It was a
peaceful day. A sunny day, a time when two unlikely heroes might spend their
time searching for the samurai who smells of sunflowers. An all-powerful Oni
stands in front of victory’s gate. Gangster monkeys make their presence known,
showing no mercy as the biggest thugs in the primate world. Is this game
crazy? Most likely. "Crazy" is this game’s specialty.
Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked
stars Jin and Mugen, two sword-fighting anti-heroes who are destined to save
the world whether they want to or not. Inbetween rounds of draining their
enemies’ blood, Jin and Mugen will communicate in dozens of real-time
sequences that will lead the player down a path of intrigue and confusion.
Most are amusing, with witty
dialogue and clever anecdotes. Some end with a cliffhanger and a "to be
continued" line, which is where the confusion comes in. The next scene might
at first seem to contradict what you just saw, or it might have seemed to
resolve the conflict without explaining what happened. Or it could just
be that this is work-in-progress and the developers aren’t ready to show us
every sequence yet.
Samurai
Champloo’s gameplay, that goes along with this story of gangster monkeys and
sarcastic samurai, is like a single-player fighting game on steroids. Attacks
are heavily combo-based. Players will use the circle and triangle buttons to
execute combos, all of which are laid out on the top of the screen at all
times. I wasn’t sure what to make of this prior to playing the game. Gamers
have a lot of experience memorizing button sequences — do we really need a
constant reminder?
But that’s
not why they’re there. The "combo trees" (as the developers call them) are
listed in order to designate which combo sets you are able to perform. There
are several combo sets, each with a unique combo set. Combo sets can branch
into other combos, and if you’re quick, you can switch combo sets and perform
even bigger combos! It’s very much a game for fans of fighting games.
Separating
the combos from each other is an exclusive soundtrack to each set. Though it
does not seem to have any effect on the gameplay, each set is put on a record.
You’re given two records at the start of the game and must buy the rest. Equip
two at a record shop, then switch between them at any time during battle. The
music changes the second you change the record, as does the combo tree shown
on top.
Players may
have also noticed large button icons displayed on some of the screens. Those
are your counter attacks. If you hit an attack button just before your
opponent strikes, up to four of the face buttons (X, square, triangle and/or
circle) will appear. Press any of the buttons shown and you’ll counter the
attack. If done too slowly your opponent may be able to block it, but at least
you won’t have received any damage. Press the wrong button, however, and
you’ll be knocked down, leaving your warrior vulnerable to group attacks.
Thus far
levels have been either short and cramped or long and linear, with dozens of
enemies spawning in each area. Enemy types change every level. Most appear to
belong to the demon species, with sickly faces, inhuman actions, hunched
backs, sword-resistant flesh, etc. The whiny, gotta-have-their-way-or-else
gangster monkeys turned out to be the easiest of the bunch, even though they
don’t appear until the fourth level. Could this be changed? Anything’s
possible, but I think the monkeys were created for player amusement more than
they were to be a great challenge. That being the case, the mission was
accomplished.
(If only
they had thought to include a few hip-hop hippos. Before sitting on you,
they’d rap about how much pain they were about to unleash.)
Although
this is only a preview build, it seems that Samurai Champloo will not be the
most realistic-looking game on the planet. That’s a small price to pay for the
interesting direction the artists took with this game, utilizing a couple
filmmaking techniques to jolt and excite the player.
Loading
occurs after every scenario in this game, whether interactive or just a movie
sequence. Before the loading takes place the load screen image flashes on the
screen. The screen goes back to the previous image, then pops in the load
screen with rectangular flashes and a sped-up soundtrack. They use unusual
sounds during the load screen. The movie sequence changes don’t have
conventional dissolves, but will instead jump back and forth between angles
and scenarios to keep "been there, done that" players from getting bored. The
angles themselves are pretty good, and the dialogue during these sequences is
excellent.
Coming this April, fighting fans
and Samurai Champloo nuts alike will want to get sidetracked with
Sidetracked. It looks like it’s going to have just the right amount of combo
oomph to carry it over the anime game slump, winning the hearts of gamers with
great action and great storytelling.
