 Better than the First One |
| Review Date: July 31, 2004 |
| Reviewer: Lisa Shea, |
Way of the Samurai was a great fighting game with multiple endings based on your honor. Way of the Samurai 2 adds better graphics and more paths!
You start by customizing your warrior - choosing a head, clothes, sword and ohter items. You can unlock more choices as you go, which is of course half the fun. You have a "sword safe" to store swords in from game to game. You've also got an "item box".
The plot here is that you're at a port town torn between the coming of foreigners and the traditional ways of the samurai. Think The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. The Edo period is coming to an end, and upheaval is a result.
As with the first game, you interact with characters from set choices. The way you choose to interact with characters determines your personality, from slimy dirt-bag to honorable, noble caring person.
You can turn the blood off if you want, but this is a slicing sword game. There are a variety of swords and weapons, but they all basically hack at your opponent until the blood loss kills him. Some have samurai swords, some have hammers, and so on. You can build your weapons and attacks up over time and using special combinations.
The graphics are nice in a Final Fantasy sort of way - nice character models but not so great surroundings. The environments are on the static side, and the character movements are not overly complex. Still, the game is about what you do - not about a Myst-like absorption in your gorgeous surroundings.
The map mode makes it easy to move between the 10 or so map locations, which is very nice. As time progresses, you can see what's going on in the various spots. This is very much like Groundhog Day - you go through the same days over and over again, learning who goes where at each time period so you know what to do and when.
The sound is reasonably OK - Japanese background music and general "OK" and "Hi" noises along with the dialogue. Many of the voices just don't seem to fit - a New York accent comes out of a Japanese woman's mouth. I think they could have done a better job choosing who did the voices for the characters.
The Groundhog Day analogy really fits here. After a few playings you get to know the various characters rather well, knowing what their motivations are and how they react in different situations. You go to a location and say to yourself "OK in a few minutes XXXX will come walking around the corner ..." and sure enough, they do. It gets to be a very "comfortable" game to play - you know what's going to happen and you have to choose how to react.
While in some games you complain about the AI being the same, in this case it makes sense. You're replaying the same time sequence, over and over, and experimenting with different reactions. It's fun to see how your different choices affect your world.
We easily spent many weeks on the original Way of the Samurai, and this new version is even more immersive. If you're a fan of fun plots and sword slashing, definitely give this one a try! |
Decisions, Decisions...
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| Review Date: July 10, 2004 |
| Reviewer: evergreen, Cerritos, CA |
| Of all the choices you need to make in Way of the Samurai 2, the easiest would undoubtedly be whether or not you should buy the game at all. And in case you haven't inferred by the rating I've given it, the answer is YES! As a masterless samurai in feudal Japan, you find yourself collapsing before the town gates of conflict-ridden Amahara. Brought to by an amiable young girl, you discover the troubles of the little town: two malevolent forces are trying to take control of it, and another still is plotting in the shadows. Caught in the middle are a bunch of well-to-do people who call Amahara home. It's up to you to decide whose side you will lead to victory... if you even stay at all. The gameplay is simple at heart. You traverse the town of Amahara and make choices that decide the fate of its inhabitants. As you make these choices, you will come to rely on your handy weapon(s), whatever it may be, to cut down various opponents who stand in your way between peace in the town or its fiery downfall. Way of the Samurai 2 presents a larger, more non-linear game than its predecessor. The sizeable Amahara is presented on a map for you to select areas on, as opposed to the previous town, in which you merely travelled across various parts by foot. With the inclusion of this bigger playground, a greater combination of events is achieved and, thus, a greater number of choices. The two day 'time limit' of the last game has more than quadrupled to a whopping ten days, each of which has been divided into five sections, making each ripe with possiblity. The fighting is much improved as well. The most notable addition is the Instant Kill. Depending upon whether the enemy uses a vertical or horizontal strike, you can catch the opposition off-balance and inflict a single, fatal blow. This aids in the offing of the numerous underlings you will face. One cannot forget all the new weapons at your disposal. From Musashi's good ol' double