"A Legendary Waste of Time and Talent"

Throughout the entirety of Samurai Legend Musashi, there is a distinct feeling that something is lacking -- as if it's all a little too simplistic for a Square Enix action RPG. In my playthrough of the game, I tried to remain hopeful that Musashi would eventually drop the other shoe and finally let me into the true game experience that seemed to be hinted at after every step. Sadly, despite what at first looked like a promising and involving adventure, the game never lived up to that potential. Considering what quality action RPGs Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft) has been capable of producing in the past -- the comparable yet vastly superior Kingdom Hearts comes to mind, as do titles from the effervescent Mana series -- this latest entry into familiar territory is surprisingly disappointing.

GRAPHICS: VERY GOOD
Let's start with what is obviously the aspect that everybody's going to notice first, and for good reason -- creating impressive visuals is actually one of the very few things that this game does well. The characters, environments and effects are lively and colorful, and drawn fittingly in a cartoony style that Square Enix has dubbed "manga shading." Of course, this technique is not much different from the "cell shading" fad that has caught on in so many other games these days, but at least it's pulled off well here, and it suits the tone and character of the game. Animation is smooth for the most part, excluding a handful of negligible instances where the frame rate dropped when there were too many enemies on the screen.

It's a very pretty game, certainly. It actually angered me somewhat that graphical talent of this quality was wasted on a game of such minimal depth. But you know what they say about beauty -- it fades, and it's only skin deep. Yes, this "cell shading" thing is nice to look at, but that doesn't make the game worth playing. That will be doubly true in five to ten years' time.

STORY/PLOT: SHAMEFUL
The story of Samurai Legend Musashi revolves around some insipid nonsense about a group of happy village people -- the Mystics -- who are being oppressed by the ridiculously evil Gandrake corporation, who is evil for no real reason other than it is an evil corporation. In a desperate plea for help, Princess Mycella casts a spell to summon a brave warrior from another world, who will aide them in their time of need. Enter Musashi, the latest in a long line of generic and uninteresting RPG heroes, who rest assured has no story or purpose in this game but is nonetheless ready to lay down his life in the fight to stop whatever it is that the evil Gandrake is up to. He accomplishes this by traversing five elemental-themed levels, rescuing five mystical Maidens, and obtaining their five swords.

And that, I'm sorry to say, is the best storytelling you'll ever find in this entire game. One would expect the plot to thicken eventually, but it never does. The whole of the game is pretty much just getting through each level and rescuing the Maidens, then getting a sword that gives you a new power that will undoubtedly be useful in the next level. I'd really like to comment on character development, creative plot devices -- heck, even a glimpse into why Musashi is doing any of this, or what his original home world is like. But none of that can be found here.

The best one can hope for is a terrible, unsatisfying conclusion at the game's end. I won't give away any plot details of course, but I will say that there is utterly no reward at all for beating the game, and you will be completely disappointed after the ending credits. I found myself shaking my head upon witnessing the final "The End" screen, and saying to myself "What a waste of time that all was..."

That said, the dialogue is actually very well written, in that it is as stylish and full of character as the graphics -- there are even rare cases of genuinely funny lines here and there. It's just too bad that the writers didn't really have anything worthwhile to write about.

GAMEPLAY: MOSTLY SATISFACTORY
When one plays an Action RPG, one expects to get the best of both worlds -- the depth of characterization, story, and exploration of an RPG, as well as the fun, intensity, and well-crafted and balanced challenge of an action title. Instead, Samurai Legend Musashi represents only a thin husk of either genre, with formulaic gameplay that quickly becomes tedious.

Basically, you will spend most of your time running around in the typically-themed levels -- Forest, Mine, Volcano, Jungle, and Temple -- just swinging away at whatever baddies happen to cross swords with you. It's simple, and for the most part it is pretty fun -- but I've always said, it's hard to screw up an Action RPG. At the end of each level, you rescue one of the Maidens, who later gives you a new sword. Sometimes the order of these events will be switched around, or you'll have to backtrack to other sections of old levels. Anyhow, if you've played one level, you've played them all.

There are a handful of puzzles, but none of them are any more complex than "stomping makes a switch go down" or "water puts out fire." I suppose if this was the first game you've ever played in your life, those might count as decent puzzles -- but really, it's about as cliche as it gets today.

