Bushido Blade
PlayStation
Light Weight / Squaresoft

Bushido Blade is fighting game like no other. It throws all the old conventions out the window, gone are live bars, rounds, and bizarre special moves. This game is realistic, hit your opponent in the head with your sword and they are dead. You have a selection of 6 fighters who are different in their speed and power and they all have different weapon preferences. Also, you can select from one of eight weapons that are totally different in style. In game you have three attack buttons and defense button. The defense button is not a block button in the normal sense, you must press it at the exact moment to deflect the attack. You can also deflect attacks by using attacks to hit the enemy's blade. Blocking is actually governed by hit detection. Remember that bigger weapons are more powerful than small weapons so it may be better to avoid the strike. You can change between three stances; high, low, and medium; giving you nine basic attacks. You can also jump, throw dirt at your opponent, and throw a sub weapon; but these moves can be hard to pull off at times. There are special moves, but they are not pulled off the same as they are in most games. If the enemy is able to strike you in a non-fatal move you are injured. If you become injured, in your arms it becomes harder to swing your weapon and in you legs you can no longer walk. One of the most unique aspects of Bushido Blade is that in single player they force you to follow the code of Bushido, no attacking the enemy before they are ready, not back stabbing, and so forth. They only problems with this is the code is poorly defined in the manual and the AI doesn't have to follow Bushido. If you break the Bushido code, it gives you a cryptic message and dumps you at the main menu. In story mode you can also move freely about the compound where your first few opponents are at, but this feature feels poorly implemented since the game doesn't lend itself to much to running around too much. The games other modes are Slash mode, Versus mode, Training, POV mode, and Link mode. In Slash mode you must fight off 100 ninjas without dying, luckily Bushido is not enforced outside of story mode. Training is just a versus mode against a selected AI. POV mode is a first person mode, I don't why they don't just let you play the story mode this way. And Link mode is a POV versus mode playable over a PlayStation link cable. Bushido Blade's graphics are very bland for a mid age PlayStation game, but they are serviceable. Bushido Blade is not for everyone with its short deathblow driven combat. If you are uncertain about the game you may wish to rent it first. I have high expectations for the sequel to remedy this one's faults.

Score: 7.9

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