Samurai by Jamdat Review

It's a shame Jamdat didn't incorporate difficulty levels, because it's the major thing preventing Samurai from being a good game.

Samurai by Jamdat asks the age-old question, "Who is tougher, a samurai or a ninja?" and answers it with a resounding "Samurai!" This is a welcome reply, since video game ninjas are a dime a dozen, and samurais have significantly fewer representatives, particularly in mobile. Despite being an attractive and generally entertaining game, Samurai's difficulty level is inconsistent and, thanks to one boss in particular, extremely frustrating. It's a shame Jamdat didn't incorporate difficulty levels, because this inconsistency is the major thing preventing Samurai from being a good game.

The underrated Samurai offers a number of attacks.
The underrated Samurai offers a number of attacks.

Samurai is a 2D side-scrolling action game with one-on-one boss battles. You control a samurai named Toshiro Yamada, the hereditary guardian of the Sunset Blade...at least until it's stolen by a demon lord named Oshi. On the path to retrieve the sword, you'll encounter six different types of enemies and six bosses through six levels. The standard level fare is maneuvering around simple traps, breaking open vases and lanterns, and attacking enemies that spring up. Enemies have the tendency to appear in twos, on either side of you, which adds a modicum of challenge. But since you can attack in the air and on the ground in both directions, you'll quickly find a pattern to outmaneuver your opponents.

The regular gameplay becomes fairly simple after you receive the triple slash attack, which juggles enemies in the air and usually extracts a health vial from each one. Even though there's a nice balance of health dropped from breakable objects and enemies throughout the level, each new level--including the boss fights--will replenish your bar, making that aspect of the game more than fair. The regular enemies are varied and have unique attacks, but you'll consistently stay one step ahead of them with your growing library of moves.

Unfortunately, other aspects of the gameplay aren't quite as well-planned. It often feels like the levels serve merely as filler between the bosses, where the most interesting and difficult elements of the gameplay lie. A few more moves or a deviation from the standard gameplay might have made the levels more compelling on their own, rather than just making them a means to an end. Also, the levels are fairly short. But the game has a false sense of length, because once you've used up your three lives and three continues, you must start the game over from the beginning again. Since it might take a few tries to figure out the best way to beat bosses, you'll probably have to play through the beginning a couple of times before getting to the end.

This is just tedious, and although it does extend the game's play time, it isn't optimally enjoyable. At the same time, it becomes extremely difficult to play through the whole game on the default number of lives and continues, especially given how difficult the level four boss is, in particular. While the first two bosses (after the second and third levels) are significantly more challenging than the normal gameplay, both have noticeable patterns that can be learned and exploited. The difficulty of those bosses is just about perfect for a game like this, if not a little tough for more-casual players. Conversely, the level four boss scenario, which consists of beating down a set of rolling pillars before they crush you against a wall of spikes, is more difficult than anything else in the game (to the point that the challenge is no longer fun). Frankly, the game isn't worth playing through this level, even though everything beyond it is very well-executed.

This game desperately needs difficulty settings.
This game desperately needs difficulty settings.

The LG VX7000 version of Samurai boasts a consistently excellent presentation. The game does a good job of representing the setting and characters from a mythical, feudal Japan. Since it's in 2D, the graphics work quite well on the mobile platform, with fully developed animations, even if there are only a few of them. The music is a high-quality polyphonic MIDI that plays on the menu screens and trails off in-game, which is just as well, since the in-game sound effects help you, particularly by indicating the sound of your sword slicing through enemies or the whooshing when you miss.

Samurai is an interesting game in many respects, because it does a few things very well and is ripe with detail, despite its narrow scope. The problem is really the difficulty in one particular section, which will probably represent an impassable barrier to most players. This unfortunate snafu is a fairly serious blemish on what is otherwise a good game. Those who aren't put off by inordinately challenging spots in games may enjoy Samurai. But less-serious players are likely to end up confused and frustrated.

The Good

  • Great-looking game
  • Stellar sound effects
  • Most bosses are interesting

The Bad

  • Too easy in the normal gameplay
  • Level four boss is impossible

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