Afro Samurai

February 19,2009 - The situation isn’t too atypical for a video game. You’re standing within the deadly gazes of a gang of enemies, 10-men deep. You have one weapon and whatever is in your inner strength. This situation is a little different, though. Samurais have been seen plenty, but rarely in this style. And by “this style,” we mean rocking a mean afro and one hell of a damn good soundtrack.

You will be in plenty of situations like that in Samuel L. Jackson and Funimation’s Afro Samurai game, built mostly around the popular anime’s first season. The game takes its liberties in certain areas, which fans of the series will undoubtedly figure out, but for the most part Namco Bandai/Surge kept the storyline the same.

Planted in the shoes of Afro Samurai, you witness your father murdered at the hands of Justice, a ruthless gunman out to take the Number 1 headband from your father. The headband is one of two that, in simple terms, proves how god-like you are amongst everyone else. Only, Justice sees himself as a real god and challenges you to face when one day.

So as Afro, you grow up to take the Number 2 headband, fulfilling a legend amongst the people. To some, you are seen as a demon; to others, a hero. And although the story isn’t too hard to follow between its twists and turns, it lacks the cohesiveness the anime provided. There are too many instances where, should you be unfamiliar with the source material, you will wonder just how things came to be a particular way or how something else has happened. The issues aren’t gaping plot holes, but they can leave you puzzled if you pay enough attention.

Making your way past any plot issues, you have a very solid game. Mechanically, the game handles well. You may not be able to exactly recreate the smooth moves Afro displays in the anime, but you will be able to pull of some impressive combos. There is an underlying leveling up element in the game, so after X amount of kills and experience, you will begin unlocking a great number of combos to employ during combat.

But the decently well-done combat element is Afro’s Focus mode. With a pull of a trigger, the game throws you into a stylized slow-motion presentation, allow you to perform charged-up slice actions that will instantly kill an enemy. They aren’t sure-fire attacks, though. Enemies still have the chance to side-step a slice attempt while you charge it up. You are allowed a few slices before you must complete more combos to regain Focus.

There will be opportunities to gain more Focus and health, as seen through Body Part Poker. When Ninja Ninja appears in the middle of the fight, running to him will activate the mini-game. The idea is to use Focus to slice off combination of heads, arms, legs and what have you. However, it doesn’t work too well. Most of the time, you will be too bombarded for this to actually pan out well, especially when you have to guess at what you must chop off.

Speaking of bombardment, the game gets incredibly aggravating at times. It doesn’t make for a solid challenge. Instead it turns into button-mashing irritation that will cramp your hands and make you question how to get past some parts. A majority of these problems stem from a horribly-placed camera and the lack of a long range attack.

The camera is placed in just the right position to be annoying and lacking control. You can move the camera around enough but not quite how you should be able to. The most control you have over it lies in your ability to place it directly behind you with the click of an analog stick. So while fighting enemies, the camera will hang you out to dry. The long range attack isn’t necessary for all your battles, but there are a few instances where it would be incredibly instrumental to a more balanced match.

Balance is something the game should have strived for more. As just mentioned, there are times where you are bombarded to an unfair degree. At times, it will simply be too many enemies with no access to health boosts. Others, there will be a single super-strength enemy amongst a gang of lower-level guys. You have to make a decision: focus on the stronger guy and risk getting torn apart by the others, or cut down the weaker guys and chance getting thrown around by the strong man. Making it worse, it’s challenging to isolate enemies to take them down.

So while that inherently takes down the game, at least you will be chopping away to the sweet sounds created by The RZA. Afro Samurai features a very standout soundtrack that borrows a lot from the anime. Going along with the soundtrack is solid voice acting. Sam Jackson impresses yet again through voicing Afro and Ninja Ninja, but the better work comes through in the latter. Kelly Hu, Ron Perlman and John DiMaggio also reprise their roles from the anime for the game.

Graphically, the game follows the same style of the anime, but turns to cel-shading to give the game a better 3D feel. It works pretty well. The game looks good where it needs to be. But there isn’t anything standout about the way it looks. And with that said, it isn’t worth harping on any more than that.

Once you make your way past plot and balance issues, what you are left with is a well-presented, just above average game that handles well but leaves you wanting something more. The game could be more worth it with a little refinement, but at the same time it doesn’t feel like it was rushed. It’s worth the time if you have a chance to check it out, but purchasing the game is something to take into heavier consideration.

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