Game Review: Samurai Western
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What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that players advance by killing everyone
in their path and that blood shoots from bodies in fountains
(although, blood can be turned off). Also, it features overt
streotypes, including the main character, identified by his
distinctive dress and heavy accent.
Families who decide to play this game may want to discuss genre video games. If a video game is done in the style of a western movie, for example, does this its stereotypical characters and violence more tolerable? Where do you draw the line?
Common Sense Media Review
This game harkens back to the days when video games demanded
a basic skill set from a player. As the game progressed and
became more difficult, success became contingent on one's
ability to master the basic moves. In SAMURAI WESTERN -- the
third game in the Way of the Samurai series -- players have but
one attack button and two buttons with identical functions that
allow them to either evade or deflect bullets. It's that
simple.
The plot centers around a Samurai who comes to the Wild West to find his brother, but the actual mission becomes secondary as you, the Samurai, travel through corrals and ghost towns killing everybody in your path.
Players will get pretty good with the Japanese katana after practicing the same moves: slashing, jumping, spinning and stabbing. Cutting through outhouses and balconies, ghost towns and coal mines, you'll dispatch hundreds of cowboys without breaking a sweat (though your thumb may become sore).
The premise is kind of strange and fun, and the repetitive action can be therapautic, but the game has plenty of quality-control problems. For one, you mostly fight clones of the same core group of bad guys, including rifle men, shot gunners, knife fighters, and sombrero wearing machine gunners. Often you'll find yourself fighting five or six of the exact same character, almost as if you're in a hall of mirrors. These characters even mutter the same exact comments without variation. For example, a particular group of pistoleers, without fail, say "Not like this," when they die.
There are other unrealistic moments: In the bosses' house, you can leave the room and go up a couple of floors and still hear the crooks below cursing and grunting the exact same comments as if you were there.
The bosses are more interesting, though still cardboard cutouts of characters you've encountered in cowboy movies or Bugs Bunny cartoons (for example, one henchman with a heavy French accent bears a strong reseblance to Bug's nemesis Blacque Jacque Shellacque). Get used to being asked "Can you feel my love for you?" as you fight him.
The oddest characters are the cuddly little creatures that bear a strong resemblance to Lucas's Ewoks in "Return of the Jedi." These fuzzy little fellows toss bombs and dynamite as their voices shrill "I'm going to blow you away!"
Despite their simplicity, the fight sequences are fun. Adrenalin junkies will enjoy particular moments when bullets are deflected with sword play, and three enemies at once simultaneously give up the ghost. Players have the option of first- or second-person perspective; second-person is clearer even when fighting as many as 10 characters at a time, as bombs roll and bullets whiz by, whereas in first-person a player's field of view becomes severely limited. In either perspective, you'll find that if you go too near to a wall, the wall envelops the character, in effect blinding you. This is a pain but not too bad a problem since most of the action takes place in wide open spaces.
The killing and blood in this game makes it inappropriate for younger players. Mature gamers looking to spend a few mindless hours should be fine, and may actually enjoy this goofy game for what it is: a not-too-deep, slash 'em up rip roaring killing frenzy.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
