Travel through ancient Japan and follow your destiny to collect the ultimate sword.
Gameplay 7- Hack and slash action is what Muramasa is all about, but sadly, I didnt feel there was enough of it. About half of the level areas contained no enemies, and there is a lot of backtracking to do. Thankfully there is always an arrow and a flag on the map pointing you in the right direction to progress events.
Boss fights are intense and some can be pretty long. Note that the bosses each character faces are different. Playing the game on easy you can pretty much button-mash your way through anything, which is nice if you just want to kick back and enjoy. If you want a real challenge, hard mode awaits.
Graphics 10- Easily the best artistic graphics since Okami, and where that game used 3D cell shading, Muramasa uses layers of 2D high-res sprites. The backgrounds (and foreground pieces) are absolutely gorgeous. So much so it took my mind off the backtracking because I enjoyed simply observing the landscapes. Characters and bosses are well designed, and even in the midst of heated battle there is no slowdown at all.
Sound 9- All of the audio is Japanese in some form. From the Japanese-only speech to the music themes that make heavy use of their instruments.
Fun Factor 8- When the game does what it's supposed to- action packed combat- it does it very well, however there should have been more of it. There are light RPG elements present too: such as levels, items to collect, and two stats to worry about. I found that items other than healing type I almost never used.
Replay Value 7- Those that enjoy getting the strongest weapons and finishing the sword collection will find a good value of replay to be had.
Final Score- 41/50 (8.2)