Time Traveling Samurai
The plot I"ll admit is really strange and makes not a whole lot of sense, though also seems a bit uncannily similar with the plot in the animated show
"Samurai Jack" where some ancient evil samurai empirior wants to conquer the relms of time and you are a urban samurai or cowboy whom have to save the relms of time with your bushido skills and ability to metamorph into any sprit you call upon. Yeah, that's the best way I can sum the plot up, I know it's pretty out there but I commend them for at least trying to have an interesting plot but lets face it when it comes to beat em up your in them for the fights.
The graphical presentation is good, the typical Neo Geo colorful detailed graphics which is one of the reasons why I like them. I really like the character animation, liked the new colored outfit of the samurai character (whom is the one I prefer playing since I'm more a fan of martial arts films) the one for the cowboy though is rather strange due to it's coloring. And even the bosses and sub enimes are also well animated. But the animation that stands out is the enviorment, I like how each of them are true to the time period you jump to.
The music is decent, it's not the most memorable track in my opinion but it
fits the game. In some parts it has the errie spiritual tunes but in most it has samurai action music.
But what I really like is the gameplay. The control is soild and doesn't feel stiff. You have a decent combo system for your characters you play. You have a decent amount of sub enimies to deal with, like those kung fu warriors that look like the ones from the movie "Big Trouble in Little China". And some soild if easy bosses and sub bosses ones I like to fight are the dragons, their always cool opponents.
As usual you have your metamorph system but the improvements I like about it are the fact that you can now do it at free will more and you have a better variety of characters you can morph to like a ninja or dog. Each of them have their strengths and weaknesss depending on the types of oppnents or sittuations your in. This I think is something great because it gives you an element of strategy as well as a step up from your enimies. However you can only morph into this charcters for a brief period of time and as I said they have strengths and weaknesses so choice carefully.
But another great thing is that you can power up each of the different charcter you change to which can strengthen their abilities. But I really like the fighting system which has improved and feels almost realistic, from the ablity to block with your sword. But most of all there are moment where you execute a series of strikes at your opponent constantly blocking to a point where either you nail your opponent with the last strike or vice versa. As well as moment when you and your opponent interlock, if you press rapidly you can push your opponent to lose control of the interlock and nail him with a move.
The only bad thing for me about the game was that it has that same fundamental problem like most beat em up games where there is redundancy. It's not that big of a deal but it is a bit notacable where some situation feel just a bit too much the same. But this only happens in some spots not all.
Overall I thought this was a solid beat em up, it's not one of the best in my book but it's fun and something different all the same which makes this a breath of fresh air for me and I feel for fans of this lost genere is worth checking out. Sengoku 2 makes the cut on it's second swing.