Played two hours and beat the first few levels, defeating Shin (and unlocking the side story mode which lets you play as other characters; got Shin and Mamiya playable so far). I'm enjoying the game quite a bit, which is to be expected as both a HnK and Musou fan. The combos come out pretty stiffly, but you get used to it. Rei is AWESOME and quite a bit faster than Ken; Mamiya uses a crossbow and other weapons, and while she lacks the power and speed of Kenshiro and Rei, she makes up for it with range. Her throw is hilarious, too-- walk up to someone, bitch slap a bunch of times, then jump up on their face and slam them down. :lol:
I'll post more in-depth later, but just want to say that while this is indeed a Musou game, the feel is pretty different. The stages are linear, but you can backtrack and need to if you want to get all of the mission points. There's seven of these in every level (and an eighth if you get all seven, apparently) that you have to meet certain conditions to get. Apparently backtracking on the first level will lead to previously inaccessable areas; I didn't try this. Getting all the mission points also makes the boss fights harder. You don't
have to get any of these mission points to keep going though, so the game lets you play it at your pace.
I think a good way to describe the game is as a Musou with a more traditional beat-em-up style of progression. No open battlefields; you move forward and clear out a wave or two of enemies, and then go forward again. I thought the game was actually going to be an open-world style environment from some previews I saw, but this is not the case.
(Note- I wrote this after playing the other main mode
Also played through the first level of Mamiya's story mode. These side story modes are very different than the main story mode, and are much more like the traditional Musou games, where you're on a battlefield and there's your army versus (complete with general type characters) the enemy. The difference is that it's all about conquering and keeping territory; beat the shit out of enough grunts and a sub-boss, and then your side comes to help you. Player-controlled territories have large flaming pots with blue flame; enemy ones are red. The mission point system is still in effect here, too. This mode had a LOT more enemies on screen at once compared to the story mode, and the engine does chug a bit when there's a huge amount of characters on screen in certain areas. It's not bad enough to affect the game play, but I shudder to think how this must be in split-screen co-op mode.
A few more points about Hokuto Musou's game play/features compared to the traditional Musou games. Since I have only played as Kenshiro and Mamiya (and a tiny bit of Rei), I can only really comment on them:
-There are fewer characters to play as, but they feel a lot differently from each other, and don't all play the same.
-The upgrade trees are pretty big. Tons and tons of stuff to buy with skill points earned.
-Each character has multiple Musou attacks. You can have up to four equipped (selectable with the d-pad) at one time.
-You cannot charge the Musou gauge on your own; it fills up from beating enemies.
-When enemies die, they release spirit aura similar to Ninja Gaiden/Devil May Cry/Onimusha, that flies to you.
-When you have enough power gathered, you can power up your character to do more damage. A small meter counts down until it runs out.
-During this time, you can unleash a death move, which is a different or powered-up Musou.
-There is a grab button. It depends on the character for what their actions are. Kenshiro can grab someone and use them to bash into other enemies for a few seconds before slamming them on the ground, for example.
-Environments are somewhat interactive; you can break or dent parts of buildings or various objects, and do more damage to enemies by slamming them into them. Note that Mamiya cannot do this.
-Occasionally there are objects that can be used as weapons, like steel girders. You can also come across missiles or flammable barrels that can be lobbed at enemies.
-The game's cut scenes appear to be using real-time models, but they are more detailed than the in-game models and the frame rate is MUCH higher, so perhaps not(?).
-The in-game models and background detail are higher than in any other Musou game.
-However, the frame rate is not as smooth. It's stable 98% of the time (I haven't tried 2P yet) and looks like it's 30 FPS.
-Characters show clothing damage. If Kenshiro loses enough health, he loses his upper body clothing. Mamiya shows a LOT more skin, etc.
-Mr. Heart's stomach fat is nice n' jiggly. So are Mamiya's chest and backside area.
-Although the characters have new designs, the game comes with a code to download a costume more like Kenshiro's original one. Assuming everyone else will get them too.
The game's biggest negative points are the slowdown, which seems to be manageable, and the much bigger issue of attacks feeling stiff and slow to start up. There is brief split second between the time it takes to input a button to start an attack sequence and when it registers, and once you have started a combo, you cannot stop it, so if you need to dodge an attack, you're out of luck. This is what will end up making or breaking the game for some people, I think, but I still think that Musou and HnK fans will eat this up.
