ShareThis"Afro Samurai"
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Genre: Action
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
ESRB Rating: M, for Mature
Grade: 4 stars (out of 5)
Hip-hop has always been influenced by the East. Just look at the popularity of Wu Tang Clan and its seminal "Enter the 36 Chambers" album and you get the picture. "Afro Samurai" is a popular anime franchise that encompasses this sensibility, and when you mix hip-hop tracks, samurai swords, mucho gore and a lead character voiced by actor Samuel L. Jackson, you've got yourself one bad mother-lovin' game you don't want to miss.
First, the story: You are a samurai warrior with ridiculous swordplay skills. You are considered the second-best samurai in the land, and it's your job to cut up No. 1 and assume the throne.
Much of this game is going to be button-mashing, stringing together combos to slash and dash waves of ninjas that want to stop you. It's not always perfect, but when you jump into battle and the hip-hop music kicks in, you know this is not your ordinary sword-fighting game. The music is fantastic and aptly captures the influences samurai has had on the genre.
Plus, the fighting can get downright good and gory. (This is not a game meant for young ones.) You can enter "focus mode" and target specific limbs and body areas to be halved and diced by your blade, and the result is Tarantino-esque bloodletting. Some mindless platforming sequences break up the action, but don't really add anything special to the game.
Don't forget that Jackson is your vocalist through the game. His over-the-top style is perfectly matched for this. You want him to suddenly go all "Pulp Fiction" when laying the smackdown on evil ninjas.
I'll admit that "Afro Samurai" isn't "Bioshock." It isn't "Grand Theft Auto." It isn't even "Ninja Gaiden." It may not end up on any Best of 2009 lists. But you will get a thrilling, bloody and thoroughly enjoyable ninja game.
"Rygar: The Battle of Argus"
Platform: Wii
Genre: Action Adventure
Publisher: Tecmo
ESRB Rating: T, for Teen
Grade: 1.5 stars
I have been racking my brain ever since seeing "Rygar: The Battle of Argus" arrive in the mail. Why has this game been released?
Yes, I have written positive reviews of old games being updated and ported into new platforms (like when Square Enix released some of its old PlayStation and PS2 titles onto the PSP). This is nothing like that. "Rygar" is really the same game I played six years ago on the PlayStation 2, only now there are some motion-sensitive controls that must be intended to make it feel "fresh" for the Wii.
Sorry, no dice. I fear that gamers who don't remember the original will suddenly see "Rygar" as a "God of War" rip-off simply because you play a hero in pseudo-Greek mythology, wielding a chained weapon to dispatch the undead and big, mythic bosses. I'm not sure if "God of War's" success is what prompted this re-release of "Rygar" so that Wii players had something similar to play, but it feels cheap at any rate.
The visuals are pretty good -- at least when it comes to the level design. The realms you travel are nicely detailed (although a horrible camera makes some levels hard to traverse), but the characters are not. The dialogue is extremely dated and sounds like bad soap-opera schlock.
Most Wii fans won't find much to enjoy in "Battle of Argus," and I dare anyone to find anything redeemable about the Celine Dion-like music video that shows up during gameplay. I'm as stumped by that as I am about the release of this game in the first place.
(E-mail Chris Campbell at game_on_games(at)mac.com)
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