Overall, Genji is an extremely fun, and masterfully crafted game, but, sadly, it ends too quickly for it's own good.
See, the thing about Genji is that, it blends many things to make it a game that's just plain fun to play, and beautiful to look at. It borrows concepts from many games, and mixes them, along with the excellent scenery, to create, what is in my opinion, the best samurai-themed game to date.
Sure, there may be games like Dynasty Warriors, but, that series didn't really capture the spirit of Ancient Japan. Genji, on the other hand, captures it near-flawlessly. From the ornate sculptures of dragon-creatures, to the beautiful cherry trees in full bloom, Genji captures the visual flair of Ancient Japan which has caused my extreme amount of interest in Japanese lore.
Speaking of Japanese lore, this game is based off of an actual Legend from Japan. While it does alter from the source material here and there to provide for good gameplay, it is a mostly true adaptation, which I enjoy.
The Heishi Samurai are the main enemies in this game, and their armor is really ornate and detailed. They have green-faced masks with long teeth, and wear red-plated armor. Their masks also feature horn/wing-like structures extending from the sides. Most of them carry swords or halberds as weapons.
Not only does the game capture the visual essence, but also the sounds of Japan. The music in this game is simply put, very cool. There is a great mixture of reeds, strings, and percussion that are all performed wonderfully to what one would expect of an Ancient Japanese setting. During battles, the songs become more up-beat and intensive, while still maintaining it's true style.
The gameplay in Genji is another way in which this game shines. When navigating the beautiful scenery, players are kept on a linear path, but the game disguises this so well that you rarely even notice that you are on a path. When in combat, each of the two characters has their own style of fighting. One of them is a faster, more agile dual-sword bearer, and the other is a more aggressive and powerful polearm wielder.
There is also a magic maneuver, which slows down the gameplay, and, lets you see the enemies' movements before they hit you. If you press the square button at the right time, your character does some sort of a cool dodging and slashing maneuver. If you can do it to all of the enemies without being hit, you get tons of bonus experience.
Speaking of experience, every once and a while, you will get a level up, which provides more health and stronger stats. To upgrade attack power, you can buy or find new weapons, and to upgrade defense, you can buy or upgrade new armor. These weapons and armor sets have slight visual differences between each other, the most common of which is some new color scheme, but, all of these color schemes are very beautiful and blend in with the whole feel of the location perfectly.
There are occasionally boss battles, and, later in the game, some of the former bosses actually appear as regular enemies. When you defeat a boss, you get his "amahagane" which provides you with an extra bar for your magic.
Controls are very good, with the only noticeable annoyances being when the camera pulls into certain strange positions. Overall, it's a very fluent and easily controlled game.
In conclusion, Genji is a great game for all of those interesting in Japanese lore and culture, and even for all of those just looking for a good samurai or action/adventure game. The only real bad parts, in my opinion is that the game only lasts about 6-8 hours, and it leaves you yearning for more.
Pros:
-Beautiful scenery
-Great musical score
-Captures the spirit of Ancient Japan
-Very cool character designs
-Easily disguises it's linear nature
-Great combat system
-Mostly fluent controls
-Little-to-no loading times
Cons:
-Only lasts about 6-8 hours
-No real additional content after completion
-Camera gets a little strange at select angles
-Noticeable jaggies in certain areas