Genji

7.8
Good

Gameplay	8.5	"Not lengthy enough to fully appreciate."
Graphics	7.0
Sound	8.0
Value	7.0

By Emily Buxton

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Feudal 13th century Japan is brought to life in Genji: Dawn of the Samurai. Genji is the first project from Game Republic, the company formed by former Capcom executive Yoshiki Okamoto.

Genji starts with a breathtakingly beautiful, sweeping opening scene showing the battle of Heiji. The battle is a tad one-sided however, as one group clutches glowing stones that give them superhuman strength and reflexes. Shortly after, you’re introduced to the stories' main character, a young warrior named Yoshitsune. Possessing a glowing stone of his own, he quickly finds himself being hunted down by the ferocious warriors from the battle, who evidently have decided to make a hobby of collecting the magical rocks. Whisked away by mysterious friends in the nick of time, Yoshitsune learns the rocks are Amahagane – stones of the god of weaponry. Each Amahagane stores incredible Kamui power inside that, when released, allows the bearer to easily dominate battles in a style eerily similar to the Matrix. With a bit of guidance from talking rocks on the way, Yoshitsune sets out to stop the Heishi warriors from getting their hands on any remaining Amahagane, thereby foiling any plans they had for gaining immortality and taking complete and utter control of the entire world.

As you progress through the countryside, you team up with a giant warrior monk by the name of Benkei, who is, conveniently enough, setting out on the same mission as you. From then on, you can take control of the speedy and agile Yoshitsune, or the decidedly slower but stronger pole-wielding Benkei. Each character is better suited to different situations and each gain experience points independently, so it’s a good idea to switch between the two regularly.

Combat is primarily slashing your way through hordes of bad guys, and the occasional big boss. The interesting aspect comes in when you decide to let the Amahagane stones work their magic, and tap L1 during these battles. As long as you have enough power in your stone, you’ll spring into a Keanu pose, and time will slow down to the point where you could put down your sword and stop to tie your shoes. As each enemy attacks in slow motion, you’ll be given a split second warning to tap the square button. If successfully timed, your character will take out the surrounding bad guys in a single impressive swipe, earning you a pocketful of experience points, and saving you a lot of button mashing. Unleashing this nifty routine becomes essential to your survival when facing any bosses. Not only are they mean and powerful, but they have lifelines that could rival even the luckiest cat. Hacking and slashing at them is akin to prodding a tiger with a pencil, so using your Amahagane goes with question. The only downside to this power, however, is that if you miss your split second opening to do some serious damage, more often than not you’ll wind up looking like a shish kebab. Each powerful attack is therefore uncertain, but ultimately worth the risk if you can pull it off.

Gaining levels with experience points is automatically done as you overcome enemies. Particular areas allow enemies to respawn each time you pass through, so there’s no shortage of experience points to be earned if you can be bothered fighting the same guys again and again. This, however, can come in very handy if you’re looking for some easy targets to practice your Kamui technique on. Each level up also comes with a much needed bundle of gold so you can buy some shiny new armor and weapons, or load up on healing herbs and potions.

The gameplay in Genji consists of furious battles, cinematic cut scenes and a few seconds of exploring in between. While an effort has obviously been made to ensure the storyline flows smoothly with the gameplay, it often feels like battles are being interrupted with slow moving cut scenes. The animation and dialogue in these scenes are fantastic, but still don’t make up for the fact that you were really starting to enjoy the frantic pace of one fight after another. Each character is easy to control, despite some unusual camera angles that often have you guessing exactly what it is you’re attempting to chop into pieces. Navigating your way through each town is practically done for you, and the main game map is clearly marked with which town you should travel to next. In later stages of the game, you can visit a number of different places to rest or stock up on supplies, but you won’t progress through the story unless you’re in the right place. In contrast to the abrupt cut scenes which slow the game right down, the loading time between areas and levels is surprisingly and pleasantly short, and manages to balance out the stop and start feel that threatens to take over the game.

The graphics are, quite simply, a pleasure to look at. The settings are intricately detailed and filled with bright colours. Each different location has a distinctively mythical feel to it, and range from floating plateaus in the clouds, to the fiery caves of the underworld. While not the most interactive of backdrops to be found in a game, the sheer detail and beauty of each setting makes for a pretty good place to swing a sword. The orchestral music heard throughout the game is impressive, but is at its finest during some of the more epic cut scenes. As you would expect with so many storytelling scenes, there is plenty of dialogue in Genji. The game is most authentic in Japanese, with English subtitles, but the option is there to have the dialogue in English.

Genji is a fantastic game, but there simply isn’t enough of it to satisfy most gaming appetites. It could be likened to an expensive meal at a posh restaurant. The presentation is impressive, the taste is exquisite, but most of the time there isn’t enough to fill up a fruit fly. This is 2-3 days of gameplay at a stretch. Bigger is definitely better here, and Genji could have done with being twice the size.

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