 Must have the will of the warrior |
| Review Date: October 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: eLSyDro, La La land |
| I've been waiting for this game for a while and this game was near impossible to find, but I finally found a copy and got to play for the first time last night. It follows the along the same model of the original The Way of the Samurai. There are tons of swords and fighting styles, that will keep you enthralled for hours upon hours, and once you find that certain sword/style that fits you, you can learn new techniques and level the sword so you can become the ultimate assassin, protector, or just plain ole bad a**. This game is full of action around every turn, and the best concept is that you can choose which path you want to take, if you want to become a rich samurai you can join the fujimori clan, or you can be a sole wanderer a ronin,or you can protect the citizens of a poor city who are being heavily taxed, or you can plot against the fujimori clan and join the ouika clan who are a bunch of thieves and robbers, and the beauty of it is it's all up to you which path you choose. The fighting in this game is superb, depending on which sword you use that is the fighting style used, or you can fight bare handed which is pretty fun as well. I thoroughly enjoyed and am still enjoying this game, if this game sounds like something you might like, or if your like me, I really enjoy old samurai movies especially Akira Kurosawa films, you'll love this game. One of my favorite things about this game is one of the faces you can choose for your samurai looks almost exactly like Toshiro Mifune. In all I give this game a 5 out of 5. Maybe more, this is possibly one of my favorite games of the year. |
a realistic martial art game
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| Review Date: December 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: DroHead, Milwaukee, WI |
| this game is very realistic, its the best martial art game to come out since tenchu z for the xbox 360. it has great replay value. set in real historic times, it gives you a idea what it was like in fuedal japan. another great point is you have the option to have everything spoken in the japanese language with english subtitles, ive been waiting for a long time for this game to come out and i am 100% satisfied with it. its a game for every martial artist as myself andd also for those with the warrior spirit. it teaches good morals and virtueous character. |
The only "real life "samurai-based rpg in the market.
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| Review Date: December 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Paul Arellano, VA, USA |
I've played WOTS2 and although it was great at the start, the time limit and strange save system drove me crazy that I decided I was not going to play WOTS games ever. When I read that WOTS3 had no time limit and the save system was "fixed", I decided to give this game a chance. I'm glad I did.
You start out walking off a bloody battle, wounded and confused. You encounter two villagers. At this point, it's all in your hands what you wish to do. Kill the two villagers or let them help you. Your choice. The game can end in 15 minutes if you choose to or you play the game for hours on end. Currenlty, I am playing it for 10 hours now.
The gameworld is small, about 8 villages I think set in a province, pre-Meiji period. But don't be disappointed about the small gameworld. There are lots of things to be done in each of the villages; from running simple errands, to setting up ambushes, joining samurai clans, or just picking a fight on a villager. There are consequences to every action you take. So be careful what you do. You can beat up an opponent without killing him/her. WOTS3 introduced a "blunt" system whereby you use the blunt edge of the sword to pummel the baddie or goodie into submission. Killing a person in game affects the entire flow of the game, so be careful on who you pounce. Oh...and during combat and there's a bystander, and you accidentally hit the person with a sword, that bystander will either run, die, or join in the melee. You cannot turn off "friendly fire" in this game. Everyone, except the livestock and children, can be killed anytime, at any point.
Although I am not that familiar with different katanas/bokkens in Japan. Most, if not, all the weapons in the game seem to be authentic or based on real authentic weapons. There are no ninja-gaiden type weapons in this game. Also, the weapons gain levels not the person. So the weapons grows in level as you use it. At the same time, the weapon gains different stances (I think) that you can employ on your character. The game reportedly has 20 endings. I have not beaten the game yet, I am taking my time doing quests and just walking around villages waiting for a fight. The game randomly throws in a samurai or two to ambush you in broad daylight or in the evening. So...be ready to unsheath your sword or yoou'll get sliced and diced fast. By the way, during cutscenes the game will give you a choice to unsheath your weapon (a sign of aggression) or apologize (a sign of submission) or just let the cutscene run by itself. In other words, you can actually shift the cutscene to a different story line simply by drawing or apologizing while the cutscene runs.
For the most part, the NPCs in the game seem to be authentic in their costumes although you'll find a few weird looking costumes that are more anime than authentic. The villages look authentic for it's period. The language in-game can be either english or Japanese. I went for the Japanese language to give it a more samurai feel to the game.
Now comes the saving part. Well...here's what I do. I save my game often. There are what you call village minstrels who you can speak to and have them save your game. They are all over the map so don't worry about not finding locations to save. From what I've noticed, every village has a minstrel that you can save your game. When you save your game, your entire inventory and status is saved, including your current location. Now if you get killed or complete the game, you will get a screen showing you how many samurai points you've earned at the end game. Another screen will then pop up and ask you if you wish to save the results or not. Here's the trick: If you decide to save the results. The game will reset back from the beginning but it will still have all your items, money, etc you've earned intact and complete..so basically you won't be starting from scratch as a dirt poor samurai. But the entire storyline starts from scratch again. This gives you an opportunity to take a different approach to the game. If on the other hand you decide not to save the results, the game will take you back to your LOAD GAME screen, and you can pick up from where you last saved before you were killed. I believe the only time you can see how much samurai points you've earned is when the game ends either by dying, completing one of the endings, or leaving the province of Amana (which you do by simply selecting Leave Amana on your map).
