Originally from Diehard GameFAN
Way of the Samurai has had an interesting history in the
United States, but through its low-key releases and near misses to the
North American market, the series ultimately has quite the cult
following. Billed as a samurai adventure, the series has been compared
to established franchises such as Fable, based on its
decision making, consequences and themes of morality. Enjoying moderate
success, the franchise has jumped from the Playstation 2
format to the Xbox 360 thanks to an effort by UFO Interactive (as well
as the Playstation 3, although this entry is published courtesy of
Agetec). With the expansive offerings seen in the first two entries, it
should be expected the 360 hardware would considerably bump up the
replayability and scope of the game. Unfortunately, the answer to this
expectation is a mix of yes and no and while Way of the Samurai 3 does a number of mechanics to satisfaction, a number of others fall pretty flat.
Just like the other entries of the series, the title puts players in
the role of a wandering samurai in which your past has no bearing in
the game, but your character’s future is entirely dependent on the
actions and choices made through the course of gameplay. In Way of the Samurai 3,
specifically, the player appears to be mixed into warfare from the
feudal era, when an attack deals a crippling injury to their player.
Miraculously surviving and waking up among a battlefield littered with
fallen soldiers, the player begins their quest from here and
immediately the factors of choice and story development unfold as
villagers scoping the battlefield will show concern for you – you can
be nice to receive their help or tell them to piss off either verbally
or by unsheathing your sword and scaring them away.
While every story path will revolve around the warring states in the
vicinity of Amana and various clans vying for control of the territory
and the villages affected by this warfare, it is up to the player to
decide how events unfold from the beginning up until the impending
invasion of the forces of Nobunaga Oda. Ultimately, the story is
decided on by the player, which greatly increases the title’s appeal
and, in this manner, players are free to do as they please, whether
those actions are good, neutral or evil, in order to uncover the game’s
more than 20 different endings. While the scripting is hardly
mind-blowing, the story is very serviceable and holds true to its
source setting and there are some fairly entertaining bits of dialog to
be found, even though it is usually sluggishly told through word
bubbles that pop on the screen (and when multiple people are talking,
this can be quite annoying). As archaic as the delivery might be in
regard to today’s standards, adventure aficionados that have seen their
fair share of classic titles might fit right at home with the simple
text dialog and menu-based delivery. Most of the game is hosted in the
traditional single-player story, which, given the amount of options
available to the player isn’t necessarily a bad point, but the title
doesn’t feature depth in its modes and even some simple online
functionality that allowed players to take their custom character
online to duel other players would have taken the title a bit further
in its offerings.
Before we dive into the gameplay, I will have to point out that
technology junkies will surely be put off by the title’s presentation. Way of the Samurai 3 seems as if it was developed originally for the Playstation 2
or on a lower budget because it definitely shows in the game’s visuals
and audio. Everything here is certainly passable, but nothing uses the
true processing of the Xbox 360 as you’ll see undetailed character
models that lack much animation during conversations, pop-up runs wild
in certain parts of the title and players will be sure to notice the
lack of detail and jagged model edges in the cutscenes. What is
provided for the game’s audio measures up just a little better, but
with very little voice acting in the title (with the English voices
being a bit shaky in quality for the most part), players will mostly be
treated to ambient sounds that get the job done. In perhaps the game’s
real shining moment in presentation, during certain situations, players
will be treated to music that is fitting for the time period. Overall,
I wouldn’t say Way of the Samurai 3 has bad presentation, it
just needed a lot more polish than what it received and doesn’t hold a
candle to most of the game’s seen on the format.
Thankfully, the meat of the game is ripe with satisfying gameplay
that the player can tackle in short bursts or long periods of time.
Playing by the rules, players will end up doing a fair share of quests,
exploration and decision making instead of haphazardly instigating
fights, but given the fact these aspects shape the game as a whole,
they become immediately engrossing as slight differences in the
player’s actions can create the infamous butterfly effect. If you’re
truly thirsting for blood, however, who you attack and off in the game
does serve as a significant factor in how the world turns out in the
end even though it hinders your overall progress in the game by
reducing your samurai points that unlock various features in the game.
In Way of the Samurai 3, if the player executes a unique
character, they never come back for that specific playthrough, however,
more honorable samurai will utilize the game’s new feature to attack
with the blunt side of the weapon in order to merely knockout that
character and immobilize them for a while. Another new mechanic
remedies the problems encountered in many other titles in the genre, by
allowing the player to bow down and apologize if they accidentally
threaten someone (it also does a few other quirky acts such interact
with cats or allow the player to beg for money). Along with dialog
choices and the ability to unsheathe your sword during any event, a
number of mechanics are in place to keep the premise of the game
interesting and the branching series of events keep different elements
of the game intriguing to return to.
