Games for Lunch: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

In a nutshell: Slash-slash-slash-something-about-souls-slash-slash
10/27/2009 5:17 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Developer: Vanillaware
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Release Date: Sept. 8, 2009
System: Wii
ESRB Rating: T
Official Web site

0:00 I remember hearing a lot about this one at E3, but not so much after it came out. Still, I'm in the mood for some hand-drawn 2-D action today, so let's see if it merits discussion.

0:01 On the preview screen, the logo comes up over a full moon behind black clouds, with a loud gong and the sound of an unsheathing sword. Sleek.

0:02 "Answer the call of the Demon Blade, thirsting to draw and drink blood. Witness the fate of those who've drawn the demon blade." OK then ... I will. The credits start to appear over sweeping harp- and flute-heavy war music. A woman in old-fashioned Japanese garb unsheathes a sword. Two swords sit impaled in the ground in front of a sunset. A hazy forest flies by from a first-person perspective. A lonely warrior with a blue headband stands on a ridge. An old man with a long, white Fu Manchu mustache and beard stares evilly. The sun sets in the distance as the camera refocuses on a bug on a leaf. The full moon flies by a black sky in a diagonal. Leaves fall onto a pool of water, with a carp swimming underneath. And the logo appears again. Color me confused.

0:05 Before moving forward, I have to select my playing style. Muso lets me "cut through enemies easily," and "progress steadily even if you're not skilled at action games." Shura tells me that "to advance, you must evade, defend and use Secret Arts masterfully. Only for the brave." I may regret this, but I decide to be brave and choose Shura.

0:06 Two different stories to choose: The Story of Momohime and The Story of Kisuke. I can't tell any apparent difference from this screen, so I'll go with Momohime, I guess...

0:07 On a mountain road thick with vegetation sits the woman in the old-fashioned garb. Time for the Controls Tutorial. I have to tilt up on the control-stick jumps ... that's odd. I can also double jump (yes!) and float down by holding up.

0:10 The A button slashes. Hitting it repeatedly does a combo attack. Crouching and hitting A does a low slash that can hit grounded enemies. Uppercuts and leaping-forward attacks are done by holding A and moving the control stick in various directions. That's ... lots of moves for just one button. Reminds me of Super Smash Bros. a bit. I'm betting I'll forget how to pull off all this fancy stuff once the actual game starts.

0:11 Finally, something that uses the B button! It activates my "Secret Art," a "Misty Slash" that dashes behind the opponent and slashes them twice quickly. Other blades have different Secret Arts, I'm told.

0:13 I can block by holding A and parry projectiles back by slashing with good timing. Doing it too much can break the blade, necessitating a switch with the tap of a button.

0:15 The tutorial ends in a simple battle with an apprentice ninja. He jumps away from my first attack and sends down a throwing star. I recover quickly, do some slashing combos, a somersault attack, a jumping downward slice, and he's down. I get 6 XP for a "quick win." Oh, and a delicious rice ball to restore some health. Yum.

0:17 Opening act time. "Destroy the barriers blocking the main road." OK! Uh, why?

0:18 As opposed to the tutorial, which was on one screen, here I can jump and scroll the screen up to the treetops, whose branches I can walk upon. The animation and art are simply beautiful. Her skirt flies up as she floats down, showing some sexy animated leg. Wait, am I getting turned on by a drawing of a Japanese girl? Uh ... that's disturbing.

0:21 I like the subtle map overlay, which goes away for ... the first battle! Four ninjas, all attacking at once, cluttering the screen. I tear into them with varied attacks, mixing in some somersaults and uppercuts with my regular slashes. I thought I did pretty well, but my health is pretty far down already ... down to 77/138. A swig from my "bamboo flask" will fix that!

0:25 I turn off the fancy attacks for my second battle, this time with five ninjas. Instead, I just jam on the A button and quickly capture them all in my combo slashes. I get up to a 7-combo and earn 42 XP, plus a bonus 5 for getting through "completely unscathed." Oh yeah! Who knows how to mash the A button. I do!

0:26 By the way, the forest background has given way to a rolling countryside with farmland and cute, frowning scarecrows. The music is sad, elegant Asian strings. Nice atmosphere.

0:27 New enemy alert: "Samurai are troublesome enemies capable of defending themselves against your attacks." I can break their blades, though. In practice, they're not so tough. I jump in with a bunch of normal slashes and they block until their swords break. They got one lucky hit in, but I get 28 XP plus a bonus for a quick win.

0:30 Another battle with a quintet of ninjas. For some reason, this time my random A-smashing doesn't work as well and I'm forced to use a healing pellet to stay alive (the game thankfully prompts me when I need to do this). I did manage to parry a shuriken. It was mostly accidental, though. I'm forgetting all the advanced skills I learned already. I really have to try to weave them in.