Way of the Samurai Preview

By Tom Bramwell Published 11 June, 2002

Preview - the true warrior reads this preview

Tench! Bless you...

'Way of the Samurai' Screenshot 01b

Do you question my honour!?

Way of the Samurai, published in the States by BAM! (always a great name to break up the flow of a sentence), doesn't take the same approach as the Tenchu games. For a start, you're not actually a ninja, you are ronin, a wandering samurai without a master, and the game charts your three days in the area of Rokkotsu Pass, beginning with a chance encounter on a bridge outside town.

On your way through the area you come across a band of vagrants hassling a young lady, and you have a number of options to take the game forward. You can do the honourable thing and defend her from these thugs, allowing them to scarper and receiving an invitation to lunch in response, or you can go one step further and slaughter the ringleader and/or his entourage, frightening the life out of her and building up your merciless reputation. Of course, a real warrior engages only the worthy opponent, and thus you can simply ignore the conflict and march on by, but this could lead to some awkward situations later on. Or you could join in…

It's at this point that Way of the Samurai seems less like the boring hack-and-slash it could have been, and more like an extremely enticing prospect. We don't see many of these open-ended games, and they do tend to gravitate towards either the brilliant or the horrendous. When they're good though, they are good.

The best form of attack

'Way of the Samurai' Screenshot 02b

You fight well, for a beginner!

This open-endedness is reflected in the combat system, too. You start off relatively weak, with only a couple of attacks, positions and stances, and have a number of paths to choose from. Learning new moves is a process of repeating and thus gradually improving your mastery of the basic attacks, with more impressive moves subtly opening up to various combinations of the face buttons, but this is the game's dark side, and you will hit a performance ceiling pretty quickly.

Developing a greater range of moves by performing them in different stances and positions leads to a more versatile and fluid fighting technique, and it is this which allows you in turn to better defend against attacks. Although you can often see when and where an opponent is moving to strike, it's easier to deflect or even evade completely if you have been concentrating on your abilities all round.

Another aspect of the combat system is your choice of weapon. Although you are no slouch with a blade, the true warrior is a master of all weapons and his surroundings, and in Way of the Samurai you can hone your skills with axes, hammers and other implements, and you can replace your trusty sword with a slightly trustier one. Furthermore, one of the characters in the game is a blacksmith, and he will happily alter your blade, improving its abilities in certain situations, as long as you can pay him. Otherwise he will get a bit upset, and you might have to bump him off, but a replacement doesn't just spring up overnight, so you might want to preserve your healthy relationship there.

Losing its shine

'Way of the Samurai' Screenshot 03b

You are no match for me!

One of the areas where Way of the Samurai falls down is in its general composition. Although the premise is certainly intriguing, and the possibilities could have you playing through the game over and over again, you will find more than just rogues and vagabonds fighting your progress; the visuals are rusty and unimpressive, and the written dialogue is rustic and unbecoming.

For a game which could have boasted a lot of emotional depth, Acquire's design choices, like giving your samurai an afro (why!?) and adopting such a forgettable script smack of laziness in the process of conversion. The visuals are not all that detailed, and in places are just downright plain, spoiling the mood somewhat, and there is next to no ambience, with the only real lighting effects artificially installed to complement a particular section.

In the game's defence, the animation in battle is fitting and detailed, and the graphics aren't incompetent, they're just not up to the standards of the current PlayStation 2 crop. It's also nice to see that Acquire isn't afraid to splash a bit of claret about the place to punctuate battles and emphasize damage. As Hideo Kojima said of Metal Gear Solid 2's violence, blood is used to deliver the message that violence has consequences, and although he didn't mean it in this sense, in Way of the Samurai blood is a message which reads 'stop trying to look like Yoda and learn how to block'.

