Samurai Jack

Game Title: Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
Released: August 21, 2020
Game Length: 6 Hours
Grade: C

Expectations: Can you imagine that the original series of four seasons came out in 2001 with a daunting fifth season that came out in 2017? By only looking at a couple of screenshots, I imagined a slightly open-world divided by multiple stages where you interact with characters from the series. The cartoon style tells me that it isn't going to be high budget and it will probably be filled with around 15 hours of easy-going Lego type fun. I'm also hoping there aren't any upgrades.

Reality: Very disappointing. The game was way too difficult for me on the normal setting. After knocking it down to easy, I was still getting my butt kicked. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. The mechanics are nice, but there is a fundamental flaw in the game's design: you need to level up everything. You need to grind gold coins to upgrade "your training" in each weapon up a few levels. You need to use these essences to build up your attack power and defense among gaining skill manuevers. You need to unlock jumping, countering, dodging, and special abilities. You must use your bow to unlock special trinkets. You have tons of nice weapons, all with their own pros and cons, but why in the world would you add durability on those weapons? If they would have just cut out a lot of stuff, this game could have been awesome.

Matsui estimates people playing at least 10 hours with extra wiggle room to replay stages for more abilities. Counting up the time lapses for each stage, it only took me around 5 hours to finish. I wasn't having fun during the stage, meaning I didn't want to replay any stage, therefore I stopped playing when I finished the game. Without upgrades, the enemies became too strong. Not only did they have invulnerability states where they block all attacks, but for some reason my own dodge wasn't strong enough to deflect their blows.

Props: Despite its problems, I do like the fact that the original cast from the television series is here... even if it was only for a few lines of dialogue here and there. They also convinced the writer to pitch in his ideas. The voice actor for Aku - Makoto Iwamatsu - will surely be missed. I really liked how the story progressed through all the locations and characters. The art direction was nicely done. I liked how your clothes slowly fall apart as you lose health. I just wish there was a little more substance in the world to explore other than secret alleyways and characters handing out items.

 

11-7-2020