Afro Samurai The game review

 For those who don’t already know, Afro Samurai the game is a tie-in to the popular anime and manga of the same name which already had me worried because with the exception of Spider-Man 2 and possibly some of the Naruto games, tie-in games in general tend to be crap (oh hi Spider-Man 3). So is Afro Samurai any good? Well it’s better than most tie-ins but that’s not saying much.

The story follows Afro on his quest for revenge against Justice; a man with a god complex who killed Afro’s father by cutting off his head with two revolvers. If this sounds odd, try and remember that this is based off an anime. Afro is joined by Ninja Ninja his possible imaginary friend. The story follows most of what happened in the anime but it changes some parts like how Afro found out about his master being the number two and the ending.

The story itself is alright and during the loading you get scenes which seem to be Afro and someone elses memories that take place in the first person, like Afro’s fathers disembodied head talking to him and some scenes involving a little girl. I liked them but there are some problems, like how near the end, a scene where Afro looks like he is about to die just ends and the game just continues and never brings it up. The game is also ridiculously short at only 4 to 5 hours long with no reason to play it again. This is because there is no multi-player and clearing it only unlocks a harder difficulty setting. The game has nine chapters if you include the prelude and three of them are only boss fights.

Afro Samurai is unique in combat sense because despite the fact that it lets you cut enemies limbs off and has plenty of combos, it’s boring and gets repetitive quickly, which is not helped by the repetitive enemy types. While there are plenty of combos for you to try, you won’t need to look up the list because button mashing works better and faster. Afro Samurai also has a focus and overfocus. When you activate focus, time slows down and lets you slash them anyway you want, either vertical or horizontal. This means you can hit multiple enemies or instead cut or deflect bullets. The problem with this is that you can do this from the start and you don’t learn anything else for it so it gets boring quickly.

Along with focus there is also overfocus. Overfocus can also be activated by gaining focus by killing enemies, but when activated the world slows down and pressing the attack button causes Afro to zip over to enemies and kill them in one hit. It’s useful for dealing with large groups of enemies which is handy because you’ll always be fighting groups of enemies which makes focus kind of useless. The game does try to make focus relevant by including a mini game called body part poker which challenges you to cut off certain body parts from different enemies. It’s a fine idea but it only counts hands, legs and heads which is a shame really and doesn’t happen that often.

Afro Samurai’s bosses are a mixed bag. Some like the first one, and the one against your master are too easy and are over too quickly, while some are alright like the second to last one. The fight against Justice himself however, resembles what would happen if Doctor Peace from No More Heroes got infected by a virus from the Resident Evil series when he loses his arms. There is however one really cool boss fight that takes place in the sky against your robotic clone. The music suits the fight and since your falling from the sky the fight doesn’t feel as repetitive as all the others.

In what I guess is an attempt from the developers to add variety to the game, Afro Samurai has platform sections. The platforming itself is kind of boring and does feel a little out of place considering what Afro Samurai is meant to be about in general. The boring platforming is not helped at all by the games annoying camera and iffy controls because sometimes he refuses to grab onto ledges or jump after wall running so I died in these parts more than in the combat.

Afro Samurai does however look and sound great with the soundtrack being from the Wu-Tang Clan who also wrote the music for the anime even if the same song is used often. The same voice actors also voice the characters they voiced in the anime so for example Ninja Ninja and Afro are both voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. The games graphics look great and really help the game stand out from other games based on anime and/or manga. The game itself has no HUD but everything is shown in-game. Afro and your opponents health is shown by them glowing red as they take damage, although you can regain health by cutting teddy bears. The amulet at the end of Afro’s sword will glow as you gain focus and also when you get experience. Annoyingly, you’re never told how much experience you need and have, which would be useful because you unlock combos and get extra health and focus for leveling up.