A teen with attitude … how unusual!
But Musashi is not a typical teen no
matter how you slice it and he does slice it well. Ninjaroids, vaporbots and
ripper bats (at least initially) don’t stand much of a chance when the teen
starts swinging that big oar around.
Square-Enix is the company behind
the PlayStation 2 action-adventure title, Musashi: Samurai Legend. The game
blends Japanese anime-style characterizations with some typical gameplay
elements, battles galore and some repetitious gameplay elements into a title
that, while offering not much new to the genre, still does a solid job of
entertaining.
The game begins with Princess
Mycella in a chamber, trying to summon a great warrior to the aid of her people.
She has no way of knowing if she is successful or not simply because during her
attempts, ninjaroids under the guidance of Rothschild Gandrake burst into the
room and kidnap her.
Gandrake runs a corporation bent on,
what else, conquering the world, and the people of Antheum (and the princess)
stand in the way.
In another part of the world, a
young teen and a cat (which is also his sensei) are working through some
exercises to acclimate the teen to fighting styles. All too soon, Musashi is off
to view the world, and invariably (Ok, it is a direct linear path) goes to
Antheum wherein he learns of the princess’s plight. She was looking for a hero,
or one who would become one, and Musashi believes himself to be a hero, so you
add the two equations up and the solution is this title.
The game tries to balance the
fighting elements with some other elements that still are fighting, but bring
out a little depth to the game. For example, at one point, Musashi must hop on a
motorcycle and avoid attacks. Remember the games where you avoided danger on a
two-dimensional screen by moving up, down, forward and back? Well, it is sort of
like that, except the graphics are much better and there is no back on the
motorcycle.
Musashi can also learn new skills
from the mobs he encounters. It is not enough to simply smack them around – not
when you can actually steal their best moves. This is known as duplicating, and
the actions are not without some risk. To duplicate a move, Musashi must lock
onto a target and then focus on it. This is very much reflexive in nature. The
mob attacks, Musashi focuses and when the focus bar is full, you tap the square
button to capture or learn the move. If the timing is off, it’s back to square
one and you start all over. Of course, the mob does not just stand there and let
you learn. It continually whacks on you and your health meter drops. It may
actually get to the point where you just kill the mob, heal and find another to
use.
Musashi does meet the princess early
on, and gets a decent amount of mocking from Rothschild, who promises to see him
later, presumably when he is more skilled. Doesn’t take a real genius to figure
out whom the ultimate boss battle will be with.
Each boss battle has its own
signature. Mobs react and behave differently, as well as having different moves
that you must counter. Movement is key, knowing when to charge to attack is also
vital. Of course, what would an arcade-style title be without power-ups dropped
by mobs, and stores to buy power-ups for replenishing health and mana. Musashi
also levels and can apply points to his attributes to become a more powerful
warrior.
The game itself is lushly rendered.
The characters are outlined in black so that they stand out from the
backgrounds, and while the environments are slightly repetitious, they still
look very nice.
The controls take some time to get
comfortable with, and the review version was the same used for the preview, so
there was some frame-rate slowdowns.
The puzzles are relatively simple,
and the game does have side missions in addition to the overall mission. Some of
the side missions are important simply because if you do rescue the people who
are trapped in bubbles, they can re-populate their shops and give Musashi
greater access to items.
The sound is a little on the average
side, with sub-average voice characterizations and music that can get a tad
irritating. But as the game is driven by chat bubbles, you can mute the
television if the sound does become a problem.
While Musashi: Samurai Legend does
not really offer a lot that is new to the genre, it would be unfair to dismiss
this title. There is a certain amount of charm, and the game is quite strong
graphically. And, of course, the game does offer challenge. This would be a
decent rental, if nothing else.
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Gameplay: 7.2
There is a bit of a learning curve, and the gameplay is linear, but the game is
pacing is nicely done and the blend between techno and fantasy is performed
admirably. However, there were some frame-rate slowdowns in the version
received.
Graphics: 7.8
Lush and nicely rendered, the game looks good, the animations are nice and the
special effects give the game its charm.
Sound: 6.8
The music can become irritating and the voice acting is sub-standard for the
genre.
Difficulty: Medium
The game does have challenge and the battles come at you fast and furious. Each
boss mob has a certain style and once you figure out how to overcome it, you can
take the measure of that boss.
Concept: 7.0
Not too much original here.
Overall: 7.1
This game does have some charm, but most of this is familiar ground.
