Unfortunatly, Afro spends too much time walking around in levels than killing dudes.
I bought this game since the graphics looked cool and music inspired by the RZA.
Afro Samurai promised some very simple, almost last-gen gameplay and levels. You move Afro around, cut dudes, learn skills, beat the boss, move to the next level.
Oddly enough, the combat surprised me a little bit. I thought it was going to be very bland, but in the end there's a neat ammount of combos, even if they're kinda hard to pull off due to the bad timing of the buttons. Cutting people in half never gets old, and the RZA beats makes the fighting scenes almost hypnotic and makes the awesome meter explode. That's when Afro Samurai's at his best. Killing people and fat beat.
Unfortunatly, as I mentioned earlier, the levels are archaic. You move around, jump from platform to platform, run up and on some wall, and thats it. The platforming sequences could have been a lot better, and its a shame Afro's movements arent as fluid as his fighting moves. Almost feels like the devs added platforming as an aftertouch. In some situations, I could see Afro jump in a stuttery fashion only to find him crash to his death just because I didn't jump at the right spot on the wall.
The game has a very cool cast of characters, yet the levels are so disjoincted and for a newcomer to the franchise, it's impossible to get the storyline right. Why is Afro suddently out in the woods with this chick? Why do I suddenly have to destroy androids coming out from the earth beneath a bamboo forest? It aint explained.
That said, the game has given me a handful of laughs and good time, mostly because of Ninja Ninja.
When I reached the end bossfight and saw the credit roll and checked my 6:35:15 time run, I felt very disapointed with the product. Most likely because every boss fights are cheap. I thought they'd eventually get better, but no. Not cheap in the way theyre overpowerful, not at all. Cheap because all you do is hit the X orY button until the cutscene starts. I mean, what's that ? I'm used to God of War esque boss battles, and these bosses felt very old school, in a bad way. Like in beat em ups before God of War ramped up the bar.
The graphics and sound are great, but it doesnt save Afro from being what it is, just another run off the mill beat em up. I would have prefered more consistency between the levels ( cause I have no clue of half of what happened in the game ) and more refined gameplay sections. Maybe some QTE's on bosses would have made the thing a little better, and some better platforming mechanic.
Unfortunatly, Afro spends too much time walking around in levels than killing dudes.