Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"All flash, no substance"

Ever heard that saying, "Where there's smoke, there's fire"? Well, where there's blood, there's swords. Afro Samurai's carrying a really large sword, so it's only logical there's gallons of blood. Afro Samurai is based upon the urban anime of the same name, bringing with it the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. The game follows the titular character on a quest for revenge after his father was slain before his eyes by the Number One assassin.

To be a recognized - and godlike - assassin, you have to wear a magical headband. Afro Samurai's head is adorned with the Number Two headband. He's close, very close to finding the Number One assassin. Not only is he seeking that headband, but the head that comes with it after his father's head was tossed to him when he was only a child. The problem with being any kind of assassin wearing a headband is that you have other assassins trying to take it from you. So, Afro Samurai sets off on his bloody quest for vengeance, ending everyone else's quests for advancement for those who get in his way.

If Afro Samurai's anything, it's bloody. This third-person hack-n-slasher with parkour platforming elements is as stylistic as it is gruesome. It's also repetitive and shallow. You have basic light and heavy attacks, along with kicks, and there are a wealth of different combos that you can perform, but the combat simply never evolves. Every enemy that comes at you feels only slightly different than the first and can be beaten almost exactly the same way, by just hitting X and Y. There's even a leveling system, but there might as well not be as it makes no noticeable difference in the gameplay.

Afro Samurai's trick up his sleeve is Focus and Overfocus. As he pulls off combos, his pendant begins to glitter. Pulling the L trigger turns the graphics into black and white and slows down time. Afro can then charge up a horizontal or vertical slash and if he times it just right, his sword will cleave his enemy precisely where you aim it. If you continue to build up focus, you can enter Overfocus by tapping the L bumper. In this mode, Afro zips to and from each enemy, delivering dismemberments and decapitations along the way. It's a powerful tool when the action gets too crowded, and it looks spectacular to boot.

Even with the grizzly flourish of Focus and Overfocus, swinging the razor sharp sword gets mind-numbingly dull after a while. Thankfully, some creative level design offers up some Prince of Persia-esque platforming. Unfortunately, it's not quite as tightly tuned as most platformers are, so you end up stumbling or coming up short when jumping gaps, or cursing as you're trying to perfect the art of the wall run. There are light puzzle elements as well, but it's so straightforward, you'll easily figure them out. If you get lost at all during the mostly linear layouts, hitting the d-pad down causes your foul-mouthed companion Ninja Ninja to appear and show you where to go.

There are the occasional boss fights to be had, and some of them can be quite tricky, summoning perfect reflexes in order to trump them. Still, Afro Samurai's body is tough, almost too tough, as you really have to sit there and try to get beaten up to put yourself in any real danger. This means that most bosses - and the bigger of common enemies - mount to nothing more than an exercise in patience rather than a test of endurance. The same goes when the game decides to throw waves of enemies at you numbering 10 or more; things just tend to go on for too long.

It's a shame that there isn't more beef to the game, because its graphics are impressive, even three years later. The cel-shading allows Afro Samurai to capture that hand-drawn look from the anime splendidly. When in motion, everything animates extremely smoothly, and the dismembering in Focus mode is both incredibly cool and - for the weak of stomachs - nauseating. There are a few minor frame rate hiccups, and some of the animations of basic enemies as they enter the stage seem a bit stiff, but for the most part, the game upholds its gorgeous aesthetics.

Audibly, it's not for everyone. If you're not a fan of hip hop music, it will be hard for you to enjoy Afro Samurai. Its soundtrack has been produced by Wu-Tang Clan's The RZA, and it blends hip hop beats and lyrics with Eastern compositions. For fans of hip hop, the soundtrack is amazing. If you don't like swearing in your games, then again Afro Samurai is a game to avoid as it's voiced by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. That should tell you everything that you need to know. For the sound effects, it's painfully violent as the sword butchers flesh with each swipe and the sprays and splatters of blood produce disgustingly wet noises.

For Afro Samurai to compete against other hack and slashers like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry, it needed much more in the realm of gameplay. More enemy variety, more weapons and more importantly, more meaningful tactics and difficulty could have achieved that. If you love the anime of Afro Samurai, you may very well end up enjoying the game. If you're looking for a dirt cheap action game to kill a few hours, it may even fill that void. Just don't expect to be won over by anything the game does outside of the presentation; the game's merely an extension of the anime.