Kengo: Masters of Bushido Blade

PS2 review by Anthony Karge - Tuesday 14th October 2003

Ever since I saw my first Akira Kurosawa film, medieval Japan immediately interested me. Before seeing Seven Samurai the only thing I knew about samurai was what I gathered from the Samurai Pizza Cats cartoon. You wouldn't believe how inaccurate that cartoon was! Real samurai didn't loaf around eating pizzas or dressing like Power Rangers; they did what their masters ordered them to. The thing that really makes samurai so interesting is the way they live by the sword and by honor. While the life of a samurai was dangerous and sometimes deadly, becoming a romanticized hero for centuries to come was worth all the trouble.



Anyways, I better stop babbling about the samurai. I'm not even sure if the people in Kengo: Master of the Bushido are actually samurai. They wield swords and live in medieval Japan, so I guess that's close enough. Kengo is developed by the same fellows who made Bushido Blade on the Playstation. This was a wildly inventive fighting game that focused on a vast arsenal of weapons and realistic combat. The game had no health bars and a single strike can wind up killing you. While the game actually took place in contemporary times, it was chockfull of samurai-like goodness. Things can only improve in the jump from the graphically inferior Playstation to the mighty PS2, right? No, no it can't!

Kengo isn't like other fighting games, such as Tekken or Street Fighter. While the latter have more of an emphasis on fast-paced attacks and complex special moves, Kengo is all about old-fashioned one-on-one sword duels. Memorizing specific combos and moves is unnecessary due to the simplicity of the controls. You can choose one of four stances with the tap of a trigger button, and each stance results in a different chain of attacks.

While the game seems simple at first, there is an unexpected amount of depth. If you attack recklessly like the US army on a random country with oil, you'll quickly find yourself defeated. You must strafe around your opponent and wait for exactly the right moment to strike. Parrying and countering attacks is also something you must learn to do. Gamers seeking an immediate adrenaline rush in their fighting games should search elsewhere, because the combat in this game requires patience and tactics. However, that isn't to say the fighting is not fun. Bringing your opponent to his knees with a crushing attack is great. Even better is watching blood splurt out from the opponent's neck uncontrollably. It's one of those satisfying moments that cause you to yell, "AHA, have at you, long shanks!" at your TV screen. Or perhaps that's something only I would say.

The only problem with the combat is that there are a couple of design flaws that knock this game down a notch or two. The worst thing in the game are the unnatural special moves. All the authenticity of the game is ruined when all of a sudden the game slows down Matrix-style and a character unleashes an unrealistically fast move that kills you in one blow. These moves don't occur too often, but they seem like someone something sloppily added in at the last minute. Too bad these special moves were never present to being with.



Unlike Bushido Blade, Kengo has a health bar like all of those other generic fighting games. While this may not exactly be a design flaw, it does lead to some awkward happenings. Sometimes a seemingly deadly blow only deal about 5% of damage to the health bar. Other times, a hit that looks weak can deal over a third of damage. It's so wildly inconsistent that you never know exactly how much pain you're about to unleash. This makes the duels seem unfair in the case of tough battles, which require every hit to matter.

There is only a pittance of modes in Kengo. There is your standard VS. mode in which you and a friend fight it out. There is also a generic tournament mode. This isn't even really a tournament, simply a mode in which you fight thirty different opponents one-on-one. These two modes aren't very exciting, but the unique single player mode fares better.

You get to pick from three different warriors at the start of the single player mode. After you pick a warrior, you choose from one of eight schools that emphasize different techniques. The single player in Kengo starts off fairly slow. After a few decent tutorial levels, you're subjected to the dreaded license tests. Over the years, gamers have begun to hate all forms of license tests in racing games, and now we get to hate them in fighting games. These license tests usually consist of beating a wave of five different people, and they range in difficulty from easy to frustrating.

Once you get past license tests the enjoyment starts to go up a tad. You go from school to school defeating various students, and eventually their master. The difficulty level is fair and the opponents never really become frustrating. After becoming strong enough you enter a challenging tournament that marks the end of the game if you come out as the victor. The only downside is that every battle fought up the tournament is done with wooden swords. The lack of blood and steel didn't suit my American needs. I prefer blood and weapons as often as possible.



While the way the single player mode progresses is occasionally dull, the character customization is divine. You can choose what all the attacks that each stance provides you with. There are hundreds of different stances you can create. Even better is how your character becomes stronger. In order to make your fighter faster, strong etc. you must partake in a variety of fun mini-games. These six mini-games range from mad button mashing to timed button presses to a DDR-style training exercise. If there was a 4 player mode and a lot more mini-games, Kengo would give Mario Party a run for it's money.

The character models are delightfully detailed, and the animation is fluid and realistic, but they don't contrast well with the bland backgrounds. The detailed clothing and realistic movements of the garments make the boring dojo stages look lame by comparison. Only about 1/5th of the levels take place somewhere aside from a dojo, but even then they don't look too good. Imagine a level taking place in a stream with cherry blossoms in the background, or even a level taking place in any sort of luscious outdoor area. Instead of that, we're treated to generic wood structures.

The sound takes a minimalist approach, but it's probably one of the better parts of the game. Music doesn't play during the matches, but the simple clashes and clangs of the swords is much more effective than the standard techno soundtrack that seems to inhabit most fighting games. A few other sound effects, such as dogs barking in the background and the sword slicing through a body add a lot to the mood. In fact, the sword slicing through a body is one of the most disgusting, yet exciting sound effects ever heard in a game.

When playing Kengo, a few moments of brilliance occur. Unfortunately, the moments of brilliance are quickly forgotten thanks to some stupid design decisions. Despite all the flaws, I still got some enjoyment out of this game. It's most likely due to my fondness for the samurai, or perhaps my penchant for average games. Either way, if you're a fan of swordfights and medieval Japan, give this game a rent. Otherwise, stick with the more normal fighting games. Kengo may be too different for it's own good.

Thunderbolt score: seven out of ten

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