I will admit that at first I was skeptical about Muramasa. While it won several awards from its stellar showing at the E3 Gaming Convention, I was unsure, as I am not generally a fan of beat-em-up action adventures. The genre is often cluttered, and leads to guilty-pleasure type games. Never have I been more pleasantly surprised.

Muramasa named for a famous (or at least it is if you are Japanese or have access to Wikipedia) Japanese sword-smith, whose ill-temperament supposedly became infused with his swords, making their wielders become murderers or commit suicide. In the game, there are often references to this, which may be confusing. Overall, the plot is rather muddled, though as most great ninja fighting movies and games, the plot is a thin excuse for amazing fight sequences, and is not necessary for the enjoyment of the game. It takes place in Feudal Japan (the Genroku era for history buffs), where the current shogun (Tokugawa Tsunayoshi)’s thirst for power has caused a struggle for the demon blades (those forged by the sword-smith Muramasa), and their inherent evilness (as explained above) has caused demons and spirits to invade the world. There are two characters, each with their own plot-line, though they do not coincide much. Still, the plot (with the possible exception of the time setting) is almost completely irrelevant in the face of the gameplay and graphics.

The gameplay is surprisingly complex for a two dimensional hack-and-slash type game. While there is the required combo making and some button-mashing, it is also extremely important to time things correctly, especially at the harder difficulty levels. It is extremely important to learn to parry, as you have very little health, and even a few hits will be lethal. It also involves a give and take in strategy and execution; If you choose to parry an attack, it will harm the integrity of your blade, and eventually it will snap. However, the mechanism that also allows you to do special and particularly powerful and unique attacks drains the integrity of the blade, so you must carefully balance offense and defense. Also, it incorporates an interesting technique of allowing you to make “free” powerful attacks; after your swords (you have 3 to 4 at a time) “charge” for a certain amount of time, you can “unsheathe” a sword to take advantage of the timing. The liquid flow of combat thanks to these different maneuvers makes for quite an interesting mix, as different enemies require vastly different play-styles. To make matters more interesting, instead of a standard leveling up sequence where you gain abilities, you get the power to forge new swords, each with unique abilities. This allows you to make a fight style that is truly specific to you, and plays to your preferences. Unfortunately, there are no unique wii-motion controls incorporated into the game, which is a shame, because the sword slashing motions that we learned to love from such games as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess could be what potentially made this game an all time must have. There is also, sadly, no great difference between the gameplay of the two main characters Kisuke and Momohime, which is another place that this game could truly shine. Still, even if the gameplay was awful (which it certainly was not), Muramasa: The Demon Blade could carry itself on the pure virtue of its artwork.

The artwork and graphics of Muramasa, are, as you have guessed by now, the greatest part of this already worthy game. All of the visuals in the game, even the backdrops, are treated with art quality of the same level of care as a a water color, and any one frame would be worthy of hanging on a wall. The backgrounds change dynamically; transferring you from the heart of the forest, to a grassy plain, and to the rooftops of a busy Japanese city at night before your eyes. Every aspect of a scene is shown, and it the attention to the details of every little sprite (”piece” of animation) of the game is simply breathtaking. One could just stare at the game for hours, such is the power of its artwork. If you cannot play this game, I highly recommend looking up videos of it (just not youtube, those are way too low quality to do it justice) online, just to see the awe inspiring quality of the game’s artwork.

The sound production of the game is good, with well orchestrated background music. The battle sounds are a bit repetitive, but that is easily forgivable. It is a bit of shame that we cannot undersand the dialogue (it is in Japanese) because an enormous amount of care was put into making it; many game makers are content with simply putting text (for us English speakers, there are subtitles), or using some repetitive noise that never changes regardless of what a character is saying.

Overall, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a game that, should you not want to buy it, you should do whatever is in your power to get a look at some video-footage from the game. It overcomes what few setbacks that it has (there are not many) to give a full-throttled experience, coupled with artwork worthy of being hung in a museum.This game is truly a work of art.

