Now I’m not an Anime fan, but when I heard about Afro Samurai becoming a game I was immediately intrigued. I had been shown the program a number of times and had liked what I saw. It seemed to me that it would make a really good hack n’ slash game, so when Namco Bandai announced that a game of the miniseries was in development I was excited and pleasantly surprised. With more and more information coming in about the game, the hype level of myself and other fans alike was on the rise. Would they pull it off? Could they pull it off? A few months passed and we heard nothing. I began to think that the game had been canceled, once again, bit by bit, we started to hear new info and the fear that, one of the most interesting licensed games in a long time, was no more had gone. Afro Samurai looked awesome, sounded awesome and it looked like the devs were dedicated to bringing a great game to fruition, despite it’s roots. They delivered, thank god.

The cell shaded, Anime-style visuals are the first thing that hit you. The game looks amazing. Of course, this game looks nice when everything is still, but what happens when the action kicks in? It looks even better, the visual style combined with the fluid animation really work well together and many cannot tell the difference between the game and the Anime (believe me I checked). Throughout my numerous play sessions of this game I never once noticed a single, major, visual glitch. This took me by surprise, I had assumed that the game’s visual integrity wouldn’t hold up for long and, like I said, I was pleasantly surprised. Had Namco Bandai actually made a ‘good’ licensed game? Yes and no.

Although the visual quality is really good and the animation fluid this is often spoiled by the game’s camera. This game is a Ninja Gaiden clone in every sense, now that isn’t nessacerily a bad thing. It is when it comes to the camera though. The camera feels like it has been lifted straight out of Team Ninja’s game and this definitely is a hinderance and stops the game being all that it could be. Intense, action packed fight scenes are ruined by having to constantly “nanny” the camera in order to see where you’re going and crucial jumps, like many of the game’s more platformy (is that even a word) sequences are also affected by this terrible camera. Of course I wouln’t want the camera fixed to one spot, it’d just be nice if I didn’t have to control that and my character simultaneously. It really does ruin the players experience, which is a real shame.

The plot is a little confusing too. In a straight narrative form it isn’t too hard to follow, but in a game like this, especially when playing in chunks, it’s definitely quite hard to tell what’s going on around you and why your doing what your doing. The mission structure doesn’t help either, the game transitions from one mission to another almost seamlessly and if you’re not constantly paying attention you can often find yourself wondering what you’re meant to be doing. Fans will also be annoyed to know that some of the plot points from the miniseries have been changed or removed in the game. Of course, a number of factors go into these kind of things and, personally, they didn’t hinder my understanding of the story, but they didn’t exactly help either.

Going back to the animation, one of the game’s many successes. I feel it has worked as well as it did because of the simplicity of the combat. This simple nature of one of the game’s key mechanics is, most definitely, a double edged sword (no pun intended).

The combat consists of a simple heavy and light attack as well as kicking and, of course, jumping actions. My point is that, due to the simple nature of many of Afro’s attack’s, the devs have been able to perfect the animation to such a degree that it looks really good. The simplicity is also a hinderance as many of the fights get repetetive quite quickly and, although they do throw in a few new attacks here and there, it’s generally just a matter of spamming heavy attack until the enemy falls down dead. This is often the case in this sub-genre of games and I almost thought that Namco Bandai had changed that, at least a little bit.

The best part of this game, for me, was the audio. Having a music director like, rapper, The RZA will definitely cause a stir and his inclusion definitely seems to have made a great soundtrack. Although they’re not all RZA tracks, the Wu-Tang members influence can be heard throughout the game and it definitely fits the game. Combined with the fast paced, flowing, combat it is the icing on the cake. It’s just a shame that the cake was a little burnt at the core. It’s not just the soundtrack and that is the audio standout. The voice acting is great too. Samuel L Jackson and Ron Pearlman really bring the character to life and I feel that without them people who aren’t fans of the series wouldn’t have cared for the story at all.

This game has got some great qualities, an all star cast and one of the best soundtracks in modern gaming, but it seems that a lot of the game’s elements are rushed and I feel that if a little more time had been spent making this a great game and then adding in all these amazing aesthetics it would’ve been a must buy for every gamer. Despite this it is a fun game that’s definitely worth a few hours of your time if you get the chance to rent it or buy it on the cheap. Personally, I don’t think I’d consider dropping top dollar on this. It is a fun experience and one I recommend, but only if the price is right. For fans of the series, if you feel you can get over the problems, I’d consider this a must buy. You’re going to love it.

It had some great ideas, but like many games this generation, they aren’t fully fleshed out and end up pulling the quality of the game down and holding it back from the visceral, visual and audio masterpiece it could’ve been.

7/10

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