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- Follow the exploits of the original series with all new material and background for fans to enjoy
- Strikingly beautiful art style and texturing with smooth balletic moves for amazing visuals and action
- Hip-hop inspired soundtrack created by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan actually affects the enemy AI’s movements
- Star-studded cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Pearlman and Kelly Hu in their series roles
- Without pre-rendered enemies, attack scenes are unending in their possible combinations
Product Description
He who possesses the #1 Headband, will rule the world! Afro Samurai is the cutting edge game that delivers a new kind of cinematic game experience, a living episode that offers addictive, immersive and compelling gameplay that’s literally dripping in style. Join Afro in his epic hunt for revenge to avenge the murder of his father by the current owner of the #1 Headband. Afro Samurai blends traditional Japanese culture, funky technology and hip hop to create a bruta… More >>
11/26/2009 at 5:09 pm
I’ve never reviewed a product before, but with this one I had to let others know of the content in case it wasn’t clear enough in the title description or from the reviews available on the Internet.
Just some background information: I’ve never seen the Afro Samurai animated series and I’ve never read the graphic novels.
The Graphics:
Absolutely top notch. Very few games can boast about their respective visuals as this game can. The animations are extremely fluid and never choppy (e.g. when having Afro change directions the character actually animates towards the direction he’s directed to… he doesn’t just instantly appear facing another direction without a nicely rendered animation. The same goes for standing after getting knocked down or any swing of the sword). All of the animations are beautiful and nearly flawless.
The Controls:
The X-axis on the camera control (the right thumb stick) is inverted and cannot be changed in the options menu. This means that if you would like to look left you would move the stick to the right and vice versa. It can be somewhat disorienting during a fight with a large number of enemies but, with a little time, I adjusted to it all the same.
The Gameplay:
I’m not going to add anything to what can already be seen with the videos available online as well as what can be read in the reviews on the game sites. One thing I didn’t notice in any review or demo was the fact after a short time in the Daimyo’s temple Afro has to fight and hack apart extremely detailed/animated women with very little, if any, clothes on. Personally, I’ve never played a game where hacking apart women was a part of the “entertainment” (irregardless of the fact that these women are prostitues). As a hardened Emergency Room nurse, and one subjected to the escalating violence towards women every working day, I have to admit, I was more than a little disturbed. The game is about honor and family and the defending of the same, but hacking apart women is hardly necessary for boosting game sales, let alone is it entertaining.
Language:
If it matters to you at all, the F-word probably rears its head every minute or so. The voices can be turned off in the options menu, but all of the voices will be removed and the story will probably become impossible to follow and you’ll miss all the humorous quips from Afro’s sidekick, Ninja Ninja. Subtitles are also available.
That pretty much concludes my review. Anything regarding gameplay, story, etcetera, that I did not cover is available elsewhere in a “professional” review. The above mentioned items of interest are only for those people who want to know the finer details missing in a mainstream game review.
As far as the game goes… in general, the game is gorgeous and is lot of fun to play. The developer, in my opinion, needs to allow an option to remove the hacking of women from the story and allow the inverted X-axis to be changed then I would give this a five star rating. Until then, three stars is all it will be getting.
Edit: After having played through the game a couple of times, I have to say that this is a very deeply emotional gaming experience. I think the developers went out on a limb to capture their vision to the fullest, while knowingly alienating a large portion of the gaming world. The game is a brilliant example of dedication and quality craftmanship and is the perfect specimen of gaming art and independence which bucks the currently established, static game formula and props up innovation in its place.
Rating: 3 / 5
11/26/2009 at 6:06 pm
American audiences where graced with the speed and fury of the Afro Samurai, a cold hearted warrior whose has one goal, avenger his father death, but unlike other revenge fantasies this one has a twist. Afro farther was “The Number One” meaning he posses a sacred headband that signified him as thee best fighter in the land and made him a moral God, no other warrior could challenge him with the exception of the Number Two, the second best warrior in the land.
Well Afro’s father lost his position as the Number One when his head fell off his shoulders thanks Justice, a dark, decrepit looking gun slinger who has more then a Ace up his sleeve. After afro is raised by a kind sword master Afro begins a long bloody trek to find the number one, because after Afro gets the Number Two headband, any wannabe can challenge him.
