Way of the Samurai
GameRatio Review
PS2

For all you fans of the old Bushido Blade games, which first appeared on PSOne, here comes a new breed of samurai action.  Fight your way through the early Meiji era using various swords bought and stolen from the dead.  

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Meiji era, in Japan, there were the Tokugawa and Shogonate eras.  Both were the equivalent of our Wild Western era.  The Meiji era was a time of peace, where the samurai were no longer needed.  Many were forced to put down their blades, while some became wonderers.  A good example of this era is the Rurouni Kenshin series.  

The story takes off in the beginning of the Meiji era.  You are a wondering samurai, out of work, and with nowhere to go.  The story starts with a woman being terrorized by local gang members.  The story really takes off, depending on how you deal with these lowlives.  If you defend her, you get a free lunch.  If you leave them alone, you'll never know what happens to her.  Or, you can join them.  As the game progresses, your presence causes an imbalance of power in the small village in the small mountain pass where the game takes place.  You can either join with the warring clans on whichever side you want, or stay rouge and survive the war.  With every action you make having an effect on the flow of the game, 

Way of the Samurai is definitely an RPG/fighting game.  Drawing strength from both genres, Way of the Samurai puts you in the shoes of an unnamed swordsman.  You travel through small villages.  You must remember… though you are the main character, you can't change the world.  Play requires you to make use of your time.  Since you can't be everywhere at once… you can't protect a villager as well as fight a war.  Choosing wisely will allow you to get specific endings and unlock hidden extras.  Since there are so many variables in the games story, you're almost guaranteed to never play through the same events twice.  

The hidden extras in Way of the Samurai have some to be desired.  You must unlock versus mode, which plays similar to Bushido Blade 2.  In versus mode, you have 23 characters based on models from the story.  There are 60 swords to find in the game, ranging from the dull and rusted, to elaborate and finely crafted.  You can unlock additional modes of training as well.  When the game starts, there are three faces and three body models you can choose to use to personify you in this game.  As you progress, you gain additional bodies as well as faces.  

Way of the Samurai holds up well to modern games, but has a slightly PSOne feeling to it.  Graphically, I would compare this game to earlier in the PS2's library.  The spray of blood from wounding opponents tends to pixilate at points.  In addition, the character skins, though smooth skinned, are not as well defined as other games for its time.  The general feel is definitely there though.  Buildings are well placed, and there is little loading time.  There is no spoken dialog, but then again… with all the options for what you could say… it'd make the game longer and possibly two or more DVDs long.  

Overall, I rather enjoyed Way of the Samurai.  Despite its few shortcomings, the game has definite replay value as well as a sound two-player mode (again, based on Bushido Blade 2's two-player mode).  I highly recommend this game.  Not only are you drawn into the story by the chain of events your own actions bring, but with so many paths to explore, it's like playing a new game every time.