When you shell out 600 bucks for your shiny new Playstation 3, you’re going to want to see some actual next-gen games. At first glance, Genji: Days of the Blade seems to be a safe bet for an easy launch success. Being a first party title and falling into the established feudal Japan action genre, Genji had all the opportunities to be at least a decent launch game. Unfortunately, the Genji team didn’t learn from their mistakes in their last PS2 title and it cost them. Combined with the same old gameplay seen in countless last-gen titles and poor production decisions, Genji turns from ‘at least good’ potential, to an ‘at best OK’ game.

Backstory

Geni: Days of the Blade is the sequel to Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, which was released in 2005 on PS2. Dawn of the Samurai was a decent game, but many complaints weren’t directed to the graphics or sound. Complaints were aimed at gameplay flaws. Repetitive hack and slash combat, lack of enemy AI, scripted events, and small level design were some of the things that held back Genji: Dawn of the Samurai from becoming a great game. The same team, Game Republic, developed both the PS2 and PS3 titles, so it would appear to be a no-brainer that Game Republic would attempt to strengthen their weaknesses and not make the same mistake twice. Unfortunately, they didn’t and Genji: Days of the Blade suffers for the same reasons its predecessor did.

Plot

Days of the Blade picks up right where the last one left off. The main character is a warrior from the Genji clan who is in the midst of a war with the Heishi clan. Unlike the first title, the Heishi have a mysterious demon source from which they gather their newly found power. The story isn’t all that interesting and the game does a poor job of linking one spot of the game to the next.

Like Dawn of the Samurai, the main character Yoshitsune is joined by his brute, club wielding friend, Benkei. One of the changes that Game Republic decided to implement is the ability to instantly change from one character to another in battle. Joining Yoshitsune and Benkei, is Shizuka and Lord Buson. If you have played the first Genji, the name Buson may be familiar, but in Days of the Blade there is a new twist to his involvement. As I said each of the four available characters can be switched to instantly by pressing their corresponding direction on the directional pad. Each character maintains there own amount of health and if one character dies the game is over.

Characters

The ability to being able to switch whenever you please is very fresh for this type of game and each character definitely brings their own strengths to the table. Yoshitsune is a very balanced fighter with dual wielding swords with a fast attack speed and high agility; you will most likely find yourself using him more often then not. Benkei is incredibly strong and wields a huge club capable of destroying obstacles in your path, or hoards of enemies. Shizuka is a very agile character who has a unique chained blade. She is the only ‘ranged’ type fighter of the playable characters, and often you need to use her ability to pull herself across gaps to progress in the levels. Finally, we have Lord Buson, the final boss of the first Genji. Buson attacks consist of different worthless immobile spinning moves which I used maybe twice after he initially joined the party. This new feature is unique and new, but I rarely used anyone besides Yoshitsune and if I was using anyone else it was most likely because Yoshitsune had low health.

Weapons

Each character has a set of weapons which are gained through out the campaign. Unlike most games, no matter what stage of the game you receive a new weapon in, the weapon isn’t necessarily an upgrade it’s just…different. The different weapons offer variety to the player; however there isn’t anything to gain in using any newly attained weapons, generally they just provide a different style of attack. I used the default weapons more than most of the time, but its probably just personal preference. You can equip two weapons at anytime through the menu and switch between these weapons in real time whenever you see fit. You can upgrade any weapon of your choice, increasing its attack power by using items you receive when defeating foes in combat.

Lack of direction

Besides the choice of character and weapons, which can prove to be useful if you make the correct decisions, there isn’t much anything else to Genji besides of course the fighting. The game tries to throw in a few ‘puzzles’, and I hesitate to use that term because only a handful of them are difficult, the only time you might find yourself at a roadblock is because the next step wasn’t hinted at in the slightest bit and your left to stumble upon it alone.