Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask

"Much better than I expected."

InuYasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask review
MetaRidley001

I've waited for this game for what seems like an eternity, and now that it's finally out, there are a few things I'd like to say about it. First off, InuYasha is an excellent series. I know the story kind of drags on, but the characters always make it interesting. Naturally, as a fan of the series, I was delighted to see another InuYasha game coming to the US. InuYasha: Secret of the Cursed Mask is a traditional turn-based RPG from Bandai. Before this game was released, there was much disagreement on whether it was going to be any good. As you are well aware, 99% of most licensed games turn out to be very bad. I am glad to say that is not the case with this game. It has some flaws, but overall it is a solid game.

Story: 9/10

InuYasha: SOCTM begins by introducing a new character. This character can be either male or female, depending on your preference. These characters were created specially for the game by the series' creator, Rumiko Takahashi. Your character is transported back to Feudal Japan through a mysterious portal in the family storehouse. After being accosted by demons, he/she awakens to find InuYasha standing over them. He/she joins InuYasha and his friends in order to find a way back to the present day.

This game seems to have been specifically created to cater to fans of the series. If you have never seen the InuYasha anime, you will be completely lost. If you are a fan, however, you'll be happy to know that the game jumps right into the new and original story line. This means that you won't be bombarded with constant flashbacks and retellings of past events (something that the anime seems to do every other episode!). The only time past happenings are mentioned is when it's necessary for InuYasha and his gang to clue the new character in on current events.

The new story is interesting enough to grab the attention of any fan of InuYasha. This adventure takes the group to some familiar locations, like Kaede's Village and Naraku's castle, as well as new locations not seen in the series. The overall storyline is excellent, and will hold your attention all the way to the end.

Game play: 7/10

InuYasha; SOCTM is a turn-based role playing game. Your characters stand on one side, the enemy stands on the other, and you take turns attacking. The battle system in this game is very basic. There is a circular meter in the top, right hand corner of the screen showing pictures of your characters and the enemy. When a characters picture reaches the front of the circle, they can act. The pictures move around the circle faster or slower depending on the speed rating of the character. Characters have a standard attack command, which delivers a physical attack to the enemy. In addition to the regular attack, characters also have Tech Skills which can be used for a variety of effects. There are three kinds of tech skills: Regular Tech, Special Tech, and Co-Op Tech. Regular Tech does not require energy to use. Special tech requires energy. Each character can have three units of energy maximum (energy is gained when you attack or receive damage). Special techs for the characters come straight from the show, so InuYasha has the Wind Scar; Miroku uses the Wind Tunnel, etc. Co-Op tech also requires energy. This is when you team up with another member of your group for a powerful attack. In the game, these attacks are accompanied by impressive anime footage of the two characters attacking together. For example, if you have InuYasha and Kagome do a Co-Op tech, an animation appears showing Kagome fire an arrow, and InuYasha charges in after it hitting the enemy for a great amount of damage. You also have Defend, Item, and Flee commands. The battles tend to be on the easy side, especially since you control all six of your characters at once. Six characters is a lot for a standard RPG, and sometimes it seems like overkill because you will face a maximum of four enemies at a time.

The battle system is adequate, but it has one major flaw: it's VERY slow. Every button press has a one second lag. I know one second doesn't sound like much, but when you're fighting a lot of random battles, it can get a little frustrating when they take longer than they have to. It also seems that random battles fluctuate wildly. Sometimes you don't encounter a battle for several screens, and then you're getting attacked every few steps. Also, the level design is confusing. Many of the locations simply look the same. It's difficult to make your way through a maze-like castle when all the corridors look the same. That being said, the pros of the game play do outweigh the cons, so the few flaws the game has will not ruin the overall experience.

In between major events, you are given the chance to “take the day off” (as Myoga puts it). This allows you to choose one character to spend the day with: InuYasha, Kagome, Shippo, Miroku, or Sango. When you make your choice you're treated to a cut-scene of the main character spending some quality time with the chosen person. The purpose of this is to gain a stronger relationship with that character. This, in turn, speeds up the process of learning the Co-Op tech with that character. It also deepens the two characters personal relationship and affects which ending you will get. This adds to the characterization and gives the main character more personality. This feature definitely adds more enjoyment to the game.

Graphics: 6/10

This is one category where the game could use some heavy improvement. The in-game graphics for the characters are “chibi”, meaning that they have big heads and short bodies. This gives them a doll-like appearance that is rather comical. I suppose this graphical style was chosen because of time or budget constraints (a major reason why most licensed games suck). When you look at games like Veiwtiful Joe, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Dragonball Z: Budokai 3, there is no reason why this game couldn't have cel-shaded graphics. If more time and effort was put into the graphics, this game could have looked spectacular, like you were playing the anime. Alas, the game is what it is. The graphics are not horrible, but they certainly won't be winning any awards.
There are also animated scenes of the characters talking to you. These pictures are true to the style of the anime, but they don't have much in the way of movement. For example, when InuYasha is talking, a large picture of him appears on screen, and the lips and eyes move, but not much else. It's certainly not bad, and it looks better than if there were just the in-game character models, but a little more animation would have been better.

Sound: 10/10

Before this game came out I read that it was going to have voice acting by the English Dub cast. I figured they would appear in short anime cut-scenes, and that the bulk of the dialogue would be conveyed by simple on-screen text. These presumptions did not prepare me for the actual game. Every line of dialogue in the game that involves the main characters is spoken. Every time InuYasha says something, he actually SAYS it. Same goes for every other character in your group, not to mention supporting characters such as Koga and Sessshomaru. I was astounded by the quality and quantity of the voice acting in this game. The actors all do a terrific job, and perform their characters with the same skill they do when they voice the anime. I guess the only thing that may turn some fans off is the fact that you can't choose to have the voices in Japanese. Only the English Dub appears in this game. This is fine by me, because the English dub doesn't bother me a bit, but if you hate the English dub they you will be sorely disappointed.
The music in this game is nothing special. There are some familiar pieces from the show, as well as some new music. Most forest areas (and there are a lot of forest areas) don't even have music, just a soundtrack of wind and bird noises. Overall, the soundtrack is adequate for setting the mood of the game.

Replay Value: 9/10

Okay, you get to choose from two characters. The ending you get depends on which character you spend you days off with. So there are 10 different endings. That should keep you playing for quite some time if you want to see them all. On my first time through, it took me about 25 hours to finish this game (that was without spending too much time leveling my characters). When you finish the game, you get the chance to save your data, and when you start a new game you can retain all your stats. It is much easier to start over when your characters are all level 30 from the get-go. I imagine this feature was added to make it easier and quicker to see the endings you missed the first time. There are also random events that happen at certain points in the game. There are about 10 events and you can only do 3 in one game, so this gives you another incentive to replay the game. Playing through also unlocks some extra features like an image gallery, and an archive of cut-scenes from the game.

Final Thoughts:

If you are a fan of InuYasha (and don't mind the English dub), get this game. You'll get plenty of enjoyment out of it (and don't forget, it's only $39.99 new!). If you are a casual fan of the series I would still recommend it, but you may need to watch the anime more to fully understand some of the events. If you've never seen InuYasha (in which case, you're probably not reading this) either get familiar with the series first, or look for another RPG.

Final Score (not an average): 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04