Title: Genji: Days of the Blade

Date: 12.06.2006

Genre: Action

Platform: PlayStation 3

Developer: SCEA

Publisher: SCEA

Genji: Days of the Blade is a solid game worth picking up with your semi-shiny new PS3. It's the sequel to a PlayStation2 game from sometime last year or so. Read on to see if it's something you'll want.

Story
There's no complaints here in the story, it picks up after the other game left off, but you really don't need to play it to dive right into this one and fully comprehend everything. You must defend your Genji clan, led by your brother, from your rivals, the Heishi clan. The story is simple and easy to understand, and quite predictable.

Graphics
This is the only section where this game truly shines, the game looks very detailed, down to every last particle of dust, it really flexes what developers know of the PS3 so far. Everything looks amazing, but when you get down to it, that's what's so bad about this game. It all just seems superficial and they rushed everything else in exchange for great graphics.

Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty good, solid at times even. It isn't, however, anything to gawk at or be amazed by. You'll find yourself in pretty decent combat, surrounded by lots of enemies who try and get behind you, in no time you'll be chaining together attacks and combos, spinning around and attacking flanking enemies and controlling it all very easily with the PS3 controller. If you've played the other Genji game, you'll be in very familiar territory, and if not, you still won’t feel left behind because this game sports a pretty short learning curve. There are some weird camera angles and a disappointing map system that make some puzzles a little hard to complete, but nothing worth crying over. The gameplay is solid, but nothing amazing. You get four different characters, which actually provide different gaming experiences because they don't feel the same, which is a definite plus.

Controls
The controls are solid and easy to master. You view the game in third person, and control your character with the left stick. D-Pad switches between characters in your party, the right stick will allow you to do evasive flips and such, and the face buttons by default are mainly attacks. You can target with an R button, but it's not really necessary and I hardly used it, I mainly just flailed about with my combos of choice. The motion sensing aspect of this game is truly horrible, because you can use it for evasive maneuvers, but it really does just feel tacked on, and just another thing they can list under features. Disappointing indeed.

Sound
The sound is very good, and the audio track is definitely up to par. You'll hear many tracks over and over which gets repetitive, but the tracks themselves are beautiful and definitely harmonic. The sound effects themselves are solid, and you'll hear the swinging of your blades more than anything, it's all very well done. The voice acting is slightly above average, and you do have the option for Japanese voice-overs with English sub-titles, which is a plus.

Buy, Rent, or Pass?
Buy it, I think. Or at least try it at a friends house first, it's a pretty good game, it's just disappointing because it feels rushed and is just a little bit of eye candy. It does look amazing, but that shouldn't be what a game is about.

Game Score

C+

Reviewed By: Contributed