Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Afro Samurai is a tale of retribution. As a young boy, Afro witnesses his father's murder at the hands of Justice, who happens to be the #1 fighter in the world. Consumed by revenge, Afro vows to earn the #2 headband needed to challenge the world's best fighter. However, many covet this headband for themselves. The fusion of traditional Japanese culture and hip hop created a brutally fresh experience, and the game retains much of what made the anime unique. However, it isn't without problems.

The cel shaded graphics are a suitable match to the shows visual style. Characters are immediately recognisable, with some nice texturing bringing them closer to the source material. Generally, the plot feels like deleted scenes from the original quest, but standout moments, like the freefall battle sequence, are beautifully recreated. New characters feature, and certain plot gaps are filled in, as well as flashes to Afros childhood. Yet it can feel disjointed, switching locations without much explanation. In addition, the finer points of the story will be lost on newcomers. Music is supervised by Wu Tangs RZA, and remains of a high standard. Afro & his chatty 'sidekick' Ninja Ninja are still brilliantly voiced by Samuel L Jackson, lending the game humour and attitude. To date, it's possibly the best use of voice acting in videogames.

Nudity, violence, and sexual content are everywhere, battles against topless female ninjas in particular. Combat is highly stylised, visceral and furious, although it treads closely to generic hack and slashers. Afro Samurai has always been bloodthirsty, and the game piles on the gore, including slow motion dismemberments. Strong attacks build up focus moves, where environmental colours wash away, and make decapitations an even grislier sight. Wide sweeping, focus attacks decimate everything on screen, which superbly conveys the raw power of Afro Samurai.

Level design is fairly standard. However, the environments feel surprisingly empty, and barring a few simplistic puzzles, and hidden items, are completely void of interaction. Clumsy platform sections only have a detrimental effect on gameplay. There's a level up system, which doesent seem to do anything. Elsewhere, there are some minor but noticeable frame rate drops, especially during split screen moments. Later bosses are full of cheap moves, and threaten to ruin the experience (Brother No.6!). Animation is jittery in places. The camera is the games biggest problem, forcing the use of inverted controls, and with a complete lack of customisation.

An entertaining and thoroughly gory affair, Afro Samurai is a successful videogame adaptation. Yet newcomers won't find anything to match the depth or sophistication of Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. Probably one for the fans.