Samurai Champloo
This samurai sword is awfully blunt.
Tags: Samurai Champloo Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Christopher on May 3rd, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Samurai Champloo (title page) | 01 - 2 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Fighting | No | ||
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Based off of the hit anime of the same name from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block, Bandai brings us an odd version of the staple hack-n-slash game. While the show is a very tight production with an awesome soundtrack, wicked fighting, and equal parts humor, Sidetracked tries to capture the same feel of the show and only gets about halfway there.
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Sidetracked is set up as a ‘hidden episode’ that takes place in the same timeline as the show, but has little bearing on the story as a whole. Much in the way series director Shinichiro Watanabe did with the Cowboy Bebop movie and its original tv show. It’s a neat idea that lets us get another glimpse at characters we love without mucking up the continuity or leaving any hanging plot details. The story in Samurai Champloo plays out exactly like the show does, where rogue samurai Mugen and Jin and bumbling girl Fuu are wondering around Japan looking for the Samurai who smells of sunflowers, getting into trouble with locals, starving and trying to get food, Fuu getting kidnapped, or all at once. The game opens up using the same music and a similar title sequence from the show and then veers off into a very poorly done cg intro with an awful sounding announcer explaining the basic plot in excruciating detail for first timers to the story. If you’re a fan of the show you’ll have to get used to parts like this making you grit your teeth.
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For a samurai game with hip hop influences, you’d expect game play to either be very badly done or very unique and refreshing. Unfortunately, it’s a little bit of both. Combat is based on a combo system that utilizes records you can earn or buy with money from fallen foes. When you enter into combat mode, button presses corresponding to strong and weak attacks will start a chain running across the top of the screen and it shows you what available combos you can pull off. While you can switch what record you’re using at any time by using the right analogue stick, all it really does is change the character animations while you endlessly tap two buttons over and over again. Late in the game you’ll encounter bosses that require more strategy or blocking, but once you figure out their easy to read movements, it’s time for another trip down button mash lane. While you get three characters total to play the game, with Mugen and Jin to start with and the third after you beat the game with one, combat plays almost exactly the same.
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To break up tedious and dull combat you get minigames. It’s a shame that these minigames are based on, you guessed it, tedious and dull combat! Occasionally while wandering about the Japanese countryside you’ll encounter special foes with stars around them. Initiate combat with them, and you’re taken to a button match game where if done correctly you’re whisked off to a screen where the goal is to get enough correct matches to get 100 slashes on the target. Do that correctly, and you’re taken to another minigame where the screen changes to a trippy silhouette screen where you’re faced off against 100 enemies that look like paper dolls. If you manage to kill all of them, you get an item to help you in your quest. While a neat idea, it doesn’t improve much on the lame combat system.
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Graphics-wise, Sidetracked is even more unimpressive. The models for the main characters are fairly accurate representations of their anime counterparts but low polygon counts mean they’re poorly detailed. Character animations are likewise below what you’d expect to see this late in the PS2’s lifespan. Models animate in a jerky manner, as if they have half of the joints a normal person does. The environments fail to impress as well with crappy textures on everything you see. The CG scenes are alright but far too prolific and lengthy.
Samurai Champloo had some amazing music done by Nujabes and Fat Jon. While they aren’t back for the game, the music that is used is very much in the same style of the series. The only problem with the soundtrack is that you’re only allowed to carry two tracks with you at a time. Voice acting is a completely different matter. While Jin and Fuu’s voice actors are back and do an alright job, the sound alike they picked for Mugen is grating and sounds very little like him.
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Sidetracked is a perfect example of a great idea that didn’t get the proper work to make it shine. With a little more effort, the game could have gone from mediocre to must own. There’s plenty of play time here, with three different characters each with a unique story, just that combat is tiresome and you won’t want to spend 15-20 hours playing it all. Fans of the show will enjoy the narrative here, if only because it’s just one more look at some very fun characters. Everyone else would do well to approach the game with an open mind in spite of its flaws.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Does an alright job capturing the show’s style + Awesome soundtrack |
4.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Lackluster combat - Below average graphics - Terrible voice acting |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Worth a rental only to fans of the show. | |
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Tags: Samurai Champloo
Posted by Christopher on May 3rd, 2006 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
