Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale

"A Casual Otaku's View of This Game"

Let me start off by saying that I'm reviewing this game as a fighting game, so read the review from that perspective.

Most anime to game conversions are horrible. Licenses are generally issued to game producers to make money for the franchise with little regard to the gameplay. Fortunately, Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale does not fall into that category. The game is actually serviceable. It is, however, not quite as refined as other fighting games.

Graphics
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Since this game is based on Rumiko Takahashi's manga and anime series, the game uses the same imagery. The graphics in general are very colorful, bright, and most importantly faithful to the franchise. The non-battle graphics (used in character selection, menu selection, cutscenes, and loading screens) are high quality. There is even a photo gallery you can unlock so you can view those high quality graphics. This is a Inuyasha fan's dream.

There is an opening movie for this game (displaying various action scenes of the characters), but the Playstation's MPEG compression really shot the resolution to heck.

In-battle graphics are great, but not without faults. Backgrounds are colorful, representing the manga and anime background very well. There is limited animation in the background, but there is basic use of lighting and shadowing, which I wasn't expecting out of this title. The character sprites are recognizeable, but I felt they were pixelated more than they needed to be. This pixelation is noticeable when the game zooms in for a throw attack. Games like Street Fighter Alpha 3 have better resolution than this.

Music
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The music is cinematic and ambient. I have no idea if the music is from the anime. I thought the music was Redbook, but when I placed the game into the CD player, there was only 1 track. The music is crisp and clear, which is why I thought it was Redbook. This game makes excellent use of compressed audio.

Sound
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The sound effects are decent. Most of the sounds are acceptable. There wasn't anything that sounds unrealistic or uncharacteristic for the anime. Nothing to write home about though.

Gameplay - Fighting Engine
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The control layout is simple: A weak attack button, a strong attack button, a counter guard button, and a special move button. This game controls are incredibly easy to learn. People not used to playing fightnig games should have little problem playing. This was probably the intention when Bandai made this game: to make the game accessible to more people.

Controls are responsive, but not always precise (see combos below).

There is dashing and air dashing, but not all characters can air dash. Strangely missing is a backwards air dash. All characters that can air dash will dash forward. When you hit the backward dash button in the air, you go *forward*. I don't like this aspect. If I want to flee from my opponent, but I am in the air, I would like to air dash backward. Instead, I have to air dash backward on the ground.

The counter guard is used like other fighting games: repel the incoming attack and cause the opponent to be vulnerable to a counter attack. The counter guard is great for deflecting one-time attacks. According to the manual, you are supposed to be able to counter guard combos, but I haven't been able to pull this off consistently. The computer can do a 8 hit combo, and I haven't found any timing to let me escape it consistently. It feels a bit random, which is bad for fighting games, since they need precise controls. Unless the computer alters its timing for combos, a counter guard is difficult to pull off. I've been able to pull Alpha Counters from the Street Fighter Alpha series and the Burst from Guilty Gear XX with no problem, but the counter guard in this game seems not to be refined sufficiently.

To allow novices to play well, the game introduces Yasha combos. Yasha combos allow the player to chain attacks for a combo by pressing the attack buttons successively. Most people can get 4 hits easily, but to chain more requires some timing. The timing is a bit odd. I often find myself pressing the attack buttons quickly and ahead of what I see on the screen. In other words, I'm feel as if I'm one attack ahead of the on-screen action, which is an odd feeling.

Because of the automatic comboing, I wish there was a cancelling maneuver. There were times I wanted to break my own combo, because I was being blocked and I knew I was setting myself up for a beating. The automatic comboing just causes you to keep going.

As for character balance, this game isn't very well balanced. There are several ways to cheese an opponent and some characters received very limiting special moves. Sango, who is a demon slayer, received moves with long wind-ups and recovery times, making her not feel like a top-notch demon slayer. The A.I. is really weird too. For example, Sango's boomerang special attack has a huge recovery time (she is stuck in the throwing frame until she is hit or the boomerang comes back). The AI will block the boomerang but wait until the boomerang comes back before moving. When I fight A.I. Sango, I block this boomerang, but I can continue to attack Sango while she waits for her boomerang to come back.

If Sango was given those type of moves, I'll take Taki from Soul Calibur instead. Special moves can have wind-ups and recovery times, but the ones in this game do not seem to be refined.

The most interesting premise is that you start off being able to select from 2 characters. You have to play through the Feudal Fairy Tale (Story Mode) and collect shards to unlock additional characters. The design of this sounds like it would appeal to anime fans. Most fighting games start off with some character and unlock a few extra. There are 2 extra characters above the default set you unlock.

Given the game's setting, if only Bandai used a Samurai Shodown fighting engine, that would have been sweet.

Replay Value
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There is a photo album and music collection, where you can unlock high quality images and the games music, so that will keep people busy if they wish to ''catch them all.''

Once you unlock all the characters, you can try out all the characters.

After you've gotten everything, you can use it for group gatherings.

Once you unlock everything, I don't think there is much more replay value other than playing with human players.

Conclusion
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The game is priced at $20 retail.

If you're not looking for a deep fighting game, this game can be enjoyed by many. I fully expect to see this game in game rooms at anime convention.

If you like Inuyasha, this is a no brainer: buy.

If you are a fighting game fan, this is probably not for you. I don't recommend spending even $20. $20 is half the cost for other deeper fighting games. Save your money for those.

For fighting game fans, the score would probably be 6-7.
For Inuysaha fans, the score would probably be 9-10.

I feel Bandai could have worked on this game a bit more to make it really outstanding. Well, at least the game is playable.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/19/03, Updated 04/19/03