Do I like the game. Yes I love the game because of it's open ended approach. It gives me a sense of actually being a samurai and doing something that affects a person or a community. There are tons of "Samurai" games out there that walks the line between a fighting game and a comic-book rpg. DOn't get me wrong. I like fighting games and anime styled rpg games with samurais but WOTS3 brings the samurai to a more realistic and authentic level. Do I like the graphics? Well...to be honest I'm not easily blinded by eye-candy. I still go for the substance of the game. Graphics is like the least of my requirements when choosing a game. For my own standards (which I know isn't all that high or great), the graphics is next-gen. A lot of people are saying WOTS3 has ps2 graphics. I think they're wrong...or so that's what I think. BGM is a mix of authentic Japanese koto and shakuhachi music and some chill lounge music with a Japanese traditional feel to it.
All in all, it's a great game. It might not be for the trigger happy sword wielding gamers who want to hack and slash for hours. THis game takes patience. The game isn't hard in terms of dealing with NPCs. What makes the game difficult is making the right choice at the right time, and being able to face the consequences of your actions.
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Less on production more on heart.
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| Review Date: June 29, 2010 |
| Reviewer: BooBoo, USA |
Way of the Samurai is a really interesting series, from the team behind the original Tenchu games it splits half way between action-RPG combat and almost a choose your own adventure sort of narrative.
It's really a rare find in todays marketplace on home consoles. The day where games were awarded for inspiration and creativity seems to have been replaced with increasingly higher franchise power and marketing.
Way of the Samurai 3 is a really great deviation from that. If you're into an inspired, rural Japanese aesthetic set back towards the end of the Edo period and you can forgive the PS2-HD esque visuals, there's a lot to enjoy here. It's kind of a game for those who revel in the b-tier with the classical Japanese action RPGs and the such. |
A game that makes you realize graphics is'nt everything
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| Review Date: August 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Sigmund Freud, |
A friend of mine told me about this game, how its a samurai simulator and seeing as there hasn't been an Onimusha game or a good samurai game out for awhile I picked it up without second thought. Why? well its a game that didn't get a lot of ads and I knew its one of those hidden gems if looked passed the "high def ps2 graphics" so many people that have been calling it to have. And I heard its hard to find in retail so it might be a MvsC2 in a couple of years.
At times it can be a mystery to wonder why the developer didn't take full advantage of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The graphics looks great but nothing truly that will make you awe at the screen. The areas you got to are not that expansive and it feels like its suppose to be a samurai sandbox sim but at the same time the areas are small and sometimes lifeless in some areas.
But what makes this game really good is the depth. The depth in story, characters, and most importantly the gameplay. The story is something that is hard to explain but because there's know real way to explain it because its your story, your the samurai that's just let loose in the world and you have to make your mark in history. I say this because there's 20 endings plus 2 more I believe which are secret. And the game can end in so many ways.
The gameplay in general is about collecting and mastering weapons and learning skills for those weapons and this is where the depth comes into play there are 102 weapons and those weapons consist of ninja swords,katanas, spears. If you like to collect things in video games especially weapons this game is for you.
If collecting weapons isnt your thing you can just make your own ones there's plenty of variety to how you want your weapons to look, damage,weight,defense. Speaking of looks your characters is someone you can customize to your liking and the game is not short of a few goofs of clothing for your character to wear.
The game is not for everyone, it will appeal to people who are familiar with this type of genre and they will enjoy it from start to finish and even then the game can get addicting with all those weapons and skills to unlock, by the time your done it'll feel like you just completed a full jrpg. For the casual gamer this is not and was never intended. enjoy the game. |
Lack of the tutorial 3
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| Review Date: November 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Adam P Miller, |
| Although the game has everything I expected, the lack of the tutorial ensured a costly error within the first 5 minutes of game play. I was prompted to press the L1 button when some farmers arrived and they ran off, thinking i was out to kill them for no reason. Other than that early mistake, and the immensely corny dialogue that was so very rampant in the first 2 games, the game play ends up being a lot of fun. you can choose from three paths now, Good, Evil, or you can take a diplomatic route and avoid combat entirely. All around this is a great game, just read the instructions before you play. There is also free Downloadable Content on the Playstation network. Worth checking out over all I would say $40-$50 is a fair price for this game. |
Great sword action with a lot of replay value
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| Review Date: November 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kevbo, Jersey |
| I have been a big fan of the Way of the Samurai series since it started on the PS2. The game has a choose your own adventure branching storyline mixed with a very fun and robust sword fighting mechanic. My main draw is all the different sword types, styles, and combos. This game also allows you to make your own sword by collecting and choosing thru pieces and then assigning it combos of your desire. The fighting system is fluid with tons of different animations for all the weapons. They also added hand to hand combat as well as the ability to use the dull side of your blade. Tons of replay value and addicting sword collection/fighting make this game an easy purchase for any action fan. If you really want a number 8.8/10 |
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