Overall: Buy this game

Controllertower.com

If we back track to the first few months after the announcement of the new Wolfenstein, we can see where people’s concern began to grow. There was little information about the game to be found on the web, and the closest things you could find were either artist renditions or screenshots of green Nazi zombies. New game additives such as “veil” and sneak previews of the powerful futuristic weapons arsenal looked for a promising single player, but the multiplayer of the game was immediately called into question. “Will we everyone be blasting eachother with high-tech energy weapons online? Iron sights, we don’t want another COD! Ewww green is my least favorite color…” I could sit here and read off a list of quotes all day, but I digress. In the early phases no one knew what to expect for the multiplayer portion of the game, except that the previews that had been released to the public were looking like what some referred to as a COD clone. From then on, the majority of information regarding the game was purely single player.

It wasn’t until a few months before release that information regarding the multiplayer was leaked. An interview with Carmack gave fans hope, as quoted in an interview about MP, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Gamespot coverage of the console MP gave insight as well, but restless wolf fans were still left in the dark. It wasn’t until a leaked beta version of the game hit the net, that people got a good look at what the multiplayer was going to be like. Within days there were numerous youtube videos, impressions on forums around the web, screenshots, you name it. This was the point when the Wolfenstein forums hit an all time high of chatter. Names were called, fingers were pointed, and all caps were abused. Id were definitely not happy about the leaked beta or the responses they were getting regarding the multiplayer, but it may have been the most successful beta test I have seen in a while, in terms of the output of information regarding bugs and demanded changes. An official public beta was definitely in order much earlier in the development, as the game was due to come out only weeks after the leak, but it gave the developers some things to think about in the meantime.

Only a week after release we can draw some solid conclusions about the game. One, the single player kicks ass! Two, the multiplayer needs some serious attention and quick. Why did this happen? It seems that the single player and multiplayer were separately developed, and the majority of the MP team were laid off (fired) shortly after release, reasons unknown. At this point someone purchasing the game for the multiplayer may be asking themselves why they should buy the game with all the disappointment. Here are a few reasons why the new Wolfenstein may not be as bad as many portray it to be, and why it may have a hopeful future. 1. Wolfenstein community manager stickies a constructive community feed back thread on the forums (hundreds of posts and views within only a few days). I can only hope that this collection of feedback is an attempt from id to keep their famous franchise alive, and give the game back to its fans. 2. Promod beta announced after the first week. Hannes=God. ET:QW could have used his expertise this early on, and I know that many people are depending on this guy’s work for Wolfenstein if the developers can’t deliver. 3. Gaming leagues announce ladders with promises of big rewards. Competitive communities always provide a new form of entertainment to a game. WolfTV anyone?

In all seriousness, this game is going to be worth the buy and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The single player has gotten great reviews all around, and although the multiplayer is not what people wanted it to be, that may very well change soon. Either through intensive patching, community modding, or the combination of the two, the hardcore wolf fans do not want to see this game fail. Even now, simple tweaks to the game bring it one step closer to the feel of the original Wolfenstein and previews of Hannes promod are getting people excited. I am personally making my buy to contribute to the further development of the game, and am hoping that the Wolfenstein series continues into the years to come. *Detailed Game Review to Come*

The average review rating on GameRankings is 76%.

Other notable reviews:

• GameSpy Review - 4/5 Stars
  If you’re into WWII shooters — and judging by the sales of every single Call of Duty title ever, you are — but you’re looking for something with a little twist to it — which, judging by the sales of twisty straws, you are — and you don’t mind the color green — and judging by the number of Irish people in the world, you don’t — you should get yourself a copy of Wolfenstein. If, however, you’re a straight-straw-drinkin’, WWII-hatin’, Englishman of some stripe or other, then go ahead and stick to other, less-awesome shooters.
• GameSpot Review – 7.5
  With eight solid maps loaded with opportunities for close-quarters firefights and run-and-gun chaos, it’s hard not to like the online game. The action is constantly on the move, and the class abilities keep battles dynamic and consistently interesting… Like the campaign, Wolfenstein’s multiplayer is packed with action, even if it doesn’t represent the pinnacle of the genre.
• WorthPlaying Review – 7.5
  I love Wolfenstein, if only for the brilliant single-player segment, which swishes together 1940s pulp-action sci-fi and straightforward gunplay with atmospheric adventure. Gunning down Nazi scum among ancient ruins and atop a flying fortress was a tremendous thrill ride, but many will also be looking for the multiplayer portion to live up to the legacy of RtCW, and that experience falls far from the mark. For those who want to take part in a gripping adventure filled with bullets, fantastical Nazi super-science, the occult and an arsenal of super-weapons, Wolfenstein’s wild and weird take on history delivers.

Look for our own review in the coming days!