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Title: Bushido Blade Genre: Fighting Number of players: 1 or 2 Memory space: 1 block Release date: 10/25/97 Publisher: Sony Developer: Square Compatible peripherals: Standard controller, Arcade stick

BUSHIDO BLADE

Squaresoft created Bushido Blade in an effort to expand their horizons into new genres.  Bushido Blade is different from any fighter you've ever played, and although it does have numerous imperfections, it is extremely innovative.  This is a game that must be experienced by all fans of the genre.

STORY: B+ (9.0)

Bushido Blade has an ample story.  It features a story mode, in which there is a central tale involving all the characters.  What makes it interesting is that each of the different characters reacts to the account in varying ways.  In Bushido Blade's story, your character discovers something that goes against Bushido, the ancient code of obedience and loyalty that you are a disciple of.  You must escape the grounds, killing all those who stand in the way.  In the end your character escapes, and comes to an inner realization.  Each of the different characters has an individual struggle in defeating their former comrades.  The story mode is a nice touch, it adds a personal feel to the game, and gives personality to each of the different fighters.

This story is creative, but it does not go into much depth.  Characters are generic and superficial, yet this game provides more than enough story for a fighting game.  If you are looking for a story that compares to those found in Square RPGs, look somewhere else.  Bushido Blade's story should have been more complex.

Characters are generic and superficial, yet this game provides more than enough story for a fighting game.

GRAPHICS: C (7.5)

Graphics are disappointing.  Aside from a few pleasant looking backgrounds, almost every aspect of Bushido Blade's graphics is plagued with problems.  I have found the true disappointment to be the fact that graphics had the potential to be stunning, but a few vital flaws prevented them from being an astonishing achievement.

The character designs vary a great deal, from different kinds of samurais to small female warriors, but none are designed exceptionally well.  I doubt that you will enjoy the look of any of the characters.  In addition to the undesirable look of the characters, there is a pixilated effect, which is often present, that looks horrible.  Sometimes the camera will zoom out too far, making it extremely difficult to tell what you're doing, although, the camera problem can be fixed in the first person view.

SOUND: C (7.5)

Speech is not good.  It is unrealistic and sounds stupid.  The speech is done is Japanese with English subtitles.  Other sounds, such as environmental sounds, are acceptable.  You can hear sounds of the forest like leaves rustling under your feet. The music is also not good.  In fact, Bushido Blade has no real music.  There is sometimes a track that repeats, but no music.  This is especially disappointing considering the usual high quality sounds and music that Squaresoft produces.

Bushido Blade's story should have been more complex.

GAMEPLAY:  B (8.5)

Bushido Blade is the most innovative fighter to come out in a long time.  There is no game on the market that can compare to the brilliant innovation found in this game.  But, its numerous flaws severally limit Bushido Blade’s gameplay.

There are five features that make the gameplay so excellent.  The 3D environment is interactive; meaning you have the ability to chop down trees, climb ledges, and other interesting things.  You can run anywhere you want with virtually no restrictions.  There are no time limits or life meters.  Instead, Bushido Blade has one hit kills.  Depending on where you hit your opponent, you may harm him/her, or kill him/her.  For example, if a fighter hits their opponent in a limb, the opponent will become injured.  S/he will lose use of his/her legs, making it very difficult to move around.  In addition, it gives the opponent a great advantage.  A feature that adds variety is the eight different weapons.  Combined with three different stances, these two items make for a great deal of different moves.  The last feature, the most innovative of all, is the addition of a strategic feel to the game.  Bushido Blade is not a button masher, which sets it apart from virtually every other fighter on the market.  After a swing of your sword, it takes your fighter a second or two to recover.  This addition to Bushido Blade sets it apart from every other fighting game.  You must plan out your strategy, keeping in mind that every swing counts.  You have to think about taking advantage of your opponent’s instability after each swing.

Although this game has innovative gameplay, it is hindered by many failings.  The control is choppy and imprecise.  Sometimes, you will attempt to attack your adversary, and will miss due to the controls.  Often times, they simply do not respond in a logical way.  The computer AI is terrible.  The computer always seems to react to you in the same way, making it easy to analyze its actions and win most of your fights.  Something that I found to be extraordinarily annoying is that if you want to change characters after a fight, you have to manually reset and sit through the initial loading time again.  When you are first playing the game and you want to experiment with each fighter, this unnecessary loading time adds up quickly, and can be enough to sour you on the entire game.

CHALLENGE:  C (7.5)

Bushido Blade does not deliver much challenge.  It only takes a few days to master the game, which can be done within a rent.  There is a huge number of different ways to defeat your opponent, which does add variety, but also takes away from the difficulty.

FUN AND REPLAY VALUE:  C (7.5)

Bushido Blade is fun for a little while.  The slash mode, where you face off against 100 ninjas to earn an extra character, is entertaining.  The story mode, and other fights are fun for the first and second times through, but after that, I doubt that they will be able to hold your interest.  Two-player mode is the only portion of Bushido Blade that is fun and has replay value.

Bushido Blade also has little to offer in the way of replay value.  This game is exciting and interesting at first, but gets boring quickly.  There are only six characters and one hidden one, further detracting from Bushido Blade’s replay value.  The main hindrance of replay value is the fact that there is little to do once you beat the game, which, as I mentioned earlier, is not very difficult.

The two-player mode effectively adds replay value, although it does not make up for Bushido Blade’s lack of replay value in every other aspect. The computer AI can get boring in a flash, but in two-player mode, the idiot AI is not a factor.  Fights are much more interesting because a human foe will not always act in the same way, unlike the computer.

The computer AI can get boring in a flash, but in two-player mode, the idiot AI is not a factor.

WORTH BUYING:  MAYBE

I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone who doesn’t like fighters.  For those who do, I’m not sure.  If you are finding most of the genre to be monotonous, and you are looking for something new and exciting, this is your game.  Use caution, however, because it does not have high replay value.  If you like typical fighters, you may want to give this one a try, but you are probably better off staying away from it.  To anyone who does like fighters, this is such a unique game that you must play it.  I would suggest renting it, and then, if it holds your interest, buy it.

OVERALL:  C+ (8.0)

Bushido Blade is nothing more than an average game.  It has some really innovative ideas in it, but they were not implemented well.  Despite its innovation, Bushido Blade has so many imperfections that it will quickly be forgotten when a newer and trendier game is released.

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