sword technique to spears, your ronin's repertoire of weaponry is more varied than before. The create-a-character feature still exists; though not exploiting the Eye-Toy, like Tony Hawk Underground, which allowed you to map your own face onto a character, it still gives enough room for you to make your own distinctive assassin (should you choose that path). Added in this installment is the ability to buy accessories to further express your own style. Feel like slaughtering thugs wearing a giant Bunny Head? Be my guest! Want to wear an eyepatch to give yourself that "ARRRRRRRRRR I'm a pirate!" feel? Sure! My only gripe about this feature is that for some reason, you can only wear one thing at a time, even if they belong on different parts of the body. So if you want to pair up your Eyeglasses with Shoulderpads, you're out of luck. Maybe next time... The story itself is immersive enough despite not being the next Metal Gear Solid. You really feel the gravity of your choices in every event that they trigger like when... eh... you should find out for yourself, lest I spoil the fun to be had. Be warned: this is a niche game. There is a reason why gamerankings.com has a 66% or so average on this from professional critics. But please take my word on this; Way of the Samurai 2 is a much more accesible game than, say, Harvest Moon. If I could sum this up for most people, I'll go ahead and say this: "Grand Theft Samurai." Sure, this undermines this game's own flair and design, but it makes it that much easier to convey the message of its astounding nonlinearity. If you passed up the first game, I don't blame you. It was short, limited in its paths, and the graphics were blah.
But with Way of the Samurai 2, all its shortcomings have been remedied and now there IS no doubt: YOU MUST GET THIS GAME. I never rave in my reviews, but I'm making an exception for this. Missing this game is missing an experience. |
Supposed to be much better&longer than the origional...
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| Review Date: June 15, 2004 |
| Reviewer: Powerslave, Hell |
| As an avid fan of WoS1, I can tell you that you'll either really really love the series(like me), or hate it deathly. While the first had many downfalls (I.E. almost no save system, game lasted only 2 hours, small world-if you could even call it that...), Way of the Samurai 2, you still get to pick what you look like and such, this time around, you can use two swords at once, and the town actually has...oh my God...PEOPLE! and SHOPS! This time, there should actually be a use for the money system in the game x_x. I guess this time theres three sides you can join, the police, the gang, or the townspeople. Well I don't know, but I plan to buy this, I suggest you rent it, to determine wether your a lover or a hater. If you decide you love it, by all means, buy it. |
for thoughs who like swords read!!
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| Review Date: July 16, 2004 |
| Reviewer: , |
| if you like swords in any way, get this game. i've played the first one and i liked that one a lot but it lacked what the second game has now and thats why this game is so great. graphics are great and two of the things i like is that you can choose a differnt way to play it everytime so you never get bored, and there are lots of sword. i perfer the bosses ones or leaders whatever you want to call them, theres like 15 of them, i've almost got all of thoughs but i still got a while to go. and once you get swords you can make them better by takeing them to the smith. another thing thats great in this game is that if you do something it can change the way all the characters in the game look at you, wich is pretty neat. the sword moves in the are sweet and you can always learn new ones. like i said if you like samurais and swords, or just looking for a game with adventure get this one |
Far more complex. Not for the young children
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| Review Date: July 15, 2004 |
| Reviewer: , |
| I have owned the American version for about 1 week and I have been actively playing the game getting to several endings. I loved the first one. This one is far more complicated.This game is definately not for young children. There are themes here such as drug use, sex, and lots of violence. For the adults buying this game. Now back to the review although this game was far more expansive with many different characters, outfits and scenarios this game also has alot less fighting in most of the jobs that you must aquire to get money to buy goods. You start out by finding things like lost people, packages, or you have to strong arm people out of money. While this was a change of pace from the first one I found some of the jobs a little tedious often times boring. You have to complete several "find the baby/package/person/ before you get to the more complex jobs. So this is far from hack and slash. Its alot more talk and find and occasionally fight. Which is fine but along with the dialogue that I must put up with every time I start a new game it can get annoying. |
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