Comical

'Way of the Samurai' Screenshot 04b

I am dirty

The cutscene elements of the game, used to advance the static areas of plot that do exist, are probably the worst aspect of the game though, as bad as the dialogue in general. They may as well have taken place in real-time to marginalize the poor acting a little, at least you could have cut them up if you got bored, but no…

Fortunately, as you can probably tell, Way of the Samurai is more good than bad, and we've hardly begun to uncover everything in the NTSC version. The obvious longevity which stems from the open-ended premise is inviting and manageable. Not everybody can deal with a 50-hour trudge through a game like Final Fantasy X, but bite-sized, memorable adventures on Rokkotsu Pass could be very enjoyable, and we've often said that the linearity of the FF games steals a lot of the possibilities from each of the worlds Squaresoft creates.

This concept obviously has a lot of promise, and the ability to replay the game and spin an entirely new yarn for yourself is bound to be a compelling argument for the purchase of the game if and when it materialises on these shores, especially for those of you who are growing tired of following the straight and narrow albeit glossy path through more traditional adventures. This is one to watch, and as far as the more creative and artistic of developers go, one to draw inspiration from.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 10 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • skalmanxl #1 10 years ago

    Rikku from FFX, trapped in even worse borders.

  • Fizzy #2 10 years ago

    Have some friends in the US playing this, they say its fantastic. Great 2 hour romps from start to finish, each story different, like watching a different movies set in one town.

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #3 10 years ago

    It is coming out over here, but I can't say more than that at the moment I'm afraid.

  • Razz #4 10 years ago

    //arises from the ashes//

    This game had better be good....

    -Razz

  • Tyronne #5 10 years ago

    Its a all new feature called wecouldnotcareless`o`rama.....

  • BlackANUS #6 10 years ago

    You know, this is one of the many instances where it's better to be a gamer in the US as opposed to Europe because this game was released earlier in the month.

    Sure we have the highest troll to gamer percentage than any other country, but I'll take that over having to wait to get a game working on PAL and in a mix of different languages. ;)

    Oh and those wannabee Canadians don't count cos they either have to wait a bit longer or delay our games a bit since games released there must also be accompanied by a manual in Franch.

    Your ever ignorant American,
    BA ;)

    /me is just asking for flames.

  • mal #7 10 years ago

    in my opinion [Tenchu II] was the finest game in which you play a ninja

    Don't diss the Last Ninja!

  • otto #8 10 years ago

    Mugwum has been out-Prousting himself recently hasn't he? ;)

  • UncleLou #9 10 years ago

    Trying to exclude the American readers with your witty remarks?

    btw, just read the US are considering an invasion of the Netherlands should the ICC, which will finally start its acticity in july and which the US do not accept, ever convict an US citizen! Hilarious!

    German only, sorry, didn't find any English news on this(now that I know how this link-thing works, noone can stop me! mwuahahahaha!)
    Edited by 2 at 12/06/02 @ 17:51

  • otto #10 10 years ago

    UncleLou, tell me about it, this issue has been driving me bananas for the last few months. You can find out all you need to know about this from http://www.iccnow.org

  • UncleLou #11 10 years ago

    otto, Iknow what you mean, I am bit into this matter also, as a friend of mine wrote her dissertation on the whole issue of international criminal law. I must admit though that I know more about the legal background than about the political development. I have only been following the USA's position rather casually in the news. Once again, the USA obviously haven't got a clue what they are doing. They never cease to amaze me.

  • otto #12 10 years ago

    On top of the 'Invade the Hague' clause in the ASPA, now they are jeopardising the trial of Milosevic by refusing to let Holbrooke testify in open court. They'd rather see Milosevic let off the hook than allow one of their officials to be cross examined in an international tribunal. Unbelievable.

  • Blerk #13 10 years ago

    Once again, the USA obviously haven't got a clue what they are doing. They never cease to amaze me.

    It doesn't amaze me any more. After the first few times you get used to it. :-)

  • UncleLou #14 10 years ago

    I wonder if they have no competent jurists, really. As far as I know, all the objections the US have raised against the ICC have been carefully taken into account and additional clauses were implemented. It's ridiculuos that there even is a discussion. Rarely ever before has there been anything so obviously necessary and reasonable as the ICC. In a certain sense, the attitude of the USA and their fears of being convicted of war crimes and genocide show where they see their own position.