There is a gameplay gimmick in this game where Musashi can "duplicate" enemy skills, effectively learning new abilities by holding R1 and hitting the attack button at a critical point during an incoming attack. However, most of these are useless combat maneuvers that aren't really any more powerful than the regular "mash the attack button as much as possible" staple. Later on there is a Counterattack ability that is great fun to use, but other than that you'll just be slashing at enemies haphazardly, and it will work just fine.

Some of the high points in terms of battles are the epic boss encounters, which are challenging and unique. However, even they can be greatly simplified by learning each boss's patterns and attacking when the moment is right. As long as you don't play through the game more than once, they're great fun.

Outside of the main levels is Antheum, the village of the Mystics that is contained within a giant, whalelike creature that soars above the world (it sounds cool, but adds nothing to the game). As you rescue more and more Mystics, who are imprisoned within the levels, they serve various functions within the village. Many of them will open shops and the like, which will give you false hope that something better and far more complex is just around the corner. However, it will soon become apparent that most of the items in the game serve no real purpose other than to be sold for money (and by the way, the symbol for the game's currency is a Japanese character that looks remarkably like the number 3, making item prices a chore to read).

With all the different stores that open in Antheum, I figured something quite substantial was slowly building around me -- but no, it was all there for show, most of it completely useless. The healing items you buy at the Bakery and Sushi shops, for example, both heal the exact same amount of Hit Points, and cost the same amount. Why have them both? I just don't know. There is no reason.

There is an Item store where you can purchase new equipment, but nothing you can buy there is worth the money, or will even give you a worthwhile stat boost anyway. There's also an Invention shop, an Ice Cream stand, a preschool, a Diner, a Nightclub, a battle Arena, a Smithy, etc. But none of them really serve any useful function, and when they do, it's negligible.

Levelling up by pounding the tar out of lots of enemies is the best way -- really, the only way -- of becoming stronger in this game. The rest is just there to make the game look like more than it is. That's what is so aggravating about Samurai Legend Musashi -- for all the characters and shops they have, there's nothing to do. If they'd only expanded on what was already there, and invested a little more time into the game's world, it could have been something great.

There aren't even any worthy secrets or sidequests, save for a few minor instances where you might win a useless item or some money. For example, near the end of the game, you can go find some mushrooms in the forest, and win an item from somebody that will make Earth magic cost 1/2 the MP. I never once equipped that item. I say this not to prove myself as some kind of game master, only to point out that almost all the equipment in the game is useless, at any given time.

I suppose it's also worth mentioning that the game has a few "bonus rounds," which were basically ripped straight from Final Fantasy VII's motorcycle chase sequence. But, like everything else in the game that could have been expanded upon, it serves no purpose other than a semi-fun break in the monotony, and to win some extra money that will never buy anything good.

CONTROL: SOMEWHAT DECENT
As I stated earlier, you pretty much just mash one button to whack the enemies, and that's as complex as it gets, besides some timed button-press moves that unleash counterattacks. There is a Jump button, a Special Attack button, a Defend button, etc. It's all pretty basic controller fare, and is fairly intuitive.

Problems arise, however, when you get Musashi going on his combo attack -- a standard string of sword slashes that he does automatically if you push the Attack button a certain amount of times really fast. Once he gets going, he doesn't seem to want to stop, and more often than not he'll kill the enemy he was fighting and start slashing away at thin air, while you're left helpless for a few seconds, just watching him go crazy. This is usually when some other enemy decides to charge you from the side or back, and there's really nothing you can do to defend against it. I'd wager a good 30% to 40% of the hits I took in this game were due to lack of control, but I managed to get through it anyhow, so it wasn't a big deal. Just kind of annoying.

Another annoying thing is that the Action button used for opening chests and doors is also the jump button. It's not uncommon to jump in front of a door a couple times instead of opening it and walking through. So, if Square Enix is content to allow these sort of annoyances to slide in a finished product, I question their wisdom.

The camera is fully controllable at almost all times, which is appreciated, but the unnecessary lack of a true First Person view is unsettling, and leaves strange half-transparent walls and characters obscuring your view of the otherwise beautiful surroundings.

