Musashi: Samurai Legend

"Great Action RPG For PS2."

Musashi Samurai Legend is the sequel to the 7 year old PS1 game known as Brave Fencer Musashi. Though it's not a direct sequel and you won't be seeing any returning characters, this game doesn't deny the fact that the story of BFM actually happened. Now lets move on to my review of Musashi Samurai Legend.

Story (8/10)

The story of this game is that there is an evil corporation called Gandrake corporation that has built a engine called the Nebulium Engine. This engine was built so that Gandrake the leader of this corporation could find more efficient forms of energy. To get the engine to work he needs the help of the mystics which are a race of people with the gift of magic. These people live in a flying whale type creature called the Anthedon and they call thier city Antheum.
The people were protected by the creature but Gandrake's goons were able to get inside and they kidnapped the princess Mycella. When Mycella saw that they were coming for her she used her magical powers to summon a warrior from another dimension. She was kidnapped after performing the summon and did not know if it had worked. The spell did succeed and Musashi was summoned. A martial arts master named Mew found him unconcious in a forest and helped him get better. He told Musashi of what he had to do to get home which was that he had to find the 5 elemental swords of Earth, Fire, Water, Wind and Void and rescue Mycella, the elemental maidens and put an end to the evil Gandrake.

Gameplay (9/10)

The gameplay in Musashi Samurai Legend is standard hack and slash but with fun elements thrown in. During the course of the game Musashi will find 5 swords each with special abilities that allow him to perform new attacks. Musashi Also has a Katana which can be upgraded during the course of the game. Musashi's combo limit is 5 so in the beginning of the game it might become a little repetitive but as you move further into the game you will be able to learn new attacks and defensive moves that help vary the gameplay a little. Similar to it's predecessor, this game allows you to learn attacks which your enemies use but what's different in this game is that once you learn them you keep them forever. You learn these moves by using duplication which is tought early in the game. Almost every enemy has a move to learn and some are very tricky to get. To learn these moves you must lock onto your enemies and charge your focus gauge which is a blue gauge in the top left. Once it is filled you must wait for the enemy to attack with the desired attack and press square when a "!" appears. There is a great variety in the moves and quite a few different kinds. There is a new system in this game called the carrying system. Basically it allows you to fight while carrying enemies or allies. For example if Musashi grabs an enemy he can attack others with the enemy in hand or destroy him with a slash or jump kick. When you have an ally in hand you can press circle to toss them into the are and press square to do a spin attack and remove enemies trying to attack you. Besides fighting there are also two vehicle mini games in MSL. One which is the Motorcycle mini game is VERY similar to the mini game that is in Final Fantasy 7. Depending on how well you do you will recieve money. The other mini game is a hoverboard mini game with a similar style. When you don't want to fight or ride vehicles you can do some of the games side quests such as rescuing the 28 missing Antheum residents trapped inside blue orbs around the world or you can collect the 100+ cards that are similar to the action figures from the first game. There is also an Arena where you can fight for prizes and an inventor that can invent stuff from things you bring him. Overall there is quite alot of gameplay in this game.

Controls (10/10)

The controls in this game are spot on. They work how you would expect them to work and the manual camera control with the right stick is great. Although some people complain about the camera during bosses, it can easily be fixed with the press of the R3 button. Jumping is easy and there is no delay in the controls.

Graphics (9/10)

The graphics in this game are pretty impressive. Square-enix has moved from their usual graphic styles to a new style called "manga shading". This creates a sort of manga stlye art that looks very fresh and great in motion. The environments are very detailed and very well done. The character movements are pretty plain except for in battles and it would be nice to see lip movement during speech even though they were going for a manga style approach.

Sound (8/10)

The music and sound in this game are great. The music from the Japanese rock band "Surfcoasters" is very refreshing and fits in well with the atmosphere. The other scores in the game are very well done and i'm very impressed with the feel of the Antheum thanks to it's theme music. The voices retain their wacky style from the first game although Musashi's could have been alot better and sometimes his voice just seems out of place like when you first reach Nebulium tower near the beginning.

Replay Value

There is quite a few sidequests and the game has a hard mode once you beat it once. The good thing is you keep your cards from the first run through so the extra money wasting isn't necessary. This game is good both times through.

Rent or Buy

I would say Buy if your a fan of action rpg's like Dark Cloud and Zelda. If your looking for an action game go get DMC3 of God of War but take it from me this game definately does not disappoint.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/22/05, Updated 03/22/05