I sat down to finally get into Genji today and a few hours later I've finished it because it was really really fucking short. The game is about 5 hours long which might seem alright since Onimusha 1 was about 4-5 hours. But after about the 3 hour mark you replay through all the areas you've been too (aka SH4) with a slightly different color scheme and they even recycle the same bosses with their same patterns. Now sure action games don't have too be huge in length, but c'mon 3 hours worth of original material? That's a rental at best. I mean it's not even like the gameplay is that great, it's pretty easy and shallow (but it is fun).
So I give Okamoto some credit for making a some gorgeous looking locations. His Xbox360 game(s) should look incredible art-wise. But if the really detailed gorgeous environments means a trade-off of only creating 5-6 areas then what's the point?
Meh, Genji is a great rental or maybe...maybe a buy at $20. It's definitely a fun little B-grade action experience through pretty levels (kinda like Otogi). Preferable buy price should be at $10-15 IMO. It's pretty surprising Famitsu didn't even mention the length; I guess that shows how long they actually play games ^^;
It's no wonder Sony doesn't want any competition for Genji this fall, who the hell would buy a light five hour game if there were better more meaty games available (like Oz).
Oh and the dialogue/cutscenes are hilariously bad. It's almost as stupid as Onimusha but unlike Onimusha it's not trying to have a cheezy stupid scenario.
Graphics - Great environments at the cost of the characters. Everyone besides the main two are incredible polygon starved and don't even have mouths to move when they talk. Still gorgeous locations + 60fps > detailed npcs.
Audio - Music is good, but not really anything special. Voice acting in the Japanese track is kinda crappy though it might be due to the lines they have to read. Also no one is speaking classical Japanese despite the time period, feels like it's aimed at lowest common denominator (aka the general audience).
Gameplay - Shallow main fighting engine consisting of only a few moves with somewhat loose control. Main thing you'll be doing throughout the entire game though is just hitting L1 and then pressing square quickly before an enemies attack connects. The challenge is learning the timings of the enemy's attacks (not unlike Onimusha) and getting used to perfectly killing them in 1 hit as you hit square just before their attack connects. Bosses are mainly you running around dodging the boss attacks and poking in while your kamui gauge fills up and then hitting L1 and doing the timing thing. Hitting L1 within the slow-motion kamui mode makes it even slower for a few secs so you can get the timing down perfectly on bosses and harder enemies.
Story - Hahaha, let's just ignore plot as you will too.
Pacing - Too short. Too short. Way too short. Also has problems with small levels and cutscenes every few rooms early on. It's like you kill 4 enemies and watch a movie, kill 5 enemies and watch a movie. You don't really get to play a full 'level' like situation until probably an hour+ in. Repeated environments and bosses is a let-down especially because they just look WORSE the 2nd time through. So while the first half of the game is gorgeous, the 2nd half is kinda drab. Anyhow too short.
Overall rent if you like action games. Genji isn't really for hardcore action gamers who seek deep fighting engines and smart AI, and for everyone else a rent will be enough to enjoy it and be done.
C+
PS. I think this is the first time I've ever actually complained about a game being 'short'. I usually like short games since there are so many games coming out these days. But Genji just feels like a joke. When I beat it I was like "Wait...that was the end? hahaha wtf, I just got owned by Okamoto".
So I give Okamoto some credit for making a some gorgeous looking locations. His Xbox360 game(s) should look incredible art-wise. But if the really detailed gorgeous environments means a trade-off of only creating 5-6 areas then what's the point?
Meh, Genji is a great rental or maybe...maybe a buy at $20. It's definitely a fun little B-grade action experience through pretty levels (kinda like Otogi). Preferable buy price should be at $10-15 IMO. It's pretty surprising Famitsu didn't even mention the length; I guess that shows how long they actually play games ^^;
It's no wonder Sony doesn't want any competition for Genji this fall, who the hell would buy a light five hour game if there were better more meaty games available (like Oz).
Oh and the dialogue/cutscenes are hilariously bad. It's almost as stupid as Onimusha but unlike Onimusha it's not trying to have a cheezy stupid scenario.
Graphics - Great environments at the cost of the characters. Everyone besides the main two are incredible polygon starved and don't even have mouths to move when they talk. Still gorgeous locations + 60fps > detailed npcs.
Audio - Music is good, but not really anything special. Voice acting in the Japanese track is kinda crappy though it might be due to the lines they have to read. Also no one is speaking classical Japanese despite the time period, feels like it's aimed at lowest common denominator (aka the general audience).
Gameplay - Shallow main fighting engine consisting of only a few moves with somewhat loose control. Main thing you'll be doing throughout the entire game though is just hitting L1 and then pressing square quickly before an enemies attack connects. The challenge is learning the timings of the enemy's attacks (not unlike Onimusha) and getting used to perfectly killing them in 1 hit as you hit square just before their attack connects. Bosses are mainly you running around dodging the boss attacks and poking in while your kamui gauge fills up and then hitting L1 and doing the timing thing. Hitting L1 within the slow-motion kamui mode makes it even slower for a few secs so you can get the timing down perfectly on bosses and harder enemies.
Story - Hahaha, let's just ignore plot as you will too.
Pacing - Too short. Too short. Way too short. Also has problems with small levels and cutscenes every few rooms early on. It's like you kill 4 enemies and watch a movie, kill 5 enemies and watch a movie. You don't really get to play a full 'level' like situation until probably an hour+ in. Repeated environments and bosses is a let-down especially because they just look WORSE the 2nd time through. So while the first half of the game is gorgeous, the 2nd half is kinda drab. Anyhow too short.
Overall rent if you like action games. Genji isn't really for hardcore action gamers who seek deep fighting engines and smart AI, and for everyone else a rent will be enough to enjoy it and be done.
C+
PS. I think this is the first time I've ever actually complained about a game being 'short'. I usually like short games since there are so many games coming out these days. But Genji just feels like a joke. When I beat it I was like "Wait...that was the end? hahaha wtf, I just got owned by Okamoto".
