Great if you enjoy mass amounts of senseless button mashing.
The story in this game is exactly what the title implies, it's a side story to the Samurai Champloo series we all know and love. I feel that the characters in the story were a fair representation of the characters in the anime series. So kudos for good character design and voice acting. I must admit that the story did't really have me compelled to continue playing the game. As a matter of fact, I couldn't bear to finish the game (let alone play through it again as another character).
The gameplay is far to simplistic for such a great series. It really suprises me that nobody could step up to the plate and give this game some mechanics like a brawler at the very least. Nope, instead you are left with redundant combos and more redundant music. The music is actually pretty good for the first five minutes or so but hearing the same sets of 45 second loops can really start to wear on one's patience.
I am a huge fan of Samurai Champloo, but I must lament that this game was not impressive at all. It was a great idea. There are some really cool stylistic fighting scenes in this game, but even those grow into more of a chore than fun. It's worth trying but if you want more quality Samurai Champloo, read the manga.