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Muramasa: The Demon Blade Review
Introduction
Gameplay, Game Flow, and Combat
As you scroll across the screen, you'll oftentimes be immersed in a beautiful background and beautiful foreground to accompany it. Your adventure will send you through forests, caves, mountains, cities, and the seas of Japan; all beautifully depicted as you slash your enemies in each stage.
Speaking of combat, this time around Vanillaware has taken a unique look at the way players will defeat their foes as the onslaught of characters on screen aim to eliminate you. As the player in both Kisuke and Momohime's stories, you will start out with three blades. A tutorial on combat is available as it's needed right away and some players might not be used to the method in which you defeat several types of opponents. These blades are prone to break if used to defend or deflect attacks too often tracked with a meter called Soul Power. Some players might be drawn back with this feature where sometimes you could end up with all three of your blades broken and no way to defend or attack, however; if configured properly you'll be able to alleviate the problem pretty easily.
The blades are the drawing point of the game where players are compelled to collect all 107 of the blades either through defeating a boss or forging the blade in the main menu. The main blades after defeating the bosses in the game allow one to open up barriers scattered through the game to get further in the story or even traverse side dungeons. I'm personally amazed by the detail they gave all of the blades in the game where either the look of the blade itself or the hilt color differentiates and adds style. There are two types of blades; the long blade and the short blade. I personally felt the faster short blade made the action more fluid and fun since the long blade can feel sluggish and boring to use after a while. Collecting the blades are quite interesting as you can attain more of them after beating the game and swapping blades between Momohime and Kisuke. Normal blades stem off of the main blades attained in the game, and they are bought with Spirit points and Soul points. Each blade has an inherent "blade skill" that adds to the combat action and releases impressive attacks to help defeat enemies.
At some points in the action though, you may be prone to think that this game is mostly hack and slash. Sometimes pressing the A button like a frantic schizophrenic may be the way you get through crowds of enemies, but action can also be strategic with the different blades and it's inherent soul power along with its blade skill. The game is divided in difficulty between Muso and Shura version and even a harder difficulty after you beat the game with Shura. Muso is basically the easier of the two modes where the game is much easier and enemies take off less damage, while Shura gives a challenge to those who become accustomed to the action in the game.
I played through both story modes and felt that Kisuke's was much shorter than Momohime's. Both stories, like I said before, are completely different from each other, though they both occur at the same time, and both are equally compelling story lines. Players will find that both characters are fun to use and the little quirks and side things are what make it fun. Personally I loved seeing the different character designs on the enemies and bosses I faced. I think if one were to give the game a chance; they'd find that they would enjoy something the game offers.
Graphics and Presentation
The layout of the levels are beautiful and rarely do I see any slack on the design of things overall. The bosses often take up massive stages from fighting a giant centipede to slashing at the God of Thunder the cell shading and artistic representation really impressed me. There was a point in the game where I actually went to the random restaurants just to see the design of the food and seeing it be eaten by the main character. Even simple things like that had no fault in design and no re-using of old designs.
From a person looking in on the game and hearing it's 2-D might not expect that it could achieve good graphics, but one look at the game will really surprise you.
Controls
I used the wiimote and the the gamecube controller for the most part through the game and I liked the gamecube the controller the most. For an action game, I felt that the wiimote would have felt clumsier to me, and I was right for the most part. The motion sensor isn't used here, but the button layout isn't all that bad, and you could get used to it if you used it for a good amount of the game. The button layout on the gamecube controller is sort of strange to start out with although getting used to it isn't all that bad. In combat and roaming the map you basically use four buttons and the control stick. So even if you're terrible at memorizing buttons to press, it's easy to pick up what to do. I personally found myself using just the L button and A button most of the time, which are the switch blades button and attack button, respectively.
Re-Playability
I've read a couple of other reviews for this game and the main complaint was that there was no depth in gameplay and nothing to do besides playing the main part of the game. I disagree slightly with those reviewers because I saw a lot more depth than what it was said to have. Like I mentioned before, the game can be won multiple times with different blades to earn more blades and earning new endings for the characters. I beat the game with both Kisuke and Momohime in one save file and it was highly rewarding when I did so. After you beat the game it gives you the ability to go into dungeons that were previously locked and the ability to earn more items.
The only factor that the RPG fans might hate is even with leveling up to gain strength and vitality, there's not a whole lot of customization for the character that a typical RPG would have. I'm a big RPG player myself, however; I didn't have any problems with game the way it is, where it's straightforward with it's combat system and easy to pick up with its game flow. Different difficulty levels offer another playthrough for those who want more challenge and those who want to do things differently the second time.
Audio and Soundtrack
The sound is what I expected from the game; basically traditional Japanese music that goes well with the game. It's not outstanding, but it's not bad at all. Battle music pops up when you battle and different tracks pop up as you travel across different areas on the map. I must say the voice acting is completely in Japanese with English subtitles which I love. The mouths move for the characters on the screen as they say the words and the voice acting is actually pretty good. If you're an anime fan you might even be able to recognize some of them ^_^.
Summary and the Wrap Up
Vanillaware has made another side-scrolling classic for the Wii and this time mastered the art of the sword. I came in expecting gold and came out with gold. I loved Odin Sphere and now I love Muramasa. The Action becomes intuitive and is a must buy for fans of the games made by the company. If you're unsure then demo it! It's worth your time and attention to play through at least once.
Good Stuff: The graphics are out of this world and the side-scrolling combat action is fun. Gameplay is easy to follow so you won't get lost and the story for both Kisuke and Momohime are interesting. The little quirks in the game will have you enjoying it for days.
Bad Stuff: I will warn you that at a point in the game the difficulty curve for fighting enemies goes up if you're playing on Shura or not. It's not customizable to the extent of RPGs; instead mostly made for action.
9/10 |
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