I picked this up about a week ago, after loving the first game; I was quite excited about this. The game has a similar basic plot line to the first; you play a wandering samurai who strolls into town, getting yourself caught up in various events that happen over a ten day period.
The first game was a charming, if a little short, free roaming GTA-lite samurai sim. The free-form elements are back, but are now hampered by the games newfound morality. In the first due to its speed and relatively small number of events and characters, you could pretty much either kill everyone, or no-one without any real punishment. Now if you decide to play the evil ronin, cutting down everyone, you can wind up in real trouble. Although this adds to the game in some ways (for example if you are really bad, children will flee in the streets and do-gooders will openly try to attack you) in others it fails (quite simply, all shops and business refuse to sell you anything, leading to a frustrating dead-end to one of the games new elements - the job system)
Shenmue-style, you will have to do various jobs for money, to buy food and improve you weapons. There are three different factions to work for, giving the player plenty to do on a ten day jaunt. However some jobs can get in the way of the plot line, and as it's the players role to be in the right place at the right time, you can miss key plot lines by pick-pocketing, or rescuing babies.
To sum up then
Good
The game is based around replay, so it has a lot of value there
Lot's of swords/items to collect
Unique play style, if a little hampered by its own ambition
Cheap at ?29.99 or less
Fun to play at being a really evil ronin
60hz option
Much improved saving system
Bad
Horrible voice acting (luckily you can skip it)
Combat has a cheap exploitable move, which can lead to some dull battles
Not the most advanced game graphically
You need to be alert to hunt out the various plotlines
Not for pure action fans
Overall after a disappointing start, I'm now really enjoying this. Anyone else played this yet? I'd be interested to see what you all think.
The first game was a charming, if a little short, free roaming GTA-lite samurai sim. The free-form elements are back, but are now hampered by the games newfound morality. In the first due to its speed and relatively small number of events and characters, you could pretty much either kill everyone, or no-one without any real punishment. Now if you decide to play the evil ronin, cutting down everyone, you can wind up in real trouble. Although this adds to the game in some ways (for example if you are really bad, children will flee in the streets and do-gooders will openly try to attack you) in others it fails (quite simply, all shops and business refuse to sell you anything, leading to a frustrating dead-end to one of the games new elements - the job system)
Shenmue-style, you will have to do various jobs for money, to buy food and improve you weapons. There are three different factions to work for, giving the player plenty to do on a ten day jaunt. However some jobs can get in the way of the plot line, and as it's the players role to be in the right place at the right time, you can miss key plot lines by pick-pocketing, or rescuing babies.
To sum up then
Good
The game is based around replay, so it has a lot of value there
Lot's of swords/items to collect
Unique play style, if a little hampered by its own ambition
Cheap at ?29.99 or less
Fun to play at being a really evil ronin
60hz option
Much improved saving system
Bad
Horrible voice acting (luckily you can skip it)
Combat has a cheap exploitable move, which can lead to some dull battles
Not the most advanced game graphically
You need to be alert to hunt out the various plotlines
Not for pure action fans
Overall after a disappointing start, I'm now really enjoying this. Anyone else played this yet? I'd be interested to see what you all think.
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