music. Eventually, it gets repetitive and you'll want to turn the volume off. The effects are unspectacular. You'll hear ''swish'' ''clang'' when your attack is blocked and ''swish'' ''crshhhh'' when it hits. It's nothing fancy. But the ''voice acting'' can really get you annoyed. There is no true ''voice acting'' but instead a grunt or a ''Gah'' or a ''Humph'' depending on the mood of the person you're talking to. It just really puzzles me that if they would go as far as grunts, why wouldn't they take it to actual acting?

Gameplay: 7/10

Well, you know how I thought this would be a long saga of a game? It's not. Not at all. You play as ''Kenji'' though you can change the name. In fact, there is only one character you can play as, but the character is very broad. You can be a man or a woman and don a few different outfits. Even though there are 40+ swords, you can only have 3 at a time. You cannot buy or sell them, you cannot do anything but increase the 4 stats they come with by paying large amounts of very hard to come by money.

You can increase the sword's Attack bonus (sharpness), the Defense bonus (flexibility), Durability (toughness), and life added to your stamina when you equip it. Now you can really only earn a good amount of money by being paid by a high-ranking NPC. Once in a while you'll defeat an opponent and receive 1 (yes one) yen. As far as the ''limitless amounts of moves'' available, they're all pretty much the same with a different animation. Mostly fancy thrusts, jumping slashes, spinning slashes, and the like.

As far as storyline, there isn't much of a story. Two clans are warring over a piece of land. You can be on the Akadama side, the Kurou side, or be somewhat neutral. The game is very non-linear and encourages deception and underhandedness. The story is short, and I believe it covers the span of about one and a half game days on average. It encourages replaying for higher rankings and unlocking different costumes and faces.

I do enjoy the battle system though. I especially like how the game punishes button-mashers with the block/parry/push system, and how continuously throwing your strongest attacks will decrease your sword’s durability, which is represented by a gray bar. By mashing “strong” attack, you’ll only achieve your sword’s destruction, and it will leave you vulnerable and weaponless. However, if your swords are completely destroyed, you can pick up buckets and other objects to use as makeshift weapons. Although I’ll say that otherwise the objects are totally useless and serve no real purpose other than making the environment more interactive.

My gripes are that you can’t pick up and save food (the only way of healing) for later, as it gets really frustrating running around during a battle trying to kick food in the ground. It’s more accurate to sheath the sword and use square, but then if you’re attacked you have to draw it all over again. Especially when you’re in an area with mushrooms, as it’s a 50/50 chance that the mushroom will heal or hurt you. If you’re having a bad day with lady luck, you’ll find yourself down a few hit points and soon you’ll be sharing fortune cookies with Buddha himself. Also, there’s a ridiculous lack of save points, and I’ve been forced to start from the beginning every time I play.

Overall: 7/10

WOTS is overall a decent title. It's a game you really want to be good, but there’s an ominous dark cloud that hovers over it’s head. After the first 20 minutes, I was ready to play something else. It just didn’t hold my attention. If you’re a fan of Bushido Blade, you’ll love WOTS. If not…I wouldn’t bother with it. I warn the unwary however. You need a BIG attention span to really squeeze the best out of this game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/02, Updated 08/28/02