For its 50th Anniversary, Taito Corporation, along with some other game industry regulars like the Red Entertainment (As in Gun Grave) have come up with a game having a heavy taste of the orient. Bujingai is somehow a Chinese-Japanese oriental game because one thing being the character names are a mix of Chinese and Japanese; other than that, the game setup and landscapes also show a mix of the 2 cultures. This game features stylish and intense action, though particularly lacking in the story department. Background and story: Lau Wong is the main character in this game, and he is played by Gackt. In this story, Lau Wong's friend Rei Jenro has chosen the demon path to acquire the ability to avenge the death of a girl, YohFa (Which means "looks like flower" in Chinese). Though there is no clear sign in the game showing that there is romance between Rei and YohFa, I assume that YohFa is Rei's girlfriend of sort. Anyway as you can see, Rei Jenro is a Japanese name, while YohFa is a Chinese name. Leaving this aside, Rei becomes a demon to fight the demons, but in the process he has also become lost, consumed by his own evil spirit. The story is pretty simple by the way. What is special? A unique feature in Bujingai is that when you start off fresh in the game, you get to customize your own opening movie. The main character Lau Wong will fall from the sky out of nowhere into a no-man's land filled with some zombie look-alikes and you start by hacking and slashing the hell out of them, then this whole scene will be used as an introduction movie to the game. It is pretty cool I would say. After you have finished the entire game once, you have the option of customizing the opening movie anytime you please. Bujingai comes with plenty of unlockables in the game… In order to unlock all these special features you will have to collect Gold coins which are scattered throughout levels in the game. Some special features are such as the footage movie, interview with the man Gackt himself, Taito's press conference, character viewer etc. Not forgetting to mention that after you complete the game you will get to choose a second set of Lau Wong costume which is the Gackt in modern shirt and long pants with a sun-glass! Game play This is basically a hack and slash, slice-your-meat action game. The action is pretty intense, and the sword play is top notch since they have invited martial arts master to instruct the action in the game. Bujingai features combo attack moves which are colorful and smooth. When Lau Wong swings his sword, the color of the sword shadows make it look like a rainbow. If you have seen Chinese sword play and kung fu movies, you will know what to expect; some impressive sword swinging in mid-air, and the Chinese "Glide in the air" art (meaning you actually cruise in mid air towards your enemies as if you are weightless) Other than that there is a combo meter at the top left corner of your screen which keeps track of the number of combo attack moves that you have made. You could easily hit up to 100 combo consecutive hits in this game. You collect numerous spirit orbs in the game after you have killed enemies which can then be used at the end of each stage to level up your attack rates, magic gauge, health gauge, spell level etc. After the completion of each stage you will return the temple of Master Naguri (Lau's teacher and mentor) where you can level up and proceed to the next stage through a portal. My favorite part in the game is that when you clash swords with your enemy the 2 of you actually gets into a "tied-up" situation where your enemy will constantly try to counter attack and you will try to do the same to breach his defense. This is beautifully done and trust me; this is where the game is worth. I should also mention the very practical and useful "auto-defense" mechanism in this game where your character automatically blocks enemy attacks as long as the "defense gauge" is full; but note that once you defense gauge is depleted due to receiving attacks, you will get hit. Oh and I forgot to add that Lau Wong only makes some occasional grunts in the game, he doesn't talk at all except when you cast spells. Lau wields two swords which are clang onto his back. There are a total of 8 stages in the game which are broken into 3 or 4 sub-stages as you go along. You get to battle demons, white dragon, huge goat and wolf zombies throughout the game. Graphics: Extremely well done. Very detailed landscapes of temples, old buildings, isolated city. Though what particularly disturbs me is that Lau Wong looks like a female character with his smooth skin complexion and girly clothes. Colorful swordplay and spells. Stunning visual detail of action Sound: One of the best BGM I have ever come across. Steamy music with clear sound effects. A mix of rock and oriental orchestra. Fantastic sword clashing sound effects. English dubbing is fair. Conversation is a minimum in this game. Controls: Simple and well coordinated. A demonstrative tutorial is included in this game. You can practice all your moves at the Temple of Master Naguri by killing mannequins. Extend your combo moves by pressing different buttons in sequence. Standard attacks using the square button, cast spell using the circle button, enter combo extension mode by pressing triangle button, and X button for jump and glide in the air. You can also walk on walls by holding the X button. Other than that you can jump from wall to wall too. Conclusion: Pros: Impressive graphics, stylish action and sword-play, unique customize your own opening movie feature, good background music, fast-paced, makes your glide in the air fantasy come true (Finally, we get to fly like super heroes), cool character, plenty of unlockable special features, new "auto-defense mechanism" Cons: Too much emphasis on style, Lacking in terms of story line, looks like a clone from Devil May Cry or Onimusha. Cross-over of cultures makes the game looks weird. Girly clothes and face of male character. Extremely short game (You can finish it in 5 hours though I finished it in 6) Lack of variation in enemy types. Minimal conversation in the game. I would say that this game is definitely worth a look or a rent. Whether to buy it or not will depend on the individual since it is a relatively short game with not much of story but action. If you are an action game fan and you are expecting something before the next DMC comes out, this might prove to be the placebo for you.
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