Namco-Bandai presents its latest flop.
Well, that approach would be partially correct. You do get some entertainment in the form of big-name voice talents, and the art style of the game certainly fits a game that was based off an Anime' television show. But outside of those aspects, the game is mostly screwed thanks to a camera that is completely off-the-wall, repetitive gameplay, and a lack of polish that just makes you want to cry.
If you're unfamiliar with legend of Afro Samurai, here's what you need to know: You're a samurai in a twisted, futuristic version of feudal Japan whose father is killed right in front of you by a man named Justice. You then spend the rest of your life in a bloody and gory pursuit of trying to exact revenge for your father's death.
It does make for an overall interesting story that fits very well into a game based on an Anime' series, and the voice acting is very well done. Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman both did an excellent job voicing Ninja Ninja and Justice, respectively. Unfortunately, the cutscenes are incredibly disjointed, and the fact that the loading screens contain flashbacks that are constantly getting cut off in the middle doesn't help anything, ether. The sad part is you lose the connection to some of Afro's internal pain as a result.
This problem also carries over to the music. While it fits the game incredibly well, it doesn't do a very good job with the transitions between the standard background music and the soundtrack for when you're in battle. The corresponding music, given whatever situation you're in, just fades in and out and cuts off before the next piece of the soundtrack begins. During particularly long battles, the songs just repeat as if you're listening to the same track on a CD over, and over, and over again until you're ready to tear your hair out. It's like being stuck in your grandparent's car listening to "The Best of Yanni" on a cross-country road trip.
But it's the main gameplay itself that makes this title such an absolute disaster. Sure, the game has some great mechanics (such as "Focus" which allows you to slow down time, perform special moves, and even reflect bullets), but they only work part of the time. Just imagine trying to jump left to avoid an enemy, but instead jumping forward into said enemy...frequently, and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.
Your adversaries, especially the game's bosses, are not only cheap, they're boring. In the case of lesser enemies, you'll continuously dive into the middle of them and pound away until they're all dead, or you'll get knocked down into one of the many inconvenient corners in the game and just beaten to pulp without any hope of escape. It basically pins you in and loops the same attack over and over on you until you're dead. This is fine for short battles, but incredibly frustrating for the longer, more intense ones. Nothing sucks more than being sent back to the beginning of twenty-minute battle, and please understand that I'm not over exaggerating about that twenty minutes, either.
In the case of bosses and larger enemies, you'll simply run away from them until they make one particular move where they're left open, and then you can maybe jump in and get three four swipes before they shove you away. In a couple of cases, the bosses just barade you with attacks to the point where it becomes luck, not skill, that wins the battle, or you spend so much time going through the cycle of running around, taking a swipe, and then running away again that you go through prolonged periods of monotony fighting off one boss. It doesn't exactly make for engaging gameplay.
None of these problems, however, compare to what is the pinnacle of this terrible gameplay: the camera. It is an absolute joke, and it only serves to make what is already a bad game even worse. It's either in the way, not showing you enough to allow you a fair defense against your adversaries, or it whips around and positions itself either underneath, or behind, something that causes the entire screen to go black.
That's right, kids. You can't see anything. And the best part is that it's repetitive; it can happen several times during one fight. During the final boss battle I was running around, dodging attacks, and the camera would slowly work its way underground. I'd have to stop attacking or dodging just to straighten out the camera, which is very bad when the game is intentionally a button-masher.
What it all boils down to is that it simply sucks when you can't see what you're supposed to be doing. You get lost, you get frustrated, and you waste a lot of time on things that you just shouldn't have to. And when you take all of the other problems with the game and lump them together, you end up with a nothing more than a sixty-dollar piece of garbage that your PS3 is simply going to choke on. This choking is probably what causes the dips and skips in the frame-rate.
I really can't suggest this title for anyone except for maybe fans of the Anime' show, and that's a very big maybe. Everyone else should stay as far away from this one as possible, unless you're a masochist in need of a fix. Don't waste your money, or time, on this title.