Way of the Samurai 2

"Don't believe what you see in advertisements."

Wow, Way of the Samurai 2 wasn't the most anticipated (or really even anticipated for that matter) in the United States. Games like these usually aren't. One good example is the Shenmue series. The first Shenmue turned out to be one of the biggest hits for the Sega Dreamcast, but Shenmue II pretty much was a flop for the X-Box. Shenmue turned out to be named one of the most boring video games of all time on a G4TechTV show named Filter, where actual people vote for this stuff! I have a confession to make... I have not played Way of the Samurai, but I have seen it in action and was influenced to play this game. Now comes another game manufactured especially for the samurai fans all across the world. Are Americans intolerant of different cultures that the world has or are the games just really bad? Let's find out...

Gameplay: Good, 7
The idea of this game is very innovative but can be limiting, during cutscenes or everyday conversations you will usually be given three choices to make, such as if a little girl saves your life and gives you a rice ball, you can compliment her on the food, thank her for saving your life, or make her leave and tell her to stop pestering you. After this, you can be in different scenarios, but if you want to get different endings you have to play through the game again and make slightly different decisions which can be very tedious and boring. The game is set in Japan, you will be able to go to several locations in the city, but the locations are usually small to medium in size. Of course there has to be the establishments that all kung-fu film buffs love, they are mentioned in such movies as Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, the tea house, the bath house, the pub, etc. It can be alright if you participate in another part of gameplay: earn money by working for people. This process can lead to other scenarios with either magistrates or gang members. There are also other people you can work for, except, they don't produce any storylines for you, so you basically end up fighting warriors for a half of a month. Oh, did I forget to tell you? The game is only about 12 day long, a total of two hours game time. There are some aspects that add to this, but I'll talk about that later.

Graphics: Okay, 6
Now, the graphics on this game aren't totally unbearable to the eyes, but there are a few problems. During cutscenes, lines can be seen above the eyebrows and just above the chin, a major sign of face mapping. Because of this, you are taken out of the real life experience. The way a character's body moves is another problem, one minute they will be pointing at something, then their hand will suddenly be at their side, the frame rate really isn't that good in this game. Some of the character's aren't the best looking either, a sleek kimono may look jagged during cutscenes, for instance. But otherwise the graphics are great.

Sound: Mediocre, 5
Asian games that are brought into the United States usually have bad voice acting, and yes, this one does too. You know how it goes, voices are usually way too over the top, don't show enough emotion, or sentences just start to run into each other. Also, when a character moves their lips in a cutscene, the voice is totally out of sync with the lip movement. There are good aspects of the game's sound, the music is beautiful and when swords clash you get a realistic fight experience. The one thing that takes away the most is the fact that your samurai character DOESN'T TALK! I guess this helps because your voice plays in your head when you choose the sentences you want your samurai to say. Still it would've help is he spoke.

Control: Very Good, 8
The control in this game is the best aspect by far! The is one of the only categories that truly prevails and shows what the game's potential could have been. Combinations are usually a snap to pull off, the only thing about them though is they can be easy to pull off or a pain in the neck. Fighting is very easy and the ability to kill people as quickly as you can kill them is all because of the control. Also, while walking around the city you have no problem at all with the control.

Story: Good, 7
This is the story... You are a samurai in the late Edo period traveling to the small town of Amahara, Japan. You faint from your long travel and a girl takes you to a small spot with shade and saves your life. After that, it is up to you. You know the rules though, if I were to tell you any more of the story , the GameFAQs staff would have to kill me. But basically, you choose your own adventure.

Replayability: Mediocre, 5
As I mentioned before, the game is only about two hours but you can do the following to play your game to the maximum: you can collect all of the endings, other character models, and weapons. Besides that, there really is no replayability.

Overall: Okay, 6
In the end, the game has many problems that could have been fixed with a little more hard work. I am not recommending this game to buy or rent, but if you're really into samurai and Ancient Japan you might find this game interesting enough to rent. The lesson I learned after playing this game is this, "Advertisement can have a profound effect on what games you play, even if the games aren't good."

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/04