Cleidophoros
01-05-2006, 12:26 PM
Soul of the Samurai - NTSC - U
Soul of the Samurai is an action-adventure game set in feudal Japan. Player controls a samurai who must battle this evil shogun and his minions. Gameplay is similar of that Silent Hill or Resident Evil games but only with swords and peasants, and not so much with pistols and deranged little girls.
If you're an action game nut, then Soul of the Samurai will definitely keep your sword sharp.
September 8, 1999 - Has anyone ever seen the anime film, Ninja Scroll? I swear, Sword of the Samurai shares so many similarities with that film, I mean, as far as presentation and character development is concerned. Anyway, I'm still playing this game, and for those that are expecting a game like Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, be forewarned, there are no stealth-like elements in this game, oh no, you're a noble samurai, and you slay who's in your way.
Gameplay
For some reason, and I'm only judging this on some of the letters we've received, people are expecting that this game is similar to Tenchu, strafing along building walls, shooting grappling hooks, um, a full 3D environment, no it's not like that. In fact, the only similarity between Tenchu and Soul of the Samurai is the era the game is set in and you can choose between two characters. Just thought I'd clear that up.
Anyway, the game plays similarly to Resident Evil, polygonal characters set on hand drawn backgrounds. Unlike Resident Evil, though, you're armed with bladed weapons and projectiles, and there a lot to choose from. There are all sorts of swords and shurikens you can get as you run though the game. But not only can you upgrade your character's weapons, you can also increase your character's skill. As you progress further into the game, whenever you kill a guy, your experience meter goes up. Once full, your character can learn new attacks. This breaks up the monotony of ways to kill your foes, 'cause the first few levels, especially when you're playing with Kotaro, you're basically using the same three slashes to kill your attackers.
As far as the story is concerned, well, the game doesn't read to well. I'd almost have to say the text was translated poorly. The game's text doesn't read well and is littered with sentence fragments. The story itself is somewhat compelling, but thank goodness Konami through in the 'skip the sequence' option. By pressing the 'select' button, you can skip all the ingame sequences -- sitting through them the first time was enough for me.
Graphics
Soul of the Samurai has some awesome hand-drawn backgrounds. The temples, the forests, the towns, all look pretty darn cool. And the character design, that's another bonus. In addition to the boss characters, Soul of the Samurai has a ton of different enemies to stick your sword into. Ninja, various types of samurai, these guys with posts, townspeople... hey, some of those guys get on my nerves and that's a crime that is punishable by death!
The bosses are cool looking as well. Murokumu, one of the first guys you run into, man, he's like twice the size of you and has some serious strength issues (freakin' buff!). Just so you know, Murokumu was a long time friend of yours, and from the last time you saw him, he's nearly doubled in size, plus, he hates you! What's up with that?
Sound
Doug disagrees with me, but I like the music in this game. It's really similar to Tenchu's with a 'Nine Inch Nails' influence. I mean, some of it is pretty laid back, with pricks from various Japanese instruments, but when you're fighting bosses, or cruising through alley streets when there are nasties walking about, the music is all tough and stuff. It's sounds like Samurai Showdown.
The game's sword slashing and slicing noises are fine as well. Like, when you thrust your sword into someone, awe man, it's pretty gross. It makes this, "phlisss" sound, and then all this blood spurts out. Awesome.
A game like this, though, I think some voice acting would've made a big difference. The scenes are already a tad bland, it would've been great to hear some angry toned jargon and some whimpering and such -- something. I don't know, it's just the text isn't that dynamic, spoken dialogue would've been a great addition.
Overall
At any rate, Soul of the Samurai is a great action game. It's just, after having a game like Metal Gear Solid come out of your company, I guess your standards get raised a bit. Besides, I have to remind myself that this isn't tactical espionage, it's sword swinging, and if you like that kind of stuff, great, you'll dig this game completely.
http://images.snesorama.us/Soul_Of_The_Samurai_ntsc-front.jpg
http://images.snesorama.us/Soul_Of_The_Samurai_ntsc-back.jpg
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Soul of the Samurai is an action-adventure game set in feudal Japan. Player controls a samurai who must battle this evil shogun and his minions. Gameplay is similar of that Silent Hill or Resident Evil games but only with swords and peasants, and not so much with pistols and deranged little girls.
