Truly a love it or hate it series. If you love it, though, it's well worth a play.
First off, I would like to commend the developers of WotS4 for the originality of such a game. I don't truly believe there are many games out there which have such an elegant cause and effect engine. Kudos.
Firstly, in terms of the actual review, the story. If you don't know your Sengoku Jidai from your Meiji Restoration, let me fill you in very briefly about the period of Japanese history in which the game is set: Japan has previously been completely closed to the world, making it very behind the times. Commodore Perry, from America (not Britain, as in the game, which I find strange, but hey ho), comes with his black ships to Japan and forces Japan to open its ports for trade etc. Japan, with only their swords, can't put up a fight because America has cannons, guns and the such, so they are forced to comply. Chaos ensues throughout the land.
In the game, you have three factions: the disciples of Prajna (a xenophobic gang who will stop at nothing to rid Japan of foreigners), the Tokugawa Bakufu, or the shogunate (the government whom have ruled Japan with unwavering stability for almost 300 years. They are still in charge, just) and the British, who have come to Japan peacefully to trade. You, the nameless samurai that you are, are caught in the middle and have to assume an alliance with either of said factions.
Basically, anything you do in the game will affect the overall outcome of the game. Kill a certain member of a faction accidentally, say, and that could lead to you being unable to cooperate with that faction ever again. Small things like that can change the whole story. That, I like. It's a very elegant system, as I said, and it works. Many people will tell you as well, that there are around 20 different endings to this game, as in previous installations. As I said, it's all about the consequences of your actions. You also have a whole host of mini-quests and side missions that you can receive by speaking to citizens, thugs, or the magistrates who happen to be wandering the town. However, I do have one or two complaints about the story though. At one point, I went into the consulate, where the British ambassador was housed, started talking to her, helping her out etc. etc. Fine, that was all good fun. But then, after I completed a certain favour for her, the gates to the mansion closed, and I was unable to get back in, unsure of what I was supposed to do next. This led me to wander around aimlessly, inexplicably harking back to this senile old man who claims to have lost his memory, so sends you to steal stuff for him... So yeah, be warned, you could end up stuck between missions and not knowing really what to do.
Secondly, the graphics: personally, I generally don't give a toss about graphics, unless they're spectacularly good or blindingly bad. In this case, the graphics are neither. The general backgrounds are very nice to look at, but there are times when half your body has disappeared into a stone, just as an example. Another example is when I was in the middle of a particularly heated duel with a tough opponent, and when I finally killed him, because I had backed him into a corner, when the cut-scene came on, I couldn't actually see anything because he was on the ground behind a box (kinda hard to explain, haha). Anyway, that's just a very minor niggle, and something that happens in virtually any game you play.
The sword play: at first, it's not so great. You can press square or triangle once, and your foe'll take damage, but you can't really link attacks together. As you begin to level up your fighting technique and your swords, however, the sword play can actually becoming quite exhilarating, as you link several attacks to take down your enemy. (Just one very small personal complaint again: there is this annoying sound that I can't really explain that the game makes whenever you strike your opponent with your weapon. Maybe others don't mind it, but in this humble reviewer's opinion, it is a bit aggravating.)
Side quests: as I mentioned earlier, there are pretty much side quests anywhere. Just try speaking to everyone you see, I guarantee you'll find some sort of quest very soon. In terms of what kind of side quests, it can range from anything to finding someone's wife simply to tell her that her husband is alive, to killing around 5 bodyguards just to steal their treasure.
So yeah, that's all from me. There are still plenty of things I could write about, but I suspect that if you've read this far, you're probably pretty bored by now. So just to sum up, positives:
- unique and elegant game engine
- tons of side quests
- good combat once you level up
Negatives:
- combat isn't very good to begin with
- graphics aren't always top-notch
- a few very minor personal niggles
Thanks for reading!