  • otto #15 10 years ago

    UncleLou, it's not legal, it's political. Influential people in Congress do not like the idea of placing US citizens under the jurisdiction of a non-US court because their voters believe that no other court could have precedence over a court appointed by God in God's Own Country. There was a concerted campaign by the Democrats in the House to block the ASPA and water down its language, but the White House let it be known that it had no objection and no intention of ratifying the ICC. In the end there was language inserted which in effect nullifies the 'Invade the Hague' clause, but the message to the rest of the world is still there. That message is: FUCK YOU.

  • UncleLou #16 10 years ago

    "UncleLou, it's not legal, it's political"

    Well, I guess you are right here. On the other hand, it should be possible to explain to their voters with a bit of simplificaion that the ICC is meant for people like Hitler, Milosevic (not wanting to compare the two, of course)etc etc.and that no American citizen would ever be accused before the ICC, anyhow.
    But I think they fear the ICC could be "exploited" by the "Schurkenstaaten" (what's the english term?)and turned against their own people or Scharon, for example. However, as far as I am informed, there are enough legal precautions to avoid this as far as possible.
    By the way, American citizens are under foreign jurisdiction anyhow, if they commit a crime in a foreign country, for example.
    Aaargh, it's hard to discuss something like this in a foreign language, that's why I have to simplify everything a lil' bit.

  • LaundroMat #17 10 years ago

    "Schurkenstaaten" (what's the english term?)
    Rogue states/nations/countries.

    Anyway, the USA hasn't spent a lot of attention to Belgium's so-called genocide-law (allowing people to prosecute others for crimes committed outside of Belgium, mainly concerning crimes against humanity, such as the Ruanda genocide).
    People could try and indict some American leaders, now couldn't they? Sharon broke a sweat when a complaint was lodged against him. This law has since been hollowed out somewhat though.

    Edited by 1 at 13/06/02 @ 13:13

  • UncleLou #18 10 years ago

    Well, the Belgian genocide law is a bit problematic, because a country cannot simply stretch its jurisdiction on foreign territory. It's legally possible, and the law is valid in Belgium, but it's of not much use in practice.

  • otto #19 10 years ago

    because a country cannot simply stretch its jurisdiction on foreign territory

    *cough* Helms Burton *cough*

  • UncleLou #20 10 years ago

    "*cough* Helms Burton *cough*"

    I somehow anticipated this comment... ;)

  • Gestalt #21 10 years ago

    Helms who?

  • UncleLou #22 10 years ago

    The "Helms Burton Act" is basically a US law that keeps up the embargo on Cuba and even tries to punish other countries who trade with Cuba...

  • otto #23 10 years ago

    Gestalt - check this - *polishes fingernails*

  • UncleLou #24 10 years ago

    May I ask in which subject area in the EU you are operative, otto?

  • otto #25 10 years ago

    UncleLou, give me your e-mail address & I'll tell you :)

  • UncleLou #26 10 years ago

    Well, that would be UncleLouwebde

    Now mix in the @ and the dot where appropriate, and there we are :)

    /hides below desk because of paranoia/

  • otto #27 10 years ago

    Two dots and one @ right? ;)

    Anyway, let me know if you get the message.

  • UncleLou #28 10 years ago

    Ups, no, sorry, only one dot between the "web" and the "de". As if I would allow a profane dot to cause a gap between "Uncle" and "Lou"!
    Edited by 1 at 13/06/02 @ 21:58

  • otto #29 10 years ago

    Ah damn I'll have to do it again. Curse me for not saving my hotmail sent messages! Doh!

  • Moonbender #30 10 years ago

    And there I am, openly displaying my email address since the beginning of time, and still alive. ;)

  • otto #31 10 years ago

    heh :)

  • UncleLou #32 10 years ago

    So obviously you hadn't have to change your address a few times already because you were spammed to death? You're a lucky man! ;)

    edit: thx, otto, acknowledged and replied in return
    Edited by 1 at 13/06/02 @ 22:20