Even if the story isn’t your thing, this installment of Way of the Samurai
eliminates the time limitations placed on the player, allowing them to
spend whatever time they wish to in the game world before engaging in
the final few events of the game. Much like previous entries of the
game, this allows players to collect a huge assortment of weapons that
can be stored for later use and the weapon crafting system alone has
the potential to keep players engrossed in the management the game has
to offer. Not only can players pick fights, but they can also foster
relationships with key characters and even convince them to be
companions that can aid in battle, provide support or even steal from
you if you don’t keep an eye on them. Also, through battle, players can
raise their abilities with a given weapon, learning new moves with it,
but care will also have be given to each weapon as if a weapon loses
its durability, it can break and be lost for good. With such examples
to supplement the title’s gameplay, it becomes somewhat of a
simulation, supplementing the adventure and action aspects of the title
for those that like to tinker with collectibles and inventory.
Battling remains very similar to the way it was executed in Way of the Samurai 2,
where parries are performed with timing a block with an enemy’s attack
as opposed to the original entry, which used directional controls to
manipulate the enemy’s momentum. This becomes quite important in
allowing players to execute one-hit kills with counters and play
passively to adapt to the enemies’ actions. The parrying becomes
crucial since being reckless with your weapons will quickly lead to
their durability fading away. While mowing down grunt enemies can
become a bit repetitive, as the player progresses, there will be more
suitable enemies to test the player’s skill and with multiple
difficulty settings, players should be able to find a suitably
satisfying fight. At face value, the player has a “weak” and “strong”
attack, but when you factor in the numerous weapon types and techniques
that players eventually uncover, players can mix in a number of
offensive strings to compliment the defensive techniques. To further
add to the exploration, players can use some wacky weapons such as
garden utensils or wield vegetables and scrappy fighters can opt to go
to battle with their fists.
That being said, though, everything in Way of the Samurai 3
is a pretty straightforward game and while there is a ton of
interesting aspects to do and see, the execution will most likely fall
a bit short from most current-generation gamers’ expectations. The
game’s targeting and camera work can be a bit suspect at times and
while the fighting is overall satisfying, players will most likely
expect a bit more scope from the title, which only has a rough handful
of environments to check out. Way of the Samurai 3 is one of
those titles that is short at face value, taking only an hour or two to
reach an ending, but encourages multiple playthroughs and, as such, it
may potentially only hold a player’s attention for a couple of times
before they move on to something else. The customization of the
character is fairly bare-bones and while a number of features such as
dual-wielding weapons and more can be unlocked, players will find
themselves going through the same processes multiple times to reach
this goal and the game’s samurai points are actually pretty easy to
exploit for quick advancement that creates a bit of an unbalanced
player progression. Thankfully, the multiple difficulties and
satisfying fights level out the game’s balance and the quantity of
content makes the title worth its price tag.
However, the questionable aspect at hand for a gamer deciding whether or not to pick up Way of the Samurai 3
is in the quality of its content. Acquire has created a unique approach
to the “sandbox” style of gameplay many current gamers are familiar
with, but with its behind-the-times presentation and calculating
gameplay, Grand Theft Auto
this is not, which is made most obvious through the game’s slower
pacing. One of the first quests has you fetching an old lady’s
underwear, which can be stolen from your inventory by crows, definitely
setting up a questionable entry into the game, but as players progress
or become more unruly, they’ll begin to find more options and action in
quests such as punishing thieves. Regardless, Way of the Samurai 3 can still manage to be a satisfying time sink if players can overlook its downsides. Unlike a game such as Grand Theft Auto IV that revolves around giving a story to the player, Way of the Samurai 3
does the reverse and allows the player to dictate the story, allowing
the player to make the character his or her own and this even carries
over into the possibility of death, which effectively ends the story
for that playthrough. This may upset some gamers, but with the ability
to keep all money and items earned through the player’s career, the
game features enough appeal and content to keep players diving right
back in.
Right now, Acquire and Spike have the content feature nailed down
with its Japanese releases and if future titles can build upon this
with more quality and polish, Way of the Samurai will be a
series to recommend without hesitation. There is plenty of appeal and
replayability in the series as a whole and this definitely isn’t lost
in the series. However, it’s hard to ignore that the title does not
take advantage of the hardware, which is perhaps the biggest downside
of the game. Sure there are other quirks in the game’s progression and
combat, but they can be easily overlooked to find a satisfying title
that players can come back to time and time again.
GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5
Much like its predecessors, while Way of the Samurai 3 fails
to really flex the system’s hardware muscle, it doesn’t stray from
providing the replayability and unique, interesting gameplay the series
is known for. The newest installment adds enough new features to
freshen up the series while remaining true to its roots, but the fact
it does not take advantage of the hardware is one of the title’s
crippling downsides. You’ll also have a number of graphical and camera
issues along with some questionable quality among the game’s huge scope
of content, but at the end of the day, Way of the Samurai 3 is a title you can come back to numerous times and it will most likely have something new to show you.
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