Samurai Shodown [Xbox]
SNK’s Samurai Shodown is the twelfth game in the long running series, but is set in 1787 - a year before the very first games’ events. It tells of Shizuka Gozen, the spirit of a deceased young woman who has been possessed, and wishes to destroy Japan. Warriors are drawn to take on this evil from all across Japan and beyond, to save the day for their own variety of reasons. The story is pretty simple, and doesn’t really have very much to it, admittedly. It’s probably more akin to a typical Arcade Mode - which does make sense given the game’s arcade roots.
It consists of a short story mode (around half an hour or so in length), along with additional modes that can be selected from the main menu. There’s a section called the Dojo, which contains Ghost Match and Ironman Challenge modes, and these allow you to go up against your own Ghost, an AI version of you that learns from how you play, to improve by becoming aware of your own weaknesses in battle. You can even try your hand against other players’ ghosts too. There’s a Gallery where you can view unlocked movies, sounds - consisting of character voices and music - and artwork, all of which you’ll gain through playing the Story with each character. Frustratingly, there’s an Online mode that appears to be completely dead. Every time we’ve attempted, it has thrown up Server Connection errors, and we’ve never once been able to connect. From searching around online to see if other people were coming across this problem - it seems to be pretty common, and when people do manage to connect, nobody else is playing anyway, which is a real bummer considering how important online play usually is to fighting games such as this.
Characters are gorgeously designed, and there’s a decent variety too - although sadly a fairly large number of them are paywalled, which is a bit disappointing. Level environments are really well crafted, with great depth of field and beautiful scenery ranging from lush forests to sprawling fields. Sadly, the game seems to be plagued with quite a severe screen-tearing problem, as every cutscene, character intro and battle has frequent, very visible tears which really takes away from the beauty of it all. Music is well suited to each of the individual stages, and the Japanese voice acting feels rich and full of energy and really captivates you in the short run-time of the story.
The combat is definitely more precise and tension-filled compared to other typical fighting games, with slower, more deliberate attacks and a bit more strategy behind each move you pull. Characters feel different to play, and getting to grips with them all can be challenging, but enjoyable. Likewise, you can grow to feel pretty confident with one character but when thrown up against particular opponents that confidence comes crumbling down. Making good use of the various blocks and counters, and knowing when to use certain moves against different enemy types is crucial, and will make a big difference in how well you do.
Samurai Shodown feels great to play, with satisfying moves like sword catching, and lots of powerful attacks. Characters each have their own unique Super Special Move that results in a cutscene before delivering a huge amount of damage. These moves can only be triggered once per fight, and are a joy to use. Thankfully, the controls to activate this move are the same across all characters, so you don’t have to worry about learning tonnes of specific patterns. A returning element - the Rage Gauge - is a meter that fills with damage you take and with successful parries, that can trigger Rage Explosions. Rage Explosions will temporarily boost your attack power, stop time and you can even access Lightning Blade, a fantastically quick, stylised attack, that if landed will do unbelievable amounts of damage. A huge burst when you are totally done with an opponent’s shit. Whether you land the attack or not, it will fully deplete your Rage Gauge, rendering it useless for the rest of the battle - so it’s definitely a move to keep in your back pocket for when you need it.
Available on the Xbox Store for £49.99 for the Standard Version, or £66.99 for the Deluxe, it’s a pretty pricey title. As mentioned previously, a large number of the characters are locked behind a paywall. These additional characters can be purchased for £4.99 each, or as part of various Season Passes. The Deluxe Version of the game includes three exclusive costumes unavailable for purchase otherwise, plus the first of three available Season Passes. Each Season Pass unlocks four new characters for £16.74, a saving of £3.22 from buying each of them separately. But that still means - at the cheapest - buying the game, plus all of the extras, is still gonna set you back over £100.
In the end, we decided to give Samurai Shodown the Collecting Asylum rating of 6.5/10.
Have you played Samurai Shodown yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to RenaissancePR for the Samurai Shodown Xbox review code!
