Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Vanillaware's Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii is rated T for Teen, though it is very accessible for younger teens as well as seasoned veterans. It's one of those games that lets the novice mash on buttons and enjoy the game, while letting the 'hardcore' learn the subtlety of the combat system and unleash combo attacks that will reach the hundreds (yes, really.) A 2-dimensional side-scrolling action adventure game, you play as 2 different characters on separate quests for the ultimate sword, the Demon Blade, during the feudal era of Japan.

Momohime is a princess on a quest to find the blade to transfer a lost soul while Kisuke is an amnesia ridden ninja on a quest for redemption.

The 2nd thing that will be noticed is that the game is fully voiced in Japanese. The text is in English, but not a single word of English is spoken. If you are someone who does not play games because you don't like to read, Musramasa is the game to get you to break that habit. Vanillaware wanted to make the game authentic and show off some of the culture of feudal Japan. The decision to keep the game completely voiced in Japanese is a bold one, but it works brilliantly, especially when combined with the 1st thing you notice: the artwork.

Simply put, Muramasa: the Demon Blade is one of the most visually stunning video games I have played in my life.

The game's backgrounds, characters, stages and scenery are painted and animated by hand then transferred digitally into Wii to achieve a level or graphical fidelity that I have not seen in quite some time. It is literally like watching a paining in motion while running through the snow covered mountain stages,the open farmlands, the dank caves and everywhere in between. This is a stunning game to look at and the hard work of the developers shows.

I was sold when at a demo, I watched a friend (yea, you Maylene!) play for 10 minutes and I was simply mesmerized by the beauty of the game.
When given the chance to play, I just wanted to keep watching someone else play it. It's that gorgeous.

Yet sounds and graphics do not make a game: gameplay is essential, otherwise you have a game that's not worth recommending. Muramasa shines here by not only keeping the controls simple, but by also giving the player many choices on how to play. The mechanics are simple:" Press A to attack, hold A and move the Analog Stick to perform a dashing attack, press B to perform a special move depending on which sword you are holding., tap Up on the Analog Stick to jump, double tap Up to double jump and hold Up to glide for a few seconds while in the air.

Those are the basics. Pretty much anyone can pick up the controller and play this game and start feeling awesome in about 15 seconds of play.
It's the learning of the advanced moves that turns you from awesome to a 200-hit-combo performing genius. The brilliant decision to support the Nintendo Gamecube controller and the "Classic Controller" attachment for the Wii Remote means anyone can pick up Muramasa, play it how they want to play it and have fun.

To me, that's the mark of a great game.

Keeping the controls simple is key because you will have plenty of enemies to fight on your quest; from teams of ninja, to wandering samurai, to enemies so big, you start by fighting their foot which is larger than you. Muramasa will usually have something to throw at you,but it never seems so unbalanced that you want to stop playing. Even when outclassed, backtracking and fighting random enemies will raise your experience levels so you can return and battle on a more even scale. As you progress in levels, the enemies progress as well, always keeping the challenge enjoyable.

Through the character's journeys, you will be able to collect 108 different swords which have different special abilities and may give bonuses to your attributes while playing, so it's worth finding and crafting as many as possible. The character can carry 3 swords at any time and can swapped out at anytime except when locked in battle. When in battle you can freely switch between the 3 carried swords. You'll pretty much need to as each sword takes damage as it is used and takes more damage when used to block and perform special attacks.

If the sword's energy is depleted, it breaks and is rendered useless and must rest. Switching to another sword lets the unused swords regain energy to be able to use them again. It takes a few minutes to get used to watching energy levels of 3 different swords while fighting 10 bomb throwing ninjas (2 of them on flying kites!), but you get used to it surprisingly pretty quickly. You'll have to play each character's story once to have a change at getting all the swords, but each story is different and adds to the replay value of the game.

Is the game perfect? No, but no game is. Sometimes the backtracking can get a bit monotonous, though a warp system was implemented for the North American version later in the game. Certain advanced techniques require precision timing, that sometimes the Wii Remote cant quite keep up with.
Sometimes, the Wii Remote will be too sensitive and you will find yourself jumping, when you didn't mean to, often into an enemy's attack.
And, let's face it, for some people, the pure Japanese dialog will be the only reason that turns them off.

I'll end with this: I've had no less than 3 people (a Novice, Advanced and Hardcore player as I know them) in the past three weeks mention the equivalent of "I have a Wii, but there's nothing I want to play on it."
Tihs game simply shows that they have not been looking. 2 of the three people I showed Muramasa to purchased it the same week and love the game. The third took 2 weeks, but basically thanked me for making them dust of their Wii and play Muramasa: the Demon Blade.

Alejandro's GameCore Equation: [Novice] (Beautiful visuals)^8 x (Fast paced action)^2 x (Feudal Japanese setting) x (Simple to control) x (Challenging to master) x (Fun gameplay) = Must Buy