MUSIC: MOSTLY AVERAGE, SOME WONDERFUL
A lot of what was composed for this game is the definition of "background music" -- something I like to think should be discouraged in an industry like videogames, which is always struggling to justify itself as a legitimate artform. Don't get me wrong, it's nice most of the time, and each level's little ditties suit the environments -- but it's mostly forgettable, and not worth actively listening to. One notable exception is the music for the volcano level, Mount Terroir -- at once ambient, melodic, and emotive, but also engaging with its solo-worthy electric guitar performance.

But, level background music aside, the scenario and story music is exquisite, in particular the themes composed for each of the five Maidens, as well as the ending credits medley. The creative influence of SaGa series composer Masashi Hamauzu is welcome here, but the scenario music is in harsh contrast to the bland remainder of the soundtrack, which I would guess is mostly thanks to the game's other composer, Junya Nakano (FFX). Aside from a few exceptions, the soundtrack is mostly nothing to write home about.

SOUND: DISGUSTING AND OFFENSIVE
It's really a sad state of affairs when the player has a better grasp on how the dialogue should have been performed than the professional voice actors apparently did. I personally have a high tolerance for poor voice acting, but even so, I found that around 95% of the voice work in this game is dreadful beyond reason. It's obvious much of the time that the actors are trying to do an impression of some accent or racial/cultural stereotype that they've never even heard of. As a result, each character has a voice and way of speaking that is unique to them, but which is also performed horribly wrong.

For example, Musashi himself has lines and theme music that suggest he is a Californian "surfer dude" character, but for the life of the actor, he just can't seem to get it across. It's like somebody tried to explain the basic principles of how to talk to this guy, but he just didn't know what he was saying, and was reading it all phonetically -- and there's no concept of sentence structure or dramatic emphasis on certain words or syllables. I don't think it's too much to ask these days that an English voice actor should both speak fluent English and know how to act, is it?

Anyhow, the same problem holds true for almost every character. There's even one who is supposedly trying to sound Australian, but the accent just plain fades out every once in a while. I know it's a silly game with silly voices, but the actors should still take their work seriously.

Even technically, the voices are poorly integrated. There are times when the audio files for the voices have been split in questionable places, resulting in large gaps of silence in the middle of a sentence.

Aside from the voices, there's nothing really special about the sound. It's just your average "slash noises," "explosion noises," and "every time the hero swings his sword, he shouts 'Ha!' for some reason."

DEFINING MOMENT
I don't think I'm spoiling the plot by saying this... Alright, so a major part of the style of this game is meant to be influenced by the "surfer rock" guitar music that is peppered throughout the soundtrack (think of that "Wipeout" song, and you'll get the idea). This is also bolstered by the fact that Musashi sort of talks like a stereotypical surfer most of the time, and refers to his feline martial arts teacher as "Whisker Dude." What better way to reinforce this atmosphere than with a fast-paced surfing sequence at the end of it all!

Naturally, in order to get to the villain's island lair, Musashi has to obtain a rocket-powered surfboard called a Jet Board. Obtaining this vehicle is accomplished by completing the "puzzle" of simply talking to someone who gives it to you. Once he gets the Jet Board, the surf guitar music plays, and we see Musashi riding the waves at a bajillion miles per hour, jumping around and doing tricks and such. "Oh boy!" we think, "Time for another fun racing level, where we battle surfing ninjas or something! Right?" Wrong. There is no surfing level. We just see him zoom his way to the island, and that's the end of that. Extremely disappointing. It feels like there was supposed to be something really great in there, but it got cut out late in development due to time or budget constraints. This feeling pretty much sums up all of Samurai Legend Musashi.

CLOSING COMMENTS
This game could have been so much better than it is. It's quite short, but it feels like a very long chore of a game, simply because it's so monotonous. It's just a lot of slicing and dicing of enemies, most of which are generic ninja robots of various colors, depending on what level you're in. The game has maybe 25 or so enemies, and a lot of them are palette-swaps of the same model.

Despite it lacking so much, it still seems like a lot of care went into the creation of the graphics, some of the music, and at least the basic idea of the ability and character systems. But, any complexities that might have been are only hinted at.

All in all, Samurai Legend Musashi is a waste. A waste of good artistic talent, a waste of some solid design concepts that should have been pushed further, and certainly a waste of the player's time and money. Square Enix could have done better if they really wanted to, but they just didn't feel like investing the necessary care and effort. Do yourself and the game industry a service, and overlook this unfinished game completely.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/05/05