Genji: Days of the Blade picks up pretty much where Dawn of the Samurai finished. The conflict between the Heishi (bad guys) and the Genji (good guys, supposedly) clans seemed to be over once you defeated the Heishi at the end of the last game. However, with the power source known as the Amahagane lost to the Genji, the Heishi regroup and use a demonic force known as the Mashogane to regain power and turn all their people into demons. Yoshitsune, Benkei and the priestess Shizuka, the protagonists, have gone to visit Lord Yoritomo (who happens to be Yoshitsune’s brother) in order to discuss the next course of action. Upon their visit, a sacred sword is stolen and the Heishi attempt to use it to gather souls for the Mashogane, and thus open the gateway to the “overworld”. Obviously, it's upto the good guys to stop this.
Even though the general (and we mean very general) sequence of events is based on a classical literary piece from Japan, the story overall comes off as more of an action plot without too many revelations. Of course, the link to historical events is very loose, as the consensus is that there were no giant crabs running around Feudal Japan (re: E3 demo). In all, it actually helps a bit if you’ve played the original game, as there are a lot of references to the events from there. In a normal case, we’d say that an action plot is merely an excuse to lay some smackdown. In terms of Days of the Blade, the plot is too thin and linear to come under that description.
If there are crabs, why can't there be guns?
If only that were the worst of the issues to plague the game. The Xbox 360 has been available for purchase worldwide since November 2005, arguably the start of the “next generation”. Given that it was a year before Sony joined the party, you’d expect a launch title on the PS3 to be more advanced than one from the Xbox 360 launch, right? Wrong. In fact, Genji: Days of the Blade is actually a worse title on the PS3 than its predecessor was on the PS2. Not only have a lot of the advantageous elements been stripped out, but there has been some particularly awful design choices made. Remarkably, there is virtually nothing here that improves on the original.
The game retains the two characters from the first game - Yoshitsune, the agile and nimble two-sword wielding prodigy, and Benkei, the six-foot plus monk with an even bigger club for a weapon. In an attempt to add variety, the developers have added two more playable characters. Shizuka is a priestess who uses a fan-type weapon on a retractable string, and Buson, an envoy of the Gods who has taken over the body of one of your former enemies and has borrowed that enemy’s staff/sword weapon. Each of these four are radically different in battle and in environmental situations. However, the two extra characters border on being useless, even though Shizuka’s weapon can be used as a grapple on occasions, to get to otherwise unreachable areas. Buson on the other hand is utterly useless. His fighting style involves standing on the spot and twirling his staves, which makes him a sitting duck. Envoys of the Gods just ain’t what they used to be.
Given that you’ll be in battle most of the time, it's advisable to make use of the healthy combination of speed and brute power that comes from the original duo. You’ll find that fighting is pretty much the same as it was on the PS2, from each of the character's perspectives. This means that each character has a distinctive set of moves and five weapons to be found throughout. In order to add variety to what would have otherwise been standard hack-and-slash fare, players have the power of the Amahagane. Once the meter is full, the player can take their enemies into an alternate dimension, where time slows down and you can hack away at your enemies by pressing the button as it prompts on screen. This sequence has been dumbed-down since its predecessor. It’s simpler but much less effective, and less rewarding against bosses.
There hasn’t been any real improvement to the fighting engine. In fact, combat feels slower, but hardly more precise. The block that we suggested be made sharper hasn’t been touched, and as a matter of fact is even sloppier than before. Not to mention that the button that’s meant to lock on to enemies doesn’t appear to work too well. To add to the exclusions, the game has lost a lot of its quasi-RPG status, by taking out the levelling-up and the ability to buy supplies. Finally, the game is now played over a series of linear levels with environmental puzzles that need a specific item to be found or a particular character’s skill for progression. This is instead of the looser structure in the last game, that at times allowed a bit of exploration.
The guy on the right is admiring Shizuka's moves.
