Walking the way of the samurai
You wake up on an island with no food, no money, no friends, and no home. You are thrust into making a decision, which will affect the outcome of the game from the onslaught.
There are three main paths that you may take that are obvious, or you can mix it up by creating your own path. With so much open-ended play, you can bet there are plenty of endings. How fun and involved the story is, really depends on YOU. Think of it as a Choose Your Own Adventure book on screen and you have the world at your fingertips! The story will change each time you play it and more than likely you won't have the same one twice.
Gameplay -
Absolutely addicting. The need and desire to collect more swords, learn new moves, and master the parry system is what the game will eventually become. At first, it's getting so you don't die every time you fight a new opponent and getting. While some of the time it will feel very repetitious, you will quickly learn ways around that to get the endings and special features that you want.
At any time you can attack any person. Unlike the first one, however, don't expect to get away with whatever you want. Hell, in this game simply bumping into a thug can lad you into a fight to the death! If you get in a fight in front of a magistrate, expect to be confronted and either taken to jail or brutally beaten. If a thug pulls out a weapon, but you do not, expect the magistrate to take them down for you! The same goes if you are on the thug's side and fighting the magistrate.
There are a ton of details like mentioned above throughout the game, and I don't want to spoil anything for you, so I'll leave it out.
Graphics -
Definitely the strongest points of the game, characters move, in combat, very smoothly. However, during other times, they seem a bit jerky because it runs at only 30fps, where the first ran at a full 60fps. Backgrounds are crystal clear, and there are little details you may overlook because they are so common in real life, such as footprints, dust, and wind. You'll notice better character tracking with the eyes and head, and things like that as well.
Sound -
Sadly, the first one did a much better job on the sound. This game just doesn't capture my tastes in the music. There are many, many, many repeated tracks for different areas that do nothing that loop constantly and annoyingly! Hardly ever did I hear a catchy tune that I would smile at.
There IS voice acting in this one. I can't figure out why people are so upset with the voice acting. No, it isn't as horrible as most people claim it is, though it's not going to win any Academy Award by any means. For sure, the absolute WORST actress is the one who did the voice over for Mizaike. For the love of all that is holy…she is TERRIBLE. My jaw actually dropped a few times during her lines and I was left going, “Did she just ask a question when it was an exclamation mark?!” She makes William Shatner's pause acting in Star Trek seem like Shakespeare and Rev. Jesse James speeches sound like Orson Wells gave them. Yes, it's that bad. Also, the Aoto Three, who are there to be comedy relief really aren't that funny…more annoying and moronic than anything.
On the plus side, the sounds of nature and steel on flesh, steel on bone, and steel on steel are music to the ears. Each time the blades strike one another, it sounds as if it were really happening. The random sound of nature fit in very nicely. Even the footsteps on different textured surfaces are amazing.
Control -
The learning curve of the game is huge. Thanks to reactive controls that actually do something when you press a button, you are helped out a lot. However, sometimes the controls seem a little TOO responsive and you may end up moving in a direction that you really didn't mean to because you bumped the analog button.
You get to control the camera much like you did in the original. With a press of the R3 button, you center the camera behind your character almost immediately. Yet, the camera can still be a problem in the heat of battle, especially when trying to master the new parry system. For the most part, you are responsible for the position of the camera, but trying to move both thumbs in totally different ways at the same time is a learned skilled.
Overall -
This game hooked me and just won't let go. I knew that once I got over the initial frustration of learning the controls I would enjoy the game beyond reason, and that really did become the fact. If you can stand to die a dozen times until you can finally “get it”, then you'll become one of the underground fans that praise the game. So, pick up your sword, walk into town, and start cleaning up the place in the name of good or evil. It's all up to you and believe me, you'll never get enough of it.