afro samurai |

Publisher: Namco-Bandai Games

Developer: Namco-Bandai Games

Release Date: 1/27/2009

Available On

Afro-Samurai is just one of those comics or cartoons that you never really hear of until it’s a video game. Afro Samurai is about a samurai named Afro who is trying to find the #1 headband from the person who killed his father. Anyone who holds the #1 headband becomes a god, and only the #2 bearer can challenge #1. While the story has interesting developments and great characters, the game is mainly focused on combat. Afro and Ninja Ninja are voiced by Samual L. Jackson (you may have heard him as Officer Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas), along with Justice, voiced by Ron Perlman (of Hellboy fame).

There are a lot of elements to the combat in AS, but the whole thing becomes very monotonous after a few levels. You have three basic attacks: light, heavy, and kick (along with jumping). You also have focus attacks (which slow downtime), and if you hold either heavy or light, you instantly slice the enemy to bits. Not all enemies can easily succumb to the focus, so some will have to be weakened before using it. There is also a parry technique in which you can “mount” an enemy and slice their head off. Parry is essential to most boss fights (more on those later) and to staying alive.

While the combat is very satisfying only because of the sheer amounts of gore that are spilled, it does become very repetitive. There are combos you can learn, but they aren’t really necessary since you can just button-mash most of the time. I particularly loved the gore since it isn’t canned and any part you slice off will come off. If you slice just the toe that comes off, slice a piece of a guy’s skin, it comes off. The whole theme is very mature, with lots of cursing, sexual innuendos, and nude polecats. Yes, nude female samurais—nothing’s hotter than that. Anyways, there are some platforming sections, but this part of the game is somewhat flawed since Afro likes to stick to things a lot, and the controls for this can be somewhat unresponsive. Controls for combat are spot on, but they seem to become sluggish and sticky when you’re platforming.

Another great aspect (that I’m glad more developers are doing) is that there is no HUD. Just like in games such as Dead Space, everything depends on your main character to tell what’s going on. The more Afro glows red, the closer you are to dying when your focus is charged up. Afro’s pendant sparkles, and that’s pretty much all you need. You do level up and learn new focus moves such as bullet slice (reflect and slice bullets in slow-mo), mounting, etc. There are some different enemy types, but there could have been more. You’ll see a lot of the same ones halfway through the game, and it tends to add to the monotony.

Enemy AI is actually pretty good, and you will have a challenge fighting off enemies by the dozens. Thankfully, Afro is fully equipped to take on all these baddies. Combat doesn’t tend to get too frustrating until you get to bosses, since the windows for attacking are so small that it takes so much patience to kill them. While your character does level up, it doesn’t really make a difference since it’s all set on auto. The game is fairly short, clocking in at about 4-6 hours, depending on how you play the game and your skill level. There is zero replay value since there are no extra modes you unlock or anything. I just highly recommend Afro Samurai as a fun weekend rental.