If you're an action game nut, then Soul of the Samurai will definitely keep your sword sharp.
September 8, 1999 - Has anyone ever seen the anime film, Ninja Scroll? I swear, Sword of the Samurai shares so many similarities with that film, I mean, as far as presentation and character development is concerned. Anyway, I'm still playing this game, and for those that are expecting a game like Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, be forewarned, there are no stealth-like elements in this game, oh no, you're a noble samurai, and you slay who's in your way.
Gameplay
For some reason, and I'm only judging this on some of the letters we've received, people are expecting that this game is similar to Tenchu, strafing along building walls, shooting grappling hooks, um, a full 3D environment, no it's not like that. In fact, the only similarity between Tenchu and Soul of the Samurai is the era the game is set in and you can choose between two characters. Just thought I'd clear that up.
Anyway, the game plays similarly to Resident Evil, polygonal characters set on hand drawn backgrounds. Unlike Resident Evil, though, you're armed with bladed weapons and projectiles, and there a lot to choose from. There are all sorts of swords and shurikens you can get as you run though the game. But not only can you upgrade your character's weapons, you can also increase your character's skill. As you progress further into the game, whenever you kill a guy, your experience meter goes up. Once full, your character can learn new attacks. This breaks up the monotony of ways to kill your foes, 'cause the first few levels, especially when you're playing with Kotaro, you're basically using the same three slashes to kill your attackers.
As far as the story is concerned, well, the game doesn't read to well. I'd almost have to say the text was translated poorly. The game's text doesn't read well and is littered with sentence fragments. The story itself is somewhat compelling, but thank goodness Konami through in the 'skip the sequence' option. By pressing the 'select' button, you can skip all the ingame sequences -- sitting through them the first time was enough for me.
Graphics
Soul of the Samurai has some awesome hand-drawn backgrounds. The temples, the forests, the towns, all look pretty darn cool. And the character design, that's another bonus. In addition to the boss characters, Soul of the Samurai has a ton of different enemies to stick your sword into. Ninja, various types of samurai, these guys with posts, townspeople... hey, some of those guys get on my nerves and that's a crime that is punishable by death!
The bosses are cool looking as well. Murokumu, one of the first guys you run into, man, he's like twice the size of you and has some serious strength issues (freakin' buff!). Just so you know, Murokumu was a long time friend of yours, and from the last time you saw him, he's nearly doubled in size, plus, he hates you! What's up with that?
Sound
Doug disagrees with me, but I like the music in this game. It's really similar to Tenchu's with a 'Nine Inch Nails' influence. I mean, some of it is pretty laid back, with pricks from various Japanese instruments, but when you're fighting bosses, or cruising through alley streets when there are nasties walking about, the music is all tough and stuff. It's sounds like Samurai Showdown.
The game's sword slashing and slicing noises are fine as well. Like, when you thrust your sword into someone, awe man, it's pretty gross. It makes this, "phlisss" sound, and then all this blood spurts out. Awesome.
A game like this, though, I think some voice acting would've made a big difference. The scenes are already a tad bland, it would've been great to hear some angry toned jargon and some whimpering and such -- something. I don't know, it's just the text isn't that dynamic, spoken dialogue would've been a great addition.
Overall
At any rate, Soul of the Samurai is a great action game. It's just, after having a game like Metal Gear Solid come out of your company, I guess your standards get raised a bit. Besides, I have to remind myself that this isn't tactical espionage, it's sword swinging, and if you like that kind of stuff, great, you'll dig this game completely.
http://images.snesorama.us/Soul_Of_The_Samurai_ntsc-front.jpg
http://images.snesorama.us/Soul_Of_The_Samurai_ntsc-back.jpg
Important: We work very hard to bring you these downloads. Please, if you would be kind enough, give us a vote at the Top50 (http://www.top50emu.com/enter/top50.cgi?snesorama)(opens in new window). Click the link, then "click here to proceeed", and your vote has been counted.
NOTE: If you are experiencing difficulty downloading or playing this game, use our Download Difficulty subforum (http://snesorama.us/board/forumdisplay.php?f=51). Do not post such issues in this thread, as they will be deleted. Copy the URL of this page, as you will need to reference it when seeking assistance.
Download
http://rapidshare.de/files/10434244/SotS.7z.001.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/10434253/SotS.7z.002.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/10433313/SotS.7z.003.html
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