Genji: Days of the Blade

by Darren Arquette - 2008/01/18 3:07pm

Genji 2: Days of the Blade takes place three years after Way of the Samurai, the first installment of the series. The game begins with Benki and Yoshononay, two original characters from the series, along with Lady Shusuka. Bosong, who was killed at the end of the first installment, is now resurrected to help destroy the new enemy. In the first game, the enemy was a rival clan, known as the Heyshe. But this time they have new powers provided by an army of demons embedded in to them, effectively being controlled by these purple demons within for control over Japan.

Plenty of cinematics are used to tell the story of ancient Japan as they face a number of wars in their history, with demons added for a level of supernatural intrigue. The story is simply, but has enough narrative twists and turns to keep any gamer entertained as they hack and slash their way through the battles. Each of the four characters can be swapped in an out of battle with a touch of the D-pad. You can change their weapons on the fly as well. Additionally, each character has a set of unique attributes and skills. Traveling through traditional Japanese environments and killing as many demons as you can along the way makes for a great game.

You may notice that you'll begin to favor certain characters over the others based on their particular skill set. One such example is using Yoshononay for his speed rather than using Benki, who is stronger but travels and moves at a snail's pace. They all have their advantages, but will generally be used only when their specific skill is needed, like jumping to a new area or reaching some far away object. Fortunately, this is aided by quick character changes. At certain points the game, the storyline requires the group to split up, forcing you to use the weaker characters and spend your resources on leveling them up, hoping that you'll get to the next save point or reach your goal.

At times, Genji 2 lacks in the area of good camera angles. Often enemies will be hidden in plain sight as the camera will fixate on the closest enemy, making your characters transparent to compensate for the angle of the camera. Because of this, you tend to be clustered once you encounter an enemy, despite the areas being quite large themselves. Although this has the next generation look to it, it really needs that camera change for the right analogue. There should be with no problem allowing the player to have that control considering you can use the Sixaxis controller for dodging attacks rather then the right analogue stick. Fortunately, by the time you tolerance level has reached it limits, your Kamui power has maxed out allowing you to enter a button mashing, combo mode killing off most of your surrounding enemies as long as you can finish the combo in time.

Although a fun title, it's the bad camera angles you mostly remember. Nonetheless, Genji 2 is still a fun and simple game. Any fan of the Onimusha series should like this game, as Days of the Blade is a faster paced version of that franchise.

7 out of 10