Not very long ago I wrote about one of my favorite games, Deadly Premonition for the XBox 360. Ignition Entertainment was the company behind the genious of mixing, RPG, sandbox, comedy, and survival horror into one game and made it enjoyable with toned-down graphics and a budget price tag. After I enjoyed the game so much, I looked up the company on Wikipedia, and found out they made a game on the Wii called Muramasa: The Demon blade. I found on the Nintendo Channel for Wii that it was an RPG as well. Last night I finally bought the game, and have not been disappointed. The game is a 2D Side-scrolling RPG rooted in Japanese Mythology and accented with well detailed sceneries. Before you think of "lack of depth being 2D" wait until I explain how it works. The combat aspect of gameplay is similar to that of 2D fighting games of old. The RPG elements will seem familiar to you, its greatly similar to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the NES and Virtual Console. The story is highly rooted in Japanese Mythology, mostly centering on the legend of Muramasa Sengo, a famous sword-smith during the 16th century of Japan. It was believed that the swords created a bloodlust in those that used it, to the point of being impossible to sheath until blood reaches the blade, leading to injury and suicide to the user. The game uses numerous references to Japanese culture including, swords, food, drinks, money, scenery and shrines as well as clothing.
One of the biggest things that gives the game the charm of a JRPG is that it has the original Japanese audio. The characters spoken words are translated into text at the bottom, but the characters speech is in the original Japanese language. Some people like this, others not so much. I for one do like it because it keeps its origin centered, instead of making a game about Japanese Mythology with samurai and ninja, miraculously speaking English. The game is what I call a sleeper hit, hard to find, great, and sometimes higher priced at game stores showing a demand for the item. Trauma Center, is a clear title that comes to mind for this as well as The Orange Box, a more famous game, but still hard to find and usually expensive at game stores. After playing both characters stories for around an 30 minutes to an hour, the game plays great and is fun and addictive.
So far I'm not to far in the game, but I like it, its got this great feel that I just can't quite pin down. Brings back memories of Zelda II and platforms like Mario. The game is great, well done visually and love how the characters mouths, clothing, and hair, move. The game is so crystal clear I'd swear it was HD, any anime or manga fan, or an Otaku, would love a game like this. Mark my words, Ignition will become famous if they keep making games like this and Deadly Premonition, at the very least, with me as they are quickly becoming a favorite developer of mine. Thanks for reading =^_^=
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