Samurai Western
Score: 90% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Atlus Developer: Acquire Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action/ RPG
Graphics & Sound: Samurai Western takes the Bushido Master, Kiryu Goujiro, out of his homeland and into the wild west where he must dodge bullets, and tear up outlaws in search of his older brother. Samurai Western can be compared to the Jackie Chan movie Shanghai Noon, except with less comedy, and more blood and swordplay. Samurai Western is visually stunning. The characters are smooth and clean. Each of the enemies, though similar, are different enough that you can tell what kind of attacks they will bring out. For instance, even though the knife-throwing enemy wears the same drab, dusty clothes as the normal six-shooters, the way the character walks and holds himself makes him easily identifiable. This is great when trying to make split second decisions about which baddie to go after next. Outside of the characters themselves, the levels and visual effects are also something to be admired. Each level is large and open-ended enough to keep you from feeling like you are being corralled in a certain direction (whether you are or not). As you dodge, dash and slice past enemies, you will also get to see some of the nice visual touches the developers have put into this game. A lot of the time, these effects are to emphasize how fast Kiryu is moving around. When dodging bullets and knives, you will see after-images of where your character was, or if you grabbed a pickup that makes you quicker, you will see streamlines flying off of your shoulders, legs and head. The music and sound of Samurai Western also goes a long way in setting the game's mood. The background music's twangy vibe and the other various subtle background noises have the distinct feel of coming out of the Old West. Between these features and voice acting, I felt like I was on the Western frontier.
Gameplay: Samurai Western is the third part in the The Way of the Samurai series developed by Acquire. Kiryu comes to the states looking for his brother. The game picks up when he wanders into a dusty town and finds a wanted poster with his face on it. Now Kiryu will take it upon himself to defeat any outlaws that stand between he and his older sibling. Samurai Western is broken up into 16 different missions consisting of either taking down a bunch of henchmen or taking down a boss (who is usually surrounded by a bunch of henchmen). You will fight on the barren streets, inside buildings and through ghost towns and cemeteries, all the while earning points that will let you level up and customize your character as you see fit. As you level up (and become a better Bushido warrior), you will unlock up to 20 different swords -- each with their own benefits and drawbacks. Some swords are one-handed and while this lets you maneuver more quickly or double jump, you have less power in your attacks. Meanwhile, other swords require you to put all of your weight behind your attacks, making you move slower, but each hit counts more. You will also collect 70 accessories like hats, lassos and jackets. These accessories add (or take away from) your HP, MP, Attack and Defense. Between levels, you can also apply points you earned on a mission to your various stats. It is also between missions that you select the accessories and weapons you wish to use during that level. Each level also has a high-score counter on it -- and that's where a lot of Samurai Western's replay value comes in. You probably won't get past the preset value your first time through a level since the calculation takes kills, time and even damage incurred (as a minus) into account. But going back later and playing through a level with a different combination of weapons and accessories might net you enough points to get the job done. But Kiryu is more than just a master swordsman, he is a Bushido Master, and with that title comes some impressive special abilities (besides dodging and reflecting bullets, that is). When your character has done enough damage to fill up his MP gauge, he will be able to go into an Ultimate Combo mode that all but guarantees you one-hit kills (the only real exceptions being the bosses). Samurai Western also lets you call on a friend to help you clean up the streets. Player 2 takes control of the good-intentioned gun-slinger in the story, but even though the game doesn't ramp up the difficulty -- it won't make the game any easier. Instead of being a help, Ralph can actually be a hindrance. Typically your gun-toting partner will have less health and maneuverability than you, and when he dies, it's game over for you as well. In order to keep the two of you alive, you will have to communicate and back each other up.
Difficulty: Samurai Western might seem like an easy game at first, at least that's what I thought when I ran through the first quarter of the game without dying. But when you really get into it and then later go back to the levels to try to beat the high-scores -- it can be a challenge. In the typical levels, you will just be running from room to room (or street to street) mowing down anything that moves. There will be a lot of times when you will be horribly out-numbered and out-gunned. I found that there were plenty of times when the only way to actually move anywhere was to rapidly press the dodge button because of all of the bullets flying by me. So, to put it simply, Samurai Western starts off fairly easy to draw you in, but it isn't too long before the difficulty ramps up.
Game Mechanics: Kiryu only has one weapon at his disposal, and because of this, the mechanics of Samurai Western are a little different than your average action game. Instead of having dozens of guns that each have a different effect and allowing you to switch between them anytime you please, you have to choose his weapon (essentially his sword style) before each level and stick with those effects until you return to the pre-level setup screen. These effects range from powerful attacks that will toss your enemies into the air to stances that keep you low to the ground and hard to hit. These differences, along with the games' accessory and power level customizability are what makes it easy for most people to find a character they can deal with easily. Samurai Western is a game that is pretty well balanced between too short and too long. The 10 or so hours of gameplay (not including going back and trying to unlock all of the items), coupled with the fact that the missions are short enough to just pick the game up for a few minutes and actually accomplish something, makes this action RPG good for just about anyone.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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