| Shattered Samurai
is no stranger to my hard drive, I've followed the game
since one of it's demo's. (not sure how many were released)
It contained a poor plot, fun battle system and incredible
custom menu. So when the "Complete" version came out, it
was only natural I check it out.
Graphics: Shattered Samurai
can definately receive bragging rights towards it's graphics quality. The game has some excellent
looks to it and pulls it all off with true Japanese style
and flavor. So why didn't it get a perfect score? Well I
docked points for almost one reason alone, the CMS. In the
original release of SS it had an incredible CMS, great imagery
and well put together. Then for some reason in the "Complete"
version it was removed and replaced with a half quality
one. A CMS is nice, but if it is so ugly that you would
rather see the default menu screen you know you've done
something wrong. Black dots abound around the menu options,
which just makes it look sloppy and cheap. Custom systems
are great, but if you're going to add them and do them poorly
you deserve to have points docked.
Graphics Final
Score: 16/20
Playability: The most important
part of any game is where you determine whether or not it
bores you to the point of shooting yourself in the head.
Shattered Samurai hosts an ABS that doesn't dissapoint.
People complain about the "you can only attack one square
away from the enemy, no closer" thing. But personally I
found that it made the system more enjoyable and it made
it look a lot better too. The system is fun and well built
and thus there's no reason the game shouldn't receive a
perfect score.
Playability Final
Score: 20/20
Story:
The story is like a
mixed bag of trick or treat candy. Some of it is delicious
milky chocolate, and some is Ex-Acto knife tips embedded
into Hershey's bars. My first complaint is the names and
dialogue, I mean seriously, if we're making a purely old
asian game then where the hell did he pull out the names, Charles, Max,
and Jennifer? Maybe one name would be forgiveable but it
was EVERY main character. The dialogue is pretty poor too.
I felt no emotional attachment to the characters and could
have cared less whether they lived or died. Jennifer was
like a robot with corny lines made to make it look like
it had some sort of personality.
Jennifer: Hello,
let's fight.
Charles: Okay, if I have to...
And then when you beat her, she sprouts out
this sappy story about how she's a "bad" girl and is seeking
for the ultimate fight, despite the fact she can't beat
a pushover like charles. Moving on, let's talk about the
actual plot. Parents killed in Feudal Japan, (or somewhere
in asia) and a Samurai (charles) goes to take revenge. My
best response to that is meh. Nothing I haven't heard before...nothing
special.
Story Final Score:
8/20
Music: Nothing
incredible and original, nothing horrible and out of place.
The Music score comes out around the average line.
Music Final Score: 17/20
Finishing The
Job: Well, all in all,
I would have to say I enjoyed playing Shattered Samurai,
it has little things that will peck at you but all in all
you'll come away from the game realizing you had a good
time. It's nothing spectacular but it's certainly one of
a kind. If the dialogue got fixed and the old CMS came back
the game would be much better off...but for the sake of
raising the score of this otherwise good game, I'll give
it a 20 here.
Finishing The Job Final
Score: 20/20
FINAL SCORE: 81/100
= B
Grading Scale
100%-90% = A - Wow you truly are god. Let
me kiss your feet plz.
89%-70% = B - You've got Kinks to work out
but it's still a very good game worth the time.
69%-50% = C - Meh it's not bad but it's not
great. You've still got a lot of work to do.
49%-30% = D - Wow this really is crap. This
is so bad I've put an ancient death curse on you.
39% and below = F - This score shouldn't even
be possible. Your game has to be the worst piece of crap
to ever grace this earth. I feel sorry for you and if you
ever have offspring let me assure you they will be disgraced
to know you once made a game this crappy.
Please keep in mind these are all MY opinions.
You might love this game so there's no harm in trying it
out.
To those of you interested in playing the
game it can be found at http://www.gamingw.net/
|
