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Developer: Nintendo | Publisher: Nintendo |
| Release Date: February 2,
2012 |
Available On:
3DS |
Samurai Punch-Out!!
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword was released
on the Nintendo 3DS eShop a few months ago.
Despite being drawn to its inexplicably charming
style, I passed over the budget-priced action
title for a few weeks before finally giving into
the urge to play it.
basically Samurai Punch-Out!!, if you can
imagine such a thing: basically, the duel-style
combat boils down to the mastery of your katana
attacks and dodging the patterns of your foes.
Fortunately, the fluidity of the game and its
intuitive control scheme support the precision
required to skillfully evade and counterattack
your enemies. Basic attacks are carried out with
the A button, though you’ll tend to dodge more
often with the B button, waiting for the right
moment between an enemy’s attack patterns to
strike. Of course, there is a block/parry
function (Right trigger), though the use of this
ability takes away any of the valuable
“Precision Points” that you’ve collected in the
process of pulling off those last-second evasive
moves. In addition to collecting gold coins from
fallen foes, your Precision Points can be cashed
in at the shop located in each village, and
ultimately used to purchase useful items, among
other things.
More Than Meets The Eye?
The game design is
constantly rewarding, with a satisfying sense of
progression as you travel across the world map
in search of a kidnapped princess. There are
three general regions to explore, with the later
ones opening up after Sakura finishes each of
the levels and tackles a challenging castle
stage in each area. The castle levels,
naturally, serve as the “boss stages” – Sakura
must confront a difficult boss character at the
end of each castle to move forward. These
battles require you to pull off some of your
best moves, and it is also helpful to have an
inventory stocked with items. This is really
only possible if you re-visit the stages you’ve
already completed, stockpiling gold coins.
This may sound like
a tedious process of grinding, but it actually
makes Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword feel
slightly “RPG-lite”, and it never really gets
old because the gameplay is just so entertaining
to play. Sakura Samurai is certainly deeper than
what I expected from the $7.00 download price;
the rewarding sense of progression leads to an
expansiveness I never expected, though it is by
no means as robust as what you would expect from
the “upgrade systems” in deeper RPGs.
Still, the game is no slouch: using the gold
you’ve collected, you can forge your katana to
make it stronger, purchase several different
items in the shop, rest at the local inn, or
play a variety of mini-games in each of the
villages scattered throughout the world map. You
can chat with the local villagers, and though
they won’t have much to add to the story, there
is a feeling that Sakura Samurai could be so
much more – perhaps the IP could even be
expanded upon for a full retail release, with a
bigger map and more in-depth features.
A Lost Art, Or Fresh New IP?
I
walked away from Sakura Samurai: Art of the
Sword completely impressed and admittedly
surprised, regretting the time that it took for
me to finally invest in the download on the
eShop. I don’t think it warrants a purchase from
every 3DS owner out there, but Sakura Samurai is
certainly one of the finest games on the eShop
market – and I would go even further; Nintendo
should consider developing this new IP even
further.
The swordplay is solid, the combat is smooth,
the controls are as intuitive as you could
possibly hope for – not only that, Sakura
Samurai has an undeniably charming visual style
and plenty of components that could be expanded
upon. I fell in love with the title quickly
after picking it up for the very first time, and
I think anyone looking for something interesting
on the eShop will feel the same way.
| Graphics: | 8.5 |
| Sound: | 8.5 |
| Gameplay: | 9 |
| Creativity: | 9 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 6 |
| Final: | 8.6 out of 10 |
| Written by Cliff Bakehorn | W
rite a User Review |
