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PS2
Samurai Western |
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Blood spills
liberally |
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PS2
Samurai Western: Katsugeki Samurai-dou -
New Import |
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After the Japan-centric locations in the first two
Samurai Michi games, developer Acquire treads off
the beaten path and heads into the Wild West of
America, circa 19th century. Think spaghetti western
and you have an idea of the thugs (and the drawls),
locales, and the dusty landscape found in the third
Samurai slasher from Spike/Acquire. Players take
control of a samurai named Kiryu Goujiro who swings
a blade with the best of them.
Battles are simplified from those of Samurai Michi 1 and 2 in that
one button now handles all attacks and slashes but
different stances may be adopted for attacking with
different weapons. Cowboy hats, of all things, and
accoutrements may also be worn by Kiryu to enhance
his defensive and offensive stats. Since most of the
enemies in the game are outlaws hefting firearms,
it's seemingly an unfair fight when our samurai is
armed with only a sword but it's evenly balanced
once you get into the groove of the game and learn
the way of deflection. When a bandit fires, bullets
may be followed visually and then smacked away with
a sword as a protective measure as well as a useful
countermeasure by pressing R1 while stationary. With
the right timing, bullets may be deflected directly
back at the shooter to knock him for a loop. Enemies
tend to shoot from a distance but it's fairly easy
to close in for a killing hack if your
bullet-deflection skills are rusty. There's a meter
on the lower left part of the screen called the
Expert Power gauge which fills up as more enemies
are sliced up. Once the meter is full, Kiryu may
enter a berserker mode for one-hit multiple kills
when confronted by a posse of scoundrels. Evasive
maneuvers are also available to Kiryu where he
dodges bullets like Neo in the Matrix. Sort of.
Since the game takes place in the south, the scenery is peppered
with saloons, stagecoaches, sparse wooden buildings,
Wanted posters, rickety gunslingers, and other
trademark old west fodder. There's even a willowy
blonde burlesque performer in see-through outfit...
The cowboys all speak in English and the intro to
the game is in English for some import friendly fun.
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