Genji: Days of the Blade is a game of great potential with game hindering problems that turn it into a really bad experience all the way to the very end. The game starts off impressing the players with beautiful cinematics and in-game graphics with an authentic feeling of traditional Japanese themed background music, but is soon dominated over by the gameplay and progression of the story. Without the frustrating fixed camera angles, clunky controls, and mundane level designs, Genji: Days of the Blade could have been an excellent hack and slash action game.
Story
The game’s progression was driven by an on-going story of how the Heishi army (the bad guys) wanted to take the amahagane powers of the Genji (the good guys) to combine with their Mashogane powers in order to take over the country. The Mashogane’s powers were used to turn the Heishi army into demonic beings that possess substantial strength. Two figures from the Heishi took attack the Genji and so Yoshitsune, Benkei, and Shizuka venture off to stop the invading force. As the story progresses, the protagonists meet Lord Buson, a god from the heavens using the body of a previous enemy of Yoshitsune in order to stop the Heishi army from their corruption. So the rest of the story, the player chases down the Heishi army and fights off a bunch of demonic enemies. The story has a very distinct beginning and end of a chapter and creates an awkward flow in story. The characters don’t necessarily grow or show much personality aside from what they were (samurai, monk, priestess, god). The story is actually pretty simple and elongated when looking at the core concept of the progression. Bad guys do something bad, good guys chase after them, bad guys try to stop them, but good guys prevail. There was only one instance where it felt like it was trying to display drama, but that only irritated me more than making me sad (trying not to spoil anything). There could have been much more built upon the relationships between the characters, but they all acted about the same or followed a very typical style of characteristics between friendships, blood bound or hierarchy. They story was only enough to progress through the story. But to my dismay, it wasn’t very exciting or memorable. Story: 2/10
Graphics
The highlight of the game is the beautiful landscapes and impressive depiction of a romanticized Japan
Audio
The audio will be a bit more difficult to determine a solid grade. The music was unique and gave a sense of authenticity in traditional Japanese music; however, it became a problem after a while. A lot of the background music consisted of a woman wailing, taiko drums, shakuhachi, and other wind instruments with a melody that didn’t have a definitive order that the player can easily pick up. So it was more of an ambiance after a while when you hear the same woman wailing for 3 hours straight. The music started to make me fall asleep at some points because of how entrancing it was rather than being upbeat and excited. Not to say that the music wasn’t powerful or didn’t sound pleasing, but it felt like it was overplaying itself in some levels. The sound effects were alright, but the execution could be a bit more directional. What I mean is, you won’t know which direction the sound came from which would be useful when an enemy spawns off screen. Sound effects don’t help too much in combat either since the enemies’ grunt after they hit you. For bosses, they can at least notify the player when they’re about to charge up for a stronger attack. The voice acting was a little awkward (in both English and Japanese). In English, the voices don’t match up to well with the characters but is at least tolerable. In Japanese, it sounded like…well, voice acting. It wasn’t very natural, and it could possibly be the flow of the cinematics fault. The audio was okay, but it wasn’t mind-blowing. Audio: 6/10
Gameplay
There were a number of flaws in the gameplay that made it difficult to enjoy let alone play. The most aggravating aspect of the game was the fixed camera angle which hindered in combat, puzzles, exploration, and platforming. I was jumped from behind so many times just because I could not tell the proximity of the enemies to my character from off screen. The map does little to warn me of an attack and so do the sound effects. When trying to figure out how to get somewhere or triggering a switch, the character had to stand at a specific spot in order for the camera to change to a more visible angle. Tons of hidden Amahagane, used to level up a character’s stats, are invisible and don’t appear until the player hits and area with an attack, and sometimes they’re not even on screen. The only notification is a small light that grows brighter on each of the characters’ waist whenever an essence of Amahagane is close by. And then there’s platforming, where the player needs to jump from platform to platform in order to get to a destination. Fortunately, falling down doesn’t result in a “game over”, but it does bring the player back to the beginning of a level with a room full of enemies they must fend off before trying the platforms again. There are times where the camera changes at mid-jump and changes the direction of a jump if moved in mid-air. Other times, the platform isn’t even in view and the player just has to take a risk and jump. Levels had a lot of duplicate rooms and symmetrical design. It felt as if I had to the same task several times in the same fashion in order to fulfill an objective. For combat, once a player starts a combo they can’t immediately get out of one which leaves them open for an attack. The fighting is bit clunky when a player can’t dodge or block while attacking and combos end in bit of animation delay. Most of the boss battles are just about dodging and hitting and makes for a boring fight. There are a few battles where it proved to be a challenge, but the final battle was a big disappointment. I beat the last boss using one move with Benkei, and it is pretty much how I beat the whole game (using that one move with Benkei). Again, I won’t spoil anything just in case there are some who plan to still play the game. If done correctly though, the combat can be very satisfying as demonstrated on the video below. In terms of replay value, I believe there were difficulty level choices. If I had to play again, it’d be for the hack and slash aspect and not the platforming or puzzles. Gameplay: 4/10
Overall
Genji: Days of the Blade was a frustrating experience that served well as a study in game design for me, but not as an entertainment. There were some redeeming aspects in combat that I enjoyed as well as the magnificent graphics and alluring music, but everything else seemed to fall short of what could have made it into a classic title. I never played the first in the series (Genji: Dawn of the Blade) but I looked up some gameplay videos and couldn’t believe it was by the same developers. The camera angle was much more appropriate in the first one and worked really well with the combat. I might try to fight the first one and play through it, but I’m going to rest for now since it took 9 weeks of pushing myself to play it in order to finish the game. (Playtime was about 12 hours and 57 minutes) Overall: 5/10
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