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Well, Bryan and I randomly decided to go to
Blockbuster yesterday (I hate Blockbuster, their prices are
about two inches shy of extortion), yesterday being Saturday the
29th (I didnt even realize it was the end of the month and I have an
article due), rather than go watch Kenshin (Kenshin is soooo cool. You should go watch it. Now. All 40
hours of it.) So anyway, I *wanted* to rent Devil May Cry, just because it looks really cool,
but they were out. In fact, they were out of every single game I would have liked to have
rented. For some reason though, some lady from the corporate office was there, and she asked if we
were finding everything all right. I whined about all the games I wanted being out, and
so she went and looked behind the counter, and found Way of the Samurai, one of the games I
was interested in because the back of the case sounded amusing. What I found most startling
though, was being helped at Blockbuster. They never help anyone. After this though, I can
*almost* forgive them for charging $6 for renting a PS2 game, but only $5 for all the other games.
Almost. Sanctified corporate a-holes (minus the lady who helped me).
[insert 3 hour nap]
Ok, I feel much refreshed now.
This game is really, really cool, and Ill tell you why. You are a
samurai in the 10th year after the Meiji Restoration (coincidentally, the same time Kenshin takes
place). Through your wanderings, you come to a small town in a mountain pass where there are
several factions fighting. The premise of the game is to interact with people, get involved
with some faction of the fighting, and play until things are resolved (one way, or another). At
least, thats what the programmers intended. We however, ran around doing whatever we pleased, and
we generally didnt see people for who they were, we saw them as walking sword
receptacles! Thats right, we ran around and killed everyone indiscriminately, including Samurai Afro
Dan, a black guy with bell bottoms and an afro (dont ask) to the goth guy with a buzz cut
head wearing tight pants, a leather frilly jacket, a mesh shirt. Everyone died, except the
girl we affectionately referred to as our Ho. When you kill people, (minus the ho) they drop
their sword, which you can claim as one of the three you carry. Each sword type has several styles
(60 sword types and styles in all), and each style has about 20 special attacks you can
discover, all of which gives great variety for killing people and spilling gallons of blood. We even
robbed the (innocent bystander) blacksmith, then killed him for his sword (BIG sword). (Our
personal theme song for this game was "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" by Drowning Pool)
Other cool aspects of this game include dressing and looking like Kenshin,
and dressing like Bruce Lee.
(Let the bodies hit the floor . . . Let the bodies hit the floor . . . Let the bodies
hit the floor . . .)
Plot. This game is kind of reminiscent of Chrono Trigger in that it has
multiple endings. You can do pretty much anything you want in that you can kill nearly everyone,
and screw the rest, join one of the two feuding houses, join Samurai Afro Dan, back-stab any of
them, run amok and kill anything that moves, leave the pass immediately, etc. Each thing you
do can result in a different ending. We achieved ending number 4: The Japanese army comes in
and kills everyone. However, because of all the possibilities, the plot lines seem to
be fairly short. On easy difficulty, the first time (ending no. 4) took about 3 hours, then we
got to the last battle of a different ending 2 different ways, and died fighting, but it took about 2
hours or so apiece. Indications point to probably at least 10 endings (at a guess) and at least
20 subplots.
Graphics. Fairly decent graphics, much like Onimusha, etc, probably a hair
or two below in-game graphics for FFX. No cinemas or anything for in-game play, or the
endings. The endings are a few grayscale still shots with text.
Sound. Sound is very disappointing. There is background music, and sound
effects, but the programmers skimped on the budget, and made the game a cd-rom instead of a
dvd-rom. In short, all the dialogue is text. The only vocalizations are grunting type
noises. Its very frustrating. The text comes up as cartoon-ish looking speech bubbles. When
you get to talk, you have a text line selector at the bottom. You do however, in general,
have a great selection of dialogue to choose from. You cant hit on the Ho or insult people, and
all sorts of stuff. Still though, the speech bubbles are a letdown, especially since you cant
skip them or speed them up, and it gets a bit repetitive having to sit through the dialogue
from the same subplot over and over.
Gameplay. Lots of sword fighting, 3rd person perspective. All fighting is
analogue based, so how hard you hit the buttons and your timing affects what attack you do. Its
not hard though. One analogue stick (or D-pad) for movement, and triangle and square and R1
are your attacks. X jumps. Lots of fun, easy to do (Let the bodies hit the floor). The
subplots are chosen on what things you say, and your actions.
Difficulty. At least three different difficulty levels, and on easy it
wasnt too hard to kill people, youd only fight one at a time (except for a rare case). I imagine on
harder difficulty levels, you might have to fight everyone at once, but I didnt get a chance to test it.
Some of the difficulty stems from what sword you are using. Some styles are much easier to pick of
and seem to flow a lot better, but Im sure practice could fix that. (The really cool
looking non-ho chick has an awesome rapier type sword. Fighting with it is so much fun. Im in love
with that sword.
Replay. Fairly high to find all the stuff, but having to sit through some
of the same stuff over and over is a drag.
Spiffyness. Ive just been told by Bryan that after beating the game at
that place where we kept dying (you and the ho run off together, everyone else dies), he unlocked
versus mode, where you can play against an opponent, or the computer. The game also has
several characters to unlock (to choose what you look like), weapons to find and master, etc. In
other words, lots to unlock. The versus mode just sounds cool as an amusing way to pass the time
slaughtering your friends-- er I mean playing fairly in a duel. The sound still blows.
As does having to sit through the same dialogue over and over again. By the way, one of the
feuding houses has extra spiffy outfits. The other house is rather dull.
Overall. The game is a definite "Must Rent," but Im not too sure about
buying it. It does have lots of cool features though, and best of all you can be like Kenshin.
(Go watch Kenshin if you havent already). The game also provides you with a Ho which is
thougtful. Ummm, yeah.
Final Ratings:
| Plot | 8.7 |
| Graphics | 7.75 |
| Sound | 4.0 |
| Gameplay | 8.3 |
| Difficulty | 7.5 |
| Replay | 7.4 |
| Spiffiness | 7.5 |
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| Overall | 7.307 |
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