Afro Samurai

"Fun, interesting, needs work."

I am a big fan of the Afro samurai series. That said, for that reason alone, it made the game worth renting. The story line is not quite the same as the mini-series. Same characters, but the plot has been tweaked here and there. Samuel Jackson does a great job in this game, and keeps the game feeling like the show. The music was good, but could use some more variety at times and the game is beautiful.
All in all, worth the rental.

Gameplay 5/10

The combat system is what I found to be the most interesting part of the game. Very rhythmic, methodical fighting. Afro's blade cuts down pretty much anything in its path, and the subtle control makes the surgical dismemberment of Afro's enemies an art. Afro's enemies are not the brightest, and at times I felt sad, for it was too easy. The A.I. is predictable, and once you have learned how to play, Afro is unstoppable. Ninja-ninjas body part poker makes up for the simplicity of the A.I. and just makes it fun to dismember people in all sorts of fun ways. (Wherever the sword goes, a cut is made into the enemy. So a little bit of torso might have slipped off when you were going for that arm.)

Now the big problem I had with the game, level layout and design. The maps are a maze, and the only help you get is from ninja ninja. Now, if these maps were more straight forward, this wouldn't be bad, but there are a few chapters in the game that were far too punishing, drawn out and boring. A challenge should not feel unimportant, and many times in this game I felt certain moments were far too tricky to be placed so far into a checkpoint, without having a chance to save. This just eats up time, all the moments before the tricky one are so easy, but one false move and your progress will be lost and you must restart from the last checkpoint. This made for a couple frustratingly boring hours of play that could have been avoided with an extra checkpoint or two. (Or better yet, a manual save option).

Graphics/Sound 8/10
Samuel Jackson is great in the game. The music is good as well, but I'm not the biggest fan of "Hip hop". The look of this game fits right into the show. Despite a couple laggy moments, the game is fluidic and beautiful. The characters are well modeled and move very nicely. The blood spills out of open wounds like a waterfall, the body parts fly realistically through the air etc. Very satisfying death animations (squirming, writhing on the ground).

Replay value ?
Not too sure. This would be worth buying if you are a fan of the series, video games etc, but the $70 price tag keeps me away.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/09

Game Release: Afro Samurai (US, 01/27/09)