You know, it really is something to reminisce about where the eras split in the mid 2000's, to what entertainment, and media is today. I was playing 2 games this past month on the Playstation 3, Asura's Wrath, and the game that I'm reviewing today- Genji- Days of the Blade. Holding both boxes in my hands was remarkable, because Genji was released in 2006, at the very beginning of the system's life by Game Republic under the SCEA banner. That was a very different time. I remember just getting my first car at the beginning of the year, and moving into my first apartment not very long after. In those days, there was such attention to detail in every big project by a company, because there were still envelopes that every developer wanted to shoot to push past. Xbox had release the Knights of the Old Republic Star Wars series around that time, and followed it up with other games that were in the same vein.
Looking at the manual and box art, it was so refreshing to see a manual that was filled with depth and informative material. The box art had a very well designed inside panel, that came together in a product that just begged to be collected. Now we fast forward to 2012, when Asura's Wrath was released, and just like the New Super Smash Brothers, while an amazing game, there wasn't that much attention to the box, aside from the very good outside cover art. Genji also marked a time period in gaming history that was unique ratings wise. In the mid 2000's, there was a golden age of T rated games that were released for playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox, and early 360, and PS3. The prequel to this game, Genji- Dawn of the Samurai, was released on the PS2. There are similarities to the Onimusha series which had success on the system. In those days, the best games that the industry had to offer, had fresh ideas, and were aimed at the mid-level of the rating system. This draws a contrast with the era that followed, where the bulk of the gaming projects are aimed at Mature audiences, with over the top gore being the crave.
Genji stars the son of the previous game's protagonist, who died completing his mission in the last game. Upon starting the game, I was treated to very good visuals, and a few cutscenes. The game doesn't overwhelm you with this, and has a very balanced menu, with straight forward upgrading options, and an action based party system. You use a maximum of 4 characters who fight for the Genji clan. They have a history of doing battle with the Heishi clan, who are always after the powerful Amahagane relic, held by the Genji clan, to bring the underworld forth, and unleash great power. Each character has different abilities, and a different fighting style. The hero, Yoshitsune is supposedly the most balanced, while Benkei, his monk friend, is the powerhouse of the group, though lacking agility. To traverse the game's levels, you will need abilities like, Shizuka's grappling with here chain weapon, to reach other platforms, or Benkei's ability to kick and move large pieces of landscape. Then you have Yoshitsune's ability to run up and across walls. A fourth character, Buson, is a skilled glave weilder joins, who is the resurrected villain from the previous game. He was very unique, in that his fighting style was very useless, until you master it.
The game played very smoothly at first, until the heat was turned on. I noticed after a while, that the characters have a somewhat rigid combo execution, and often would be open for counters. There is a lock on button for enemies, but due to the way the character's move, it really didn't assist much. I wasn't really overwhelmed with challenge in the game until after the half-way point. Some of the enemies are very tough, and the thing is that they can take huge amounts of, if not all of your life, if you whiff on a combo chain. Also, there is an animation for getting knocked down. If you don't execute Ukemi, which, if you are a fighting game buff, you know is a technique of rolling to break your fall, you will fall to the ground and be motionless for a good 10 seconds, while the enemy walks up, and stabs you. You can do the same to them, but regardless, this resulted in some very annoying deaths, when the enemy blitzed me.
What I didn't expect, was the amount of platforming. This game got me there. Like Onimusha, this game is in a diagonal view throughout. Also, the camera moves at it's own will, similar to the Mario 64 nonsense. Sometime the hallway is so tight, you will see very little. And the hallmark of it all, is that you will spend 90 percent of the time, walking towards the camera. This made absolutely no sense. Maybe they wanted to add a fear factor. You can miss a jump and walk into a blow, due to the fact that the world in front of you, that you need to see, is behind the friggin camera. And there is no way around it. You can't move the camera or zoom it a all. During some later dungeons, I died one time for the funniest reason. There was a room, on an enormous ship, that had traps and moving platforms. You had to navigate to one of the doors in the middle of the room. The way the camera spun, you could easily end up back at the door you came in, and not realize it. Falling brought you to a dungeon at the bottom of the ship, where a room full of random enemies spawned, and blocked the way with a Mashogane gate. Only by defeating them, could you go back upstairs, across the ship, through a room with collapsing floors, through a hallway of agile, and respawning fiends, and back to the room again. There are no item shops. The game gives you a half-way decent amount of healing items, but it's a long way to some bosses. I fell down into that dungeon probably 25 times. I was so proud of myself, because I managed to fight off those hordes without taking much damage, or any on a couple of tries, which I had to. But then I watched my life get lower, and lower, and I continued to miss the jump in the room, due to Yoshitsune's jerky movement. This happened until I couldn't fight the enemy off anymore, and I died before getting to save my progress.