Stick with the mange and anime, because the video game doesn’t do any of them justice. Although visual striking game with animation style like a comic book and all of the voice talent from the anime, the game suffers from lack luster game play. Your moves are very limited. You have no range weapons, forcing you to deflect bullets and missiles, which is nearly impossible to do because the timing of your focus strikes, that allow you to perform very powerful hits, has to be perfect, slicing ropes and lines is hard because you have to be in the right spot to perform the strike, otherwise your sword just bounces off. Another problem is that the enemy become too strong too quickly, a battle with four or five thugs could take up to ten to fifteen minutes because their skin is so thick and you have such a limited number of combos, which in it’s self doesn’t make any sense because your character can earn experience points for killing but those points don’t get you anything, not more life or better weapons.
In some respects it’s too much like the anime, Afro only uses his sword and a few kicks, nothing else, no other strikes or combos. Because of this Afro became the first game on the Xbox that I never finished.
Rating: 2 / 5
11/26/2009 at 6:46 pm
[...] post by cinypi [...]
11/26/2009 at 7:50 pm
[...] more here: Afro Samurai | XBox 360 & PS 3 Video Game Reviews By admin | category: cartoon, cartoon games | tags: aerial, cartoon, cell-shading, [...]
11/26/2009 at 8:33 pm
The tough part about making an Afro Samurai game would be (in my opinion) getting the art direction and gameplay to allow folks to really experience all the things that made the series so notable. Specifically, finding a graphic way to bring the series animation to what should be a super bloody hack and slash console game and have it make sense…all while retaining the unique style of the series through the characters, story, design and music.
The folks that made this game, to my surprise, nailed the crap outta the hard part. Which should make this game be all kinds of super awesome and a ton of fun to play. The game retains all of the violence, RZA and Samuel L. Jackson goodness that the series had, and presents it all in a really swank and surprisingly cohesive way.
However, if you’ve read a review of this game then you may have heard mention of the very “brokeashell” in-game camera. This is because (as awesome as this game is), the camera is, in fact, dysfunctional beyond belief. However, if you give this game a little bit of time you will eventually get “used” to the camera and stop fighting it as much as you progress through the game. But, and I’m not going to lie here, that process will drive you nuts in the first couple of stages. So with that being the case, is this game worth playing through?
Yepper.
And here’s why. When the camera does behave and isn’t whipping around for no reason, chopping up frames, and generally blocking your view of what you need to see – it does deliver some of the straight-up coolest hip-hop infused samurai action moments in the history of histories… chock full of body parts, buckets o’ blood in slo-mo, and it’s all To The Beat.
If this game were rereleased with a functioning camera, it would be a solid 5 star game. No joke.
So while it definitely sucks, the camera doesn’t make this game as unplayable as some folks’ll lead you to believe. The game is certainly worth your time, and I would say money… but not at full price. I am a fan (not huge, but def a fan) of the series and actually enjoyed this game.
I’d say, unless you are super hardcore fan of the series, this game doesn’t hold up well enough to buy new. Rent it or buy it used.
In summation – If you’re into the series or just into the wonderful Reeses Peanut Butter Cup of Awesomeness that is the combination of Samurai Action + Hip Hop culture, then this game is certainly worth playing, but with the whole camera issue…not exactly worth owning outright at a new price.
Rating: 3 / 5
11/26/2009 at 9:18 pm
I dont know why people are hatin on this game. The graphics are great and very much in the same style as the videos. Surprisingly so actually. Combat is sort of so/so hack and slash at first until you really learn to master the focus mode. Once you get a handle on that you start to see the simplistic beauty of the game and it doesn’t seem as hard as it is initially. The sound track on this game really puts it over the top. That’s what earned the 5th star for me. I find myself playing the game over again just to jam out. Same dark adult sense of humor in the game that made the series popular. A solid all-around game. Dig it, especially for the price!
Rating: 5 / 5
11/26/2009 at 11:51 pm
Games like this are not for you every day palm players. it tells you how to do every move and combo in the game and if you can do those 10 plus combos the game is very satisfying, the game has enough enemies to do those wild long combos Afro does in the cartoon series and has a nice flow to the combat. the type of cross hatched cell shading is awesome for a cartoon to game very well done, great voice acting, and awesome soundtrack.
Rating: 4 / 5