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PS2 | Action | Samurai Champloo

Boxart for Samurai Champloo
Samurai Champloo 39 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 3.5
  • SOUND: 4.0
  • CONTROL: 3.5
  • FUN FACTOR 3.5
  • AVG USER SCORE n/a
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.7

Review: Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked

Review by Rice Burner | 04/11/2006 | 16:22:36 PM PST

One part break dancing samurai, one part insane musical combo fighting system, combine and serve.

Samurai Champloo is the follow up anime hit from acclaimed director Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Detective Connan), which combines various current urban culture aspects into a story that takes place in feudal Japan. Praised for its highly stylized animation and fast paced kinetic story presentation, the idea of a Samurai Champoo videogame would seem to be a brilliant idea, but can the highly innovative and hyperbolic animation and electric storytelling style of the anime truly be emulated by the videogame?

For those not in the know, Samurai Champloo follows the swashbuckling adventures of a group of three individuals with very different personalities, which include Jin, a roaming Ronin (masterless samurai) who's highly skilled with a sword and lives a life of strict self discipline, Mugen, a vagrant fighters with a highly undisciplined lifestyle who's bent on proving his skills against anyone worthy, and Fuu, a ex-waitress who recruited the other two warriors for her mysterious quest to find the samurai who smells like sunflowers.

Do Sunflowers Even Smell?
Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked is a side story videogame which takes place sometime before the group of protagonists reaches Nagasaki. Our heroes get bamboozled, by the promise of free food, into taking a cruise to Ezo (Hokkaido) and find themselves embroiled in a regional civil war.

In Sidetracked, you'll be able to play as either Jin or Mugen. Each character has their own distinctive storyline and both characters have their idiosyncratic fighting styles. If you choose to play Jin, you'll use very short and simplistic, yet powerful attacks. However, if you choose to play Mugen, you'll have to adapt to his long combo strings of unconventional medium and light strikes.

Too Many Flashy Modes, Seizure Eminent
Sidetrack's fighting engine is unique and incorporates an ingenious music theme. While in battle, a HUD display at the top of the screen will display your available combo tree. As you land hits, your Tension Meter will build and you'll unlock longer strings of combo attacks. However, if you get hit your tension meter will lower and your available combo's selection will diminish. Additionally, if your Tension Meter reaches max, one of your attacks in your combo tree will be designated as a special Hyper Mode attack. If you land that attack, you'll enter Hyper Mode and the speed of your attacks will triple allowing you to land 15 hits in a single second.

Furthermore, maximum Tension also initiates the option to enter Tate Mode. You'll know when Tate Mode is available if there's a star above your Dance Man icon on your HUD. The star above the Dance Man indicates that a foe on the battlefield also has a star above his head. If you strike that enemy, you'll enter Tate Mode, and you'll be prompted to press the matching button onscreen. If you successfully press the right button within a very short time limit, you'll be prompted to press all the face buttons simultaneously as fast as you can for the allotted time of the mode to strike your foe numerous times. If you hit your enemy 100 times or more, you'll enter another bonus mode where you're tasked to kill 100 enemies without dying. If you accomplish that, you'll unlock a special bonus item.

Why Are Half The Sub Bosses Transvestites?
Moreover, you'll be able to change your move sets and combo trees by purchasing and equipping different vinyl music tracks in town at the record store. Once you equip your vinyl, you can switch records by tapping the right analog stick right or left.

While the graphical style and unique battle system are really cool, Sidetracked also suffers from a host of bad gameplay aspects that detract from the positive points. The camera control system is nonexistent, and the preset camera angles suck. You'll have problems navigating the terrain and trying to attack and defend against foes that are off screen, or hidden by background objects because the static camera and poorly designed game environments.

What, Where, Dang
Enemies endlessly spawn on battlefields in a monotonous fashion, and the story and plot progression is dull and drawn-out compared to the highly kinetic and engaging anime. The game has way too many cut scenes, and the character models in those scenes seem like a spastic dolls miming their movements than an actual legitimate representations of characters.

When it comes down to it, Samurai Champloo is a good game with a few bugs. If you're a fan of the anime series then you'll probably fall instantly in love with Sidetracked. However, if you're just a curious gamer looking for a good game to play over the weekend you should rent it first and play at your own risk.