Afro Samurai

[The_Disturbed_One]

Afro Samurai is an action game in a classic beat-em up style that is based directly off of the manga (Japanese comics) and anime series of the same name. It was released on January 27, 2009 on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It is the first game to be released by the Namco Bandai Games-owned company Surge. The game's plot centers around the main character (Afro Samurai) and his quest to avenge his father's death. The cast on the game features the voice talents of Ron Perlman, Kelly Hu, and of course, Samuel L. Jackson.

Okay, first off, I have never seen a single episode of the anime nor have I read any of the manga, so going into the game, I had no idea what to expect. The only thing I knew was that the main characters' voices (Afro and Ninja Ninja) were both going to be voiced by one of my favorite actors, Mr. Samuel L. Jackson. I'm not a big fan of beat-em up games, the few I have played I had no fun with (including Devil May Cry 2 and 4 and the god-awful Too Human), but I found the gameplay to be quite awesome. It may be because I love gore in my video games, but hey, who doesn't?

While the fighting centers around combining quick attacks, strong attacks, and kicks to vanquish the games' many foes, you are able to use a special Focus mode, slowing down time and allowing for one hit kills on weaker opponents. Now I'm going to mention the gore factor again because its one of the many great components that make this game pretty fun.

Anyway, on to the visuals. Again, I haven't seen the show, but I thought the environments and the characters were pretty to say the least. I didn't want to stop and gaze at the environments like Oblivion but it was nice and it was in a style I haven't seen in a while, if not ever. I'll include a couple screenshots at the end of this post.

The next sections have probably the best 2 components in the game: the music and the voice acting. I'm not a fan of rap music (I'm a motherf***in headbanger ) but I just felt so much more into the fights simply because of the music. It would get kinda light when you're just walking to another area, but the minute a swarm of enemies comes flying at you, the music gets bumping.

Samuel L. Jackson. I don't think I need to say more but f*** it, I will. The voice acting on the game is amazing, to say the least, but by playing both leads, Jackson throws the serious drama and makes you kind of feel for Afro one minute, then makes you laugh your ass off at his expense when he voices Ninja Ninja. Then 2 other big names show up: Ron Perlman, best known for his role as Hellboy, and Kelly Hu, who played Lady Deathstrike in X2 and Visas Marr in Star Wars KotOR 2.

Okay now the bad. The camera never goes the way you want it to go, and there is no way to just keep it stationary above the fight. This makes for a severe disadvantage when you are trying to slice and dice your enemies especially when you can't see the bloody-goodness. Also, there are times when you have to go Mario style and have at the ol' platforming game. Not very fun especially when the controls sometimes don't want to work with your jumps.

So, all in all Afro Samurai was actually a really great game and I think I might check out the anime. I played the game on the Xbox 360 console, so the PS3 version might differ slightly. I highly recommend it to anyone who feels in the mood for cool visuals, an awesome voice cast, and chopping morons into pieces. I give Afro Samurai for the Xbox 360 an 8.5/10.

[The_Disturbed_One]

I decided I did want to watch the series after I was done with the game and I was mostly impressed. I'll go ahead and add another segment to this review, because of the fact I have now viewed the series.

Now, the first thing that caught my eye was the blood and gore-it is almost identical to the game, so in that respect, I give the both a nod. The actors in the series are the same as the game, so that was a plus as well. The music was very similar to the game, however, not every fight scene has the bumping music that the game has, simply because the series has more drama and actual feeling to it than the game had.

Finally, the storyline, while mainly the same, was not exactly the way it was portrayed in the game. The game had additional levels and characters that the anime series did not have. However, because of how short the anime was, I understand why they added said extra content and say the additional levels in the game were a plus, if for nothing else, mindless blood-spilling action. The fights that were similar in the game and the anime were pretty intense and the one that I thought was particularly awesome was the fight Afro had with his mirror counterpart, which you can enjoy in the series and play out in the video game.

Overall, I'd say that Afro Samurai stayed true to the short-lived anime series. From the action, to the music, to the amazing voice cast, Afro Samurai the anime series and the game are worth a look-see.

[jingizu99]

I loved the game too. Some of the platform / puzzle elements are annoying, but the game is great fun. There's a lot of backstory to the game that I wasn't aware off but it did prompt me to go and find the the series and movie. That can't be bad for a game can it?

There are plenty of skills and abilities to unlock, and apart from the Flush achievements, the majority of the achievements are gettable - nothing too hard but enough to be challenging.