A worthy buy for Samurai fans!
I have always enjoyed Japanese history and samurai warfare. I had previously bought Kengo 3 for Playstation 2, but was unable to navigate through the game's complex menus. So I was really surprised to hear this game was coming to America! It was practically unannounced.
This game is centered around NINE (not six) historical samurai figures. Such greats as Miyamoto Musashi, Yagyu Jubei, and Ittousai Itou. I had read about some of these figures extensively, but never heard of others. I did not know Sakamoto Ryoma, or Okita Souji, etc.- I had never even heard of the "Shinsengumi"! So if you would like to learn about some important figures of that day, be sure to check out this game.
What I really bought this game for was the realistic samurai combat. Genki instills realism into the attacks used by each samurai. They aren't flashy moves that might be incorporated into "Way of the Samurai" or other samurai titles. The grappling is the best part, and when done right, gives a sense of real satisfaction.
Enemies are downed in one to two hits. And even bosses, when worn down, can be finished with a one-hit kill. The one-hit kills often incorporate the stage environment, making the locations partly interactive. This also lends to the cinematic feel of battle.
The game has some fairly realistic and graphic blood spatter. Fortunately this can be turned on and off. The game is not however stupidly gratuitous like Mortal Combat. You can't "cut heads and limbs off and s***".
The number of kills and special kills are tallied up for skill points. From this you can raise your stats, and buy new moves. Each samurai has 3 seperate stances, and about 50 moves total. You choose which ones you can purchase. Genki has fulfilled the wishes of those fanatical import gamers out there and kept all voices in Japanese only. So there should be no complaint about losing the feel of original game. The translations are all competent and well written.
What I desired to have was interaction with npcs, ala Way of the Samurai or other platform games. Or I was hoping to take on different missions and training exercises like in previous Kengo games. Playing as each character, the stories eventually become deja vu. Same locations, different dialogue. So if Genki expands on the story elements in the future, I think it would go a long way. But this game focuses purely on combat.
I did not buy this game for the multiplayer aspect. From what I read, you cannot control your character on Xbox Live. Your character's online AI traits are pre-determined by your gameplay and stats. So don't buy this for online play.
I have also noticed that Normal settings are very difficult. So I often play the game in Easy mode instead.
Overall I definitely recomend Kengo for at least a rental. Now that I've played this game, I'm going to make a second attempt at playing Kengo 3. I'm also going to buy more of their games like Fuun Shinsengumi! I hope that Genki will release many more samurai titles in the future.