Despite the dilution, we would have been left with a passable hack-and-slash had it not been for three key issues that pretty much ruin the game. The most substantial of them all would have to be the absolutely awful camera, almost certainly one of the worst cameras in nearly fifteen years of 3D gaming. Once you enter a room, it’s either stuck in the one place, or sticks to a wall. The problems with this camera include extreme disorientation and a need to rely on the mini-map (which is not much better), a feeling of confinement, clipping, characters running towards the camera some 50% of the time, an inability to see an enemy, even when they are virtually next to you, and suffering many unseen attacks from enemies off screen (again, even when they are virtually next to you). It completely ruins boss fights, makes platforming sequences a nightmare, and whenever you find a good angle, you take one step and you’re back to an awful one!
In the original Genji, the camera was fixed, but thanks to some well-designed locations, it rarely gave players any trouble. This abomination of a camera almost single-handedly ruins good action. However, if being hit when you can’t see your enemy is not enough, try some awful combat balance as well. Given the dilution of the RPG elements, you’ll feel as if you’re not getting stronger throughout the game, there's no longer a way of increasing your defense, and the slow, poor mechanics work with the camera to hamper the combat. Furthermore, these mechanics simply weren’t meant to handle as many enemies as are thrown at you. Your character is often beaten to a pulp, while all you can do is stand and watch. In fact, you can be at full health and a single enemy barrage will knock off all your health and you're left to start over.
The original Genji had some grand boss fights as well. So grand, that the developers were so intimidated by the awesomeness, that they recycled them into this game. Almost half the bosses you will have faced before or will face more than once throughout the game – including the infamous crab. Again, what were epic and satisfying encounters have been ruined by the camera, sloppy combat, diluted features and awful balance. The game mechanics are quite sloppy and reminiscent of early 3D games, as you’ll often find that rudimentary tasks such as platforming and clinging to edges becomes an awful chore. In a somewhat questionable effort to try and make the game “next-gen”, the title has incorporated some Sixaxis functionality. So, by thrusting the controller in one of four directions, your character will perform a dodge move in that direction. Too bad you can already do this (and much more effectively) by use of the right analogue stick. Given this functionality, maybe the right analogue stick could’ve had a camera mapped to it, but then that might have actually been logical, now wouldn’t it?
Behold, my mighty beating column!
If there's one area that Genji: Days of the Blade doesn’t fail at, it’s the presentation. While at first it may only seem like the game is a super-polished PS2 title, you’ll come to find that the game does manage to tap into some of the power of the PS3. Characters are particularly well-detailed, there can be a lot of things going on at once, and there are a lot effects that couldn’t have been done on the PS2. However, later on, there are some hits to the framerate, and there isn’t a great variety of enemies. What's more, the mechanics of the game show that this is pretty much an older game with a very shiny coat of paint. The game manages to retain a nice distinctive and unique art style, but Genji on the PS2 was one of the most visually pleasing titles on the system, whereas the PS3 sequel comes out at the launch of a new system.
In terms of sound, the soundtrack and the sound effects have been heavily recycled. Most of them will be familiar if you’ve played the previous game. In a way it’s a good thing, as it suits the style of the game, but we would have liked some advancements. The voicing carries over from the last game, with most characters retained. It feels a bit forced and clichéd at times, but it gets the job done.
Overall, Genji: Days of the Blade is a poor effort, regardless of whether or not it’s a launch title. In terms of gameplay, it does nothing better than the original did, and infact does a few things a lot worse. For a developer in this day and age to be unable to get a workable camera is utterly pathetic. Even though the game is competent and stylish at its core, the shiny visuals aren’t enough to cover a game that simply doesn’t belong in this so-called next generation. If you’re really gunning to get an action game with your PS3 at launch, give it a rent, but you’re much better off digging up the original.
What I'd like to see is the reviewers catering to a wider auddience, rather than being so narrow minded. Whenever a review is done, it's always worded as if the judgement is the be all and end all for the game, so if the reviewer doesn't like it, the game isn't worth having. However, in most cases, I think you will find quite a few people who will object (such as myself). I'd like to see something like, "The game has flaws, however if you don't mind *such and such*, or are a fan of *xxxx*, then check this game out". Something a bit more positive, you know? Rather than "On the whole, this game sucks, don't buy it". That's what I would do.
Gamers do like them.
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