Jonzor's Game Review of Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Yeah, I said it: Episode IV
Jonzor - wrote on 09/13/11

I have this theory about Final Fantasy VII. The theory says that much of the appreciation of the game stemmed from people who had a real affinity for it’s art style. A generation of teenagers growing up, getting into anime, stumbled upon Final Fantasy VII and...

“Wow! I get to... play... anime? Best. Game. Ever. Man, the Japanese really know how to write great dialog for black people.”

Of course, this was years before that particular meme had caught on, but you get the point. Opinion of the game was enhanced by an attraction to the art style.

Before I go further, I should add that this theory really stemmed from meeting like two people that it applied to. I’ve met people who run counter to this theory, but then, I can’t say I care enough to go back and modify a stereotype I’ve had for nearly a decade.

But the good news is that the theory has been outclassed, so it’s usefulness and/or accuracy is really of little consequence to me now. I’ve got a new game to use to test exactly how devoted a person is to all things originating from the Land of the Rising Sun.

That game is Muramasa: the Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii. The Japanese influences on this game run pretty deep, and how much you overlook the game's flaws is, my theory states, related directly to how much you love Japanese culture in your media.

This game has a few strengths. Great boss battles. Reasonable amount of material for post-game play. Excellent music. I wish I knew if the voice acting was good or not, but alas, I don’t speak Japanese. I'm happy to report that the subtitles had few to no typos though.

There’s also one more strength, that really deserves its own section of the review. The art style in the game is truly amazing. This is not a joke: I actually enjoyed approaching the back of NPCs just to watch the animation of them turning around to speak to me. The characters are large enough to show a fair amount of detail and work that went into their design, and the sometimes-animated and multi-layered backgrounds received just as much attention as the rest of the game. The entire game is a hand-drawn wonder. There’s literally no part of this game’s visual presentation that isn’t worth just... staring at.

Which will come in really handy, because this game’s strength is NOT “variety”. The strongest compliment you can give this game’s art is that it is truly so gorgeous it DOESN’T get old, despite the fact that you’ll see 90% of it in the first 15% of the game.

Other areas of the game aren’t so lucky. The gameplay suffers from the same repetitiveness as the graphics, but doesn’t hold up nearly as well. This game is truly a classic brawler, right down to the constant hammering on the punch button (or in this case, the “hit with sword” button). There is the added element of aerial combat, which, when used properly, gives you a chance to really work some magic as you artfully juggle enemies, granting them the mercy of touching ground only after claiming their life. Sadly, it’s probably easier and faster to just mash the crap out of the sword button, jumping only to maneuver/evade.

A few areas of the gameplay actually fall short of the tried-and-true brawler model, even:

1. The reason the phrase “jump button” was coined is because it’s a good idea. Pressing “up” to jump is an awful idea in all but fighting games, and that’s because of the need to cling to that “3 punch buttons and 3 kick buttons” control model.

2. The game feels far too sloppy on the ground. It shouldn’t be this hard to stand in the spot you want to, but the designer-inserted lack of traction is pretty annoying. They don’t suffer from this issue in the air, however. These guys turn on a dime while flying around the screen.

3. Multiple characters should equal multiple play styles. This is possibly the biggest miss on the developers’ part. The beauty of games like Final Fight, Magic Sword, the first TMNT game on the NES, King of Dragons, or even that X-Men arcade game is that each character gives you at least a SLIGHTLY different experience. The two playable characters in this game literally could not be more identical in play style. This goes back to that lack of variety I’d mentioned before, and would have been such an easy way to improve this game. And in an age of co-op EVERYTHING, it seems, having two different characters should be a chance to add a friend and maybe change the game up a little but again... no dice.

There are some elements to the gameplay you don’t usually see in brawlers, however. The focus of the combat on swords offers up the only real variety you DO see in the gameplay. As the game moves on you are constantly forging new swords of two different types: normal swords (or “blades” as their called) and almost-completely-useless swords (termed “long blades”). The blades feature quicker attack speeds for generally reduced attack power, while the long blades feature an attack speed that will often times result in you getting hit before you can land a blow, but the possibility of higher attack power tries to offset this. I favored the standard blades nearly the entire game, but for some slow-moving bosses a long blade was useful.

You’ll equip 3 swords at a time, and as you use a sword to defend yourself, or use the special (and maybe-sometimes-not-useless) magical abilities imbued in each sword, the durability of the sword drops. When the durability of the sword gives out, it breaks and you’ll be forced to return it to its sheath and move on to a new sword (or you can switch to a new sword before the meter runs dry) while the sword is repaired. Which reminds me, when a fight ends, and ALL the swords are back in their sheaths, why doesn't the sword I currently have set to use also regenerate? Small potatoes, I know, but it just smacks of lazy coders.

If you wait long enough in between weapon switches you’ll unlease a powerful attack that hits everything on the screen for impressive damage. There’s true strategy in difficult fights from managing your swords, because some bosses and enemies can snap a mystical Japanese death blade before you can count ichi, ni, san, and when you’re out of swords, not only can you not defend yourself, but you’ll have a hard time doing much damage.

There are some basic RPG elements, but the real truth is they don’t change the game much from being a 2D brawler. The entire game essentially scales with your character, so as you gain a level, so do the enemies. Gaining a level means nothing other than your stats go up, and since progress against your enemies can’t be gauged, the whole character progression disappears. Gaining more powerful swords never really feels rewarding, since killing the same group of eight purple-clad ninjas for the 4000th time seems just as hard or easy as it was the first time. You’ll find some accessories to modify aspects of your character such as money gain or XP earned, but honestly the ones that regenerate life are so much more useful than the others it doesn’t make much sense to use anything else.

The game features multiple endings that aren’t too difficult to get, though the final one for each character requires that you unlock the last sword. After completing the first ending for each character, you'll be granted the ability to warp around the world map, which saves you from a great deal of repetition and button-mashing.

All in all, this is a pretty solid game that just lasts twice as long as its gameplay mechanics. All things being equal, if you’re a fan of 2D action games or your Wii collection needs a little variety, this game would deserve your attention. As a fan of 2D action games, or the SNES in general, this game is right in my wheelhouse. But not everyone digs the genre as much as I do.

But in this game’s case, all things are not equal. The art design and graphical style honestly take this game up a level and force any Wii owner or fan of action games in general to give this game at least a chance.

Muramasa: the Demon Blade's visuals are so great you may miss the fact that they adorn an only slightly above-average 2D brawler.

Yeah, I said it.