It's not the greatest game in the world, but there are some decently fun moments to be had here.
First of all, you choose one of nine Samurai based off actual Japanese history and fight through their individual campaigns. At the start, only four of the nine are available, but you will unlock the rest as you progress through the game. Each mission forces you to slaughter a bunch of thugs before fighting the main boss in varied areas. There's not much exploration, but the level sets are fairly big for walking around in.
And it certainly isn't some mindless hack-and-slash standardfare. For one, the game lets you utilize a wide array of Samurai-style fighting techniques, such as Kumitachi and quick kills. It might be a little difficult to pull off quick kills, and the Kumitachi technique requires a bit of button-mashing at times.
And yes, there's quite a bit of blood and loud death-throes to be had here, but no gore or limbs being chopped off. Still though, the game earns its Mature label.
You can edit your individual samurai by purchasing combo attacks for each of the three stances, as well as heighten his or her attributes using spheres and even change their nickname if you so desire. The nickname feature is somewhat pointless since it appears in smaller letters right about the Samurai's actual identity, making it almost irrelevant. And edited characters aren't simply limited to just the Mission and Story modes--throughout the Story Mode, your edited character earns different AI behaviors. What does this mean, you ask? Well, it serves a purpose for the XBox Live National Contests where you submit your edited character against other player-edited characters all over the world, and watch them slash the beejezus out of each other. You earn points for rankings, get your leaderboard props, and earn new equipment for your character. Of course, if you don't want to bother with the online portion, you can always take the Solo contest which is completely offline--bear in mind you won't earn points nor get new equipment.
Mission Modes and Duel Modes are pretty much standard stuff, of course--with Mission being just a bunch of missions you perform under a set amount of time to get ranked in the Leaderboards and earn achievements. Duel mode lets you fight with a friend.
The graphics are moderately nice, but don't necessarily push the limits of the hardware. If you have an HD televsion set, they seem to stand out a little more, but not so much. You can put this game on a PS2 with little trouble. Thankfully, they kept the Japanese voice acting with subtitles, giving the game its authentic feel.
Overall, the game is decent. It isn't great, but it isn't horrible. I can't recommend that you purchase the game without first renting it to see if it's your cup of sake. Experiences may vary, as is with every other game on the market. It all depends on what yours is.