In an attempt to spice things up however, Gaming Republic saw fit to
implement a little bit of the Matrix formula into their game.
Yoshitsune and Benkei have an ability called Kamui which allows them to
see the moves of their opponents, basically slow down time. The more
Kamui that you use the slower your opponents will move, and as your
opponent draws near the square button will appear below your character
given them the opportunity at a one hit kill. Some monsters will also
drop special items that can be used for making new stronger weapons or
armor when you hit them with a Kamui attack. One of the pluses to the
combat system is how free it is, once you start attack an enemy you are
free to branch off and attack another enemy by moving the left analog
stick in the direction of your target and hitting one of the attack
buttons. However there isn’t a whole lot of variety to these attacks
which causes them to get old very fast. Couple this with the very small
variety of enemies that you will be fighting and you can see why I’m
rough on this game.
A heavy emphasis has been placed on exploration, Benkei and Yoshitsune
each have their own areas to explore but there are a few times where
their paths cross and you can check out areas that the other character
previously explored, this usually results in finding new items and
weapons. The amount of exploration isn’t a major focus but it is a nice
distraction from mowing down enemies.
I don’t know if this is to compensate for the weak game play but this
game is also awfully short. My first play through clocked in at just
under seven hours and that was with an hour on pause. The game consists
of three chapters the last of which is a rehash of a previous area only
with cosmetic changes. The story rushes along at a very brisk pace and
has a few detours, but it is over very quickly, and a lot of the
characters in the story seem to just, blink out of existence, this left
the game feeling very incomplete to me. The PS3 sequel that is due will
hopefully elaborate more on the story. Also the opening cinema made it
seem like there was more than one general fighting for the Heishi,
hopefully more generals will be introduced in the future. In terms of
extras there really isn’t a whole lot that this game has going for it,
a voice collection, harder difficulty, and the option to play the game
with the last clear data, very bare bones with nothing that makes me
want to play through again.
After completing Genji: Dawn of the Samurai I came away feeling like
the game was way too short, but perfect for the weekend. If you’ve got
a weekend to kill then I really could not think of a better game, even
with the flaws present in the game. The look and feel of the game is
what draws you in but ultimately it is the shallow game play that makes
the game a slight chore to play, coupled with the lack of extra content
and you have a game that really is over before it feels like it should
be over. Eventually this game will reach Greatest Hits status and at
that point I would highly recommend picking it up, but at forty bones
there are a few other games you can pick up that offer a bit more
robust an experience.
C+ | A fun, flawed and very short game that would be a perfect weekend rental. |
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