By the end of the game, I was calling the hero all kinds of retarded in frustration. The camera was annoying, but also the combat styles. The only character who fights like she actually wants to hit her enemy was Shizuka. Using her whips, she spun her attacks in an arc, which helped keep enemies at a distance to get a breather. But she was weak. Even after powering up her stamina and weapons, she didn't have any real power until near the very end. Yoshitsune, had an odd spinning setup to his combinations, that had no range, and left him open for counters often. Benkei was my road dog, and got us out of so many jams, with his charge spin attack. But his slowness and lack of mobility can cost you over time, so I only used him for clean up. Buson became a useful dude, but he had a very meticulous glave style, that required you to keep resetting, and using dash setups, which called for anticipation of you enemies movement. You have to be in the zone using him. However, during the game, when you acquire different weapons for each character, they have different styles for each one, and Yoshitsune developed a fast style with one, that utilized a flowing and fast combo with kicks. While weak at first, after powering it up, it was the life-saver that got me past the last bosses.
The scenery was beautiful in the game, from forests, to mountains and hills. The game also transistions to a different play style at various points. There are several battles scattered thoughout the game, where you will be battling hordes strategically at a fort, taking out the generals and using the catapult weaponry to tackle ranged enemies. The bosses were very interesting in how they were designed, and towards the end of the game, they became insane. The last few were a true problem. I remember getting frustrated by Genji, but I didn't start controller spiking until towards the end of the giant ship. After you make it through the ship, you fight one of the top generals, and he has several forms. He was very challenging, but with special attacks called Kamui attacks, you can lob off some damage to keep yourself in it. I must say, I appreciated how deep and enormous the levels and world was. This is another mark of the era. You don't normally see hack-n-slash dungeon games like this, pay such attention to environment, if they even have platforming at all. Despite those flaws, it was amazing how much metroid-like back tracking there was. You literally get lost often in this game, and will spend long periods of time looking for items and keys to advance. I appreciate that, because it's a testament to design.
Where I think I fell in love with the game, is actually around the time you fight your brother, who opposes you suddenly for reasons I won't say. He becomes very powerful, and while he is your older brother, he seems to envy and fear you. It has been a long time since I had such a high octane, and spirited melee bout with a boss like I did with Yoshitsune's brother Yorimoto. There were emotional scenes that surrounded it, and it was very poetic. Controller spikes aside, I really enjoyed how thrilling and fitting that fight was. The last boss, which followed, was nothing to sniff at, and in the end, it used the limitations of your characters' movement, along with an insane health bar, to make it near impossible. At the very end, you are taking damage almost unavoidably, as you strike at the vital spot of the last boss. It comes down to one or two hits, which reminds me of Prinny for the PSP, where you have to go nuts on the last boss to avoid his instant kill kamikaze.
It was a fulfilling game, that I really enjoyed, and would love to play again. In fact, it inspired some of my subsequent purchases. I went on a shopping spree looking for titles like Genji on the Vita because I enjoyed it so much. I smile at the fact that it received average scores of 6/10 from critics. This is deja vu for me. There have been several titles, like Samurai Warriors for PSP, and New Legends for Xbox, that completely fly over the heads of so called game fans. 2006 was a time of content. If you are a true connoisseur, don't let the scores of the idiotic millenials dissuade you from what is an amazing mark in gaming history. This game deserves its true score- 8.5/10. Now walk into the camera!
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