Genji: Days of the Blade Pre-TGS Hands-On

As the follow-up to last year's Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, the upcoming Genji 2 is currently one of the few titles confirmed to be hitting shelves in time for the momentous launch of the PlayStation 3 this November. The new sequel will follow squarely in the footsteps of its PlayStation 2 predecessor in stylistic and mechanical terms--you'll again take part in a number of battles loosely based on mythical Japanese history, set against ethereal environments that will hopefully serve as a capable showcase for the new console's graphical power. At a recent press event, we got hands-on time with a brief new demo of the Genji sequel, and we picked up a few new details on the impending sequel--such as its official title, Genji: Days of the Blade.

Sony reps started off by showing a work-in-progress sample of the CG intro to Days of the Blade, which features lots of serious-looking Japanese characters furrowing their brows, standing amidst burning buildings, and so on. This sequence definitely looked similar to the cutscenes from the first game, though the visuals were still being tweaked and almost no audio had been implemented aside from the quite competent-sounding Japanese voice track (and it's worth reiterating that the final game will have both Japanese and English dialogue options included).

Afterward, we got to jump into a roughly 10-minute-long demo of the game, set in a babbling brook. Initially, the demo let us take control of the burly bruiser Benkei from the first game, as we used his massive club to clear out a few enemies as we moved downstream. After a short cutscene, we were joined by the more nimble swordsman Yoshitsune, the hero of the first Genji, and from this point on we got to play as either character using combat moves and dodges that were highly reminiscent of that seen in the original game. After taking out a number of enemies--most using melee weapons, and a few armed with bows and arrows--the demo culminated in a boss encounter with a hulking, demonic samurai, whom we preferred to tackle using Yoshitsune, thanks to his much quicker jumping and dodging abilities.

The first Genji offered only Yoshitsune and Benkei as playable characters, both of whom return for an extra whooping on the PS3. But this sequel will add two more characters to the mix: a lithe, female fighter named Shizuka (who's visible in some of our new screenshots), and a fourth warrior whom Sony has yet to reveal. Most significant about this addition is that you'll be able to switch between all four characters on the fly during a battle (once you've acquired them, that is), and you can even pull off combo moves involving more than one character by deftly swapping in a new character midattack. Alas, this feature didn't seem to be available in the short demo, though we were able to switch between Yoshi and Benkei without any noticeable loading or lag.

Visually, Days of the Blade seems to have received some minor visual polish since we first saw it back at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and the high level of detail evident in the character models looked like the standout graphical feature, with flowing, intricately featured costumes and weaponry. Both characters even had two entirely different weapons they could use throughout the demo, though we didn't notice any particular gameplay difference between them. However, some small "next-gen" touches were evident in the graphics, such as what looked like a slight motion blur on the character and camera movements that lent a subtle realism to the visuals, similar to what we saw recently in Dead Rising. There was also a foot-planting system at work that would let your character realistically set his foot on a raised surface, such as a rock, which naturally adds to the realism a little bit. Hopefully, the team will manage to cram more such touches in before the game ships.

Though we didn't get to play much of Genji: Days of the Blade, the game's development seems to be progressing smoothly as its mid-November release date approaches. So far, this seems like an improved version of the original--since it'll feature double the characters and purportedly a much longer storyline than last time--so anyone who loved the first Genji ought to find a better-looking version of it here. The game is set to be showcased more fully at the imminent Tokyo Game Show, so come back at that time for a full hands-on report.