A decent Samurai inspired launch title
Genji: Days of the Blade was released in 2006 as one of the twelve launch titles for the console. It is a sequel to Genji: Dawn of the Samurai (or simply Genji in some parts of the world) released for the PlayStation 2 just one year earlier. Developing a new IP along with its sequel which you plan to launch on a new console just a year later seems like a really impressive feat to me.
Genji: Days of the Blade was the first title to be released with the newly created Japan Studio brand. (Read more about Japan Studio from our article in Issue 3 PlayStation 3, Japan Studio, and the Slow Death of Experimentation.)
Primarily Genji is hack and slash but with some interesting adventure elements that help to mix up the gameplay. I’d say it plays a lot like the Onimusha series as well as sharing the same Japanese samurai setting.
When starting up the game I really enjoyed the opening pre-rendered cutscene. It’s pretty heavy in its exposition dump of the lore and the setting but graphically it is very strong. The first point to note is that you play as four different characters throughout the game but you can often switch between them at any time. The early game does a really good job of slowly introducing each character and giving you time to learn their unique styles. For example the game starts you with one, introduces a second and then removes one and introduces another new one at the same time, just to make sure you don’t get overwhelmed too quickly.
The four different characters are Yoshitsune, Benkei, Shizuka and Buson and the game makes really good use of them. I’ve not had a great experience with games that feature multiple characters in this way, usually you end up favoring one and don’t find much reason to switch but here the characters unique abilities and attacks can massively change the direction of a battle.
In an early boss I attempted to use Shizuka, a weak character, who was killed in about two hits from this powerful boss. So I switched to Benkei, but then I found a group of archers on the edge of the battlefield were pummeling him because he is so slow, so I switched to Yoshitsune to quickly dispel them before returning to Benkei to tackle the main boss.
Not only do the different characters have completely different attack styles, they also have unique environmental abilities that create simple puzzles for you to solve such as knocking down barriers and swinging across gaps. In Genji you only ever see one of the four characters on screen at a time (discounting cutscenes) but it is implied they are with you in the journey, so it’s kind of funny to me how Benkai cannot cross a chasm because he cannot jump, so you switch to Shizuka who can use her grappling hook and then you can switch to Benkai again when you are on the other side, It’s like somehow he just made it over when you weren’t looking.
Characters
Yoshitsune
Yoshitsune is the most middle-of-the-road of the characters. He is a fast, dual-wields swords and in my opinion is the most satisfying to battle with. His special features are… jumping (Yes not all characters can jump) and running across walls.
Benkei
Lord Benkei is your classic tank. Slow walking, slow attacking, but his attacks hit hard when they land. Initially he takes some getting used to but he can be incredibly satisfying to play as. When holding down triangle, you build up a big sweeping attack that can knock down huge groups of enemies. His special platforming ability is to knock down obstacles.
Shizuka
Combat with The Lady Shizuka was pretty disappointing. She has these blades and fans tethered to rope that allows you to attack enemies from distance and when playing as her it is essential that you do indeed keep enemies at a distance as she is incredibly weak compared to the other characters and can get absolutely demolished if you are not careful. Her special ability for platforming it to use her weapons as grappling hooks.
Buson
Buson is a fascinating character introduced later into the game. He was not that fun to use. His primary special attack is a large shockwave which has a cooldown and I had trouble using it effectively.
I’d be remiss if I did not talk about the “Crab Meme”. For some reason once you are through the opening chapter of the game you are introduced to enemies with far more unusual styles. During the E3 Presentation for the Launch of the PlayStation 3 there was a live gameplay of Genji. The executive producer of Genji 2, was explaining how Genji would feature “Real historical battles” followed shortly by “So here’s this giant enemy crab”.
I think Genji: Days of the Blade achieves a lot for being a launch title. Its graphics are pretty decent for the time and the performance is also decent. I think the game suffers from being a bit janky. Jumps quite often don’t land leading to some tedious back tracking, and I’d have preferred a better lock-on system as I found attacks were slightly off or I was getting side swiped as my block was not connecting. I think it’s a worthwhile addition to any collection as it is a launch title and it is still a PlayStation 3 exclusive but I think it lacks a bit of polish and something unique which stops it from being a hard recommendation.