Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku
- January 30, 2004 18:21 PM PST
- Email this!
Fight evil. Do good. Live by the Samurai code. Look cool while doing it all.
Based on the Cartoon Network series, Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku follows the adventures of Jack, the world famous Samurai. Your mission is to do good, fight evil and generally be the hero. Along the way you will fight a number of enemies from the show including Mad Jack, the Scotsman and, of course, Aku.The game is played from the third person perspective, much like Tomb Raider. Control is intuitive, with Jack moving around the screen freely. Combat has a bit of depth to it, with precise timing required in certain parts of the game, yet is still easy enough to pick up on the fly. This is good news for casual gamers who may like the show, but are not masters of button mashing.
Stringing together combos is fairly easy, so long as you hit the attack buttons rhythmically. Get the timing down just right and Jack can take out an opponent with a single attack. For those moments when you're feeling overwhelmed Jack can bust out with Sakai Mode -- a form of Samurai bullet time, so that you can pick off enemies one by one.
In addition to his standard sword attacks, Jack also has the ability to use shurikens (throwing stars) and a bow and arrow. The bow can be extremely useful for taking out distant targets while the shurikens are great when you need a rapid fire approach.
Jack's world is spread across four realms, with six levels each, for a grand total of 24 different sections to explore. The environments run the gamut from an ancient village to massive forests. Nearly every item in each world can be interacted with, from cutting ropes to blasting open doors. The variety of play keeps things feeling fresh and offers up a good deal of puzzle action.
Rounding out the experience is the high involvement of the TV show's creative staff with the design team. Samurai Jack's creator and artistic team helped ensure that the look of the game was authentic, while the original voice actors recorded dialogue for the game.
As a character Samurai Jack may be a bit eccentric, but his game is shaping up to be a hit, especially among fans of the series.
