Wii - Muramasa The Demon Blade

Reviewed By: Mindesyn, Byronic Gaming, Canada

Muramasa The Demon Blade for the Wii is an action RPG that takes place during feudal Japan's Genroku era, a volatile time marked by warring factions and grave civil unrest under the reign of the evil Shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa. Play as two heroes thrust into this treacherous climate as they venture across the dangerous countryside in a race to collect an array of legendary cursed swords before the vile Shogun can reach them.

The game is divided into two story lines neither having anything to do with the other besides a few cameos. The first story features Momohime the princess of Narukami whom is possessed by the soul of an demonic swordsman, and the other story line features Kisuke a renegade ninja with amnesia caught in a love story.

Muramasa The Demon Blade is one of the most underrated titles Ive seen thus far on the Wii. