Another classic gem in a long line of Minigame-driven simulations from MicroProse.
The game follows the exploits of a single family in Medieval Japan, roughly around the 15th century AD. You will attempt to lead your character, and possibly his offspring after him, through their lives as leaders of the household, retainers for their lord, and ultimately as powerful warlords vying for control of all Japan.
As common in many similar MicroProse games of the era (such as "Darklands"), Sword of the Samurai is designed to convey the cultural atmosphere of its setting. Everything from the graphics, the music, and even the way that the game is played is influenced by Japanese history. While saying that this game is an accurate portrayal of the era would be an exaggeration, it is clear that the developers have put a lot of effort into researching the period - and they were very successful.
THE FIGHT FOR HONOR
At the start of the game you can select one of almost 30 different regions of Japan as your home, which influences your character's starting stats and will also influence your srategy in the later parts of the game. Character attributes indicate your character's prowess in various combat methods, as well as the size of his/her land, and most importantly - honor. Befitting the era, honor is your most important attribute. If you lose too much of it, you will be ordered to commit ritual suicide (seppuku), and without honor you will find that the game is considerably difficult to play. Most of your actions during the game will influence your honor, but in fact each attribute can be trained or lost based on what you do.
At the beginning of the game, your character is a simple Samurai, a retainer for your Hatamoto - a lord who is the supreme authority as far as you are concerned. His wishes are your commands, and you must do his bidding without question if you are to avoid disgrace (and an order to commit suicide...). Your lord has 3 other retainers who are basically your rivals. Your objective is to gain enough honor and land to position yourself above your rivals, or by discrediting them in underhanded means. Eventually, when the Hatamoto dies (or is killed...) a successor will be chosen. If that is you, you will become the new Hatamoto, which opens up new challenges for you. However, you are now just a retainer for a higher-authority, a Daimyo (warlord), and again must vie for his favor if you wish to succeed him when he passes. If you can attain the final rank of Daimyo, you will now be the master of your region, and will focus your effort on battling three rivals in a race to unify Japan for your dynasty. This is complicated by the fact that all characters have a finite lifespan. Therefore, you will need to find a suitable woman to marry, and prepare your household for your offspring, who will replace your player-character eventually.
MULTI-MODE GAMEPLAY
The game itself is played in three distinct modes. One is the multiple-choice menu, and acts as the "strategy" portion of the game where you make decisions that will influence your character's life. For instance, while at your household, you can train yourself, your army, or change the tax rate in your "fief" (domain). The second mode is overland travel, in which you will move between your household and those of your rivals and master. You can also travel around the country or even to adjacent lands, to seek various encounters or other activities. Finally, there are no less than 4 different mini-games which will initiate during gameplay whenever the player's character encounters specific events.
As one of the first open-ended games, Sword of the Samurai allows a LOT of freedom with how you wish to play your character. In fact, you'll pretty much be required to juggle your responsibilities if you wish to remain successful. Spending time in your estate allows you to practice your skills in one-on-one combat, train your army in battle, or control your taxation. This will influence your skills, but will gain you no honor. To do that, you will need to leave your household and travel around the countryside.
TRAIPSING AROUND
Most commonly, you will be travelling alone on a top-down map of the land. On this map you can encounter many different random events, such as brigands blocking the roads, villagers in need, or even lone swordsmen seeking a challenge. If you can complete the mini-game associated with the encounter, you will gain honor. Refusal to play the mini-game can keep you alive, but will lose you honor.
You can travel to the house of your lord, where there may be several types of missions awaiting you. Courting a suitable mate may require you to save her first from a brigand fortress. You can answer your lord's call and fight to protect his land. Occasionally an assassin may be captured and you can demonstrate your loyalty by facing him and killing him in sword combat. Diplomacy with your rivals may help forge alliances, protecting your status in the eyes of your lord and preventing said rivals from making underhanded attempts to lower your status.
Finally, you can also travel disguised as a poor Ronin (a masterless samurai). In this mode, you will gain and lose no honor from encounters, but if you reach the house of a rival you can undertake a clandestine mission to either assassinate them or simply dishonor them (or even kidnap their family members to be held as your hostages!). You can even infiltrate your lord's estate to kill him, speeding up your promotion to the next level, assuming you are not caught and are poised as the most favourite retainer at the time.
Of course, you must also be prepared to defend your own estate against your rivals. They will occasionally assault your land with their armies, but may sometimes sneak in with a group of ninjas in an attempt to kill or dishonor you.
NITTY GRITTY ACTION
Of course, much of the fun comes from the mini-games you get to play during your character's adventures.
The simplest of these is a one-on-one sword combat. Katanas are deadly, of course, and you only need to hit your opponent about 2-4 times to kill him (and vice versa!). Unfortunately, the controls are ungainly, and the computer is also "too good" at blocking your attacks, and it tends to get a little repetitive. Fortunately, the computer isn't very good at attacking either, even on high difficulty.
A stronger and more common minigame is melee combat, where you will face off against multiple enemies in top-down view. Enemies may have Naginatas (polearms) with long reach, a sword, or a bow. You yourself have both a bow and a sword, and will use either of these depending on the proximity of enemies. Most of this combat is based around denying your enemies a chance to surround you or hit you from afar. Combat in this mode is pretty quick, and it is even more difficult in higher levels where riflemen may appear who can shoot you from a long distance. This is even more complicated when these battles take place inside a fortress or household, in which case you need to explore rooms and corridors, evading enemies, and trying to avoid getting blocked off by a large group of enemies. As you advance in the game, such households will have many floors, and you never know where your objective might be hidden.
The last minigame is the battlefield, where your army will face off against an enemy force. This game can best be described as a top-down, 2D version of the Total War series - a battle in real time where you move units around and try to outmaneuver your enemy, with infantry, archers, horsemen, and even riflemen. The landscape has its own effects on movement and combat, so you need to study the geographical edvantages and disadvantages of the map before moving your troops. As you advance in the game, these battles will become larger and larger in scale. When you reach the last level (Daimyo) of the game, you will almost exclusively be fighting large-scale battles in an attempt to gain control of as many regions of Japan as possible.
UKIYO-E
One of the most captivating aspects of Sword of the Samurai is its visual and audio design. For the most part, all menus, cutscenes and graphical effects are done in a style that reflects Japanese art of the period (known as Ukiyo-E). The dramatic nature of this artform works well to punctuate events such as facing down an assassin, or losing part of your domain, or the death of a retainer. All characters in the game have unique names and portraits, also in this style.
To cap it off, the music is very minimalistic and is also very suitable for the era of play. From short snippets to sweeping combat beats, the music serves to draw you into the setting very well. And all of this with simple MIDI music.
SUMMARY
While the graphical representation and interface may be the weaker points, after all this game is almost 20 years old by the time of this writing, the combination between strategic decision-making, character development, intense politics, furious action sequences, and of course the incredible setting, make this an unequalled masterpiece. If you do not balk at playing an older game, Sword of the Samurai is extremely recommended. Until the time of writing, no game has even attempted to replicate the particular setup that Sword of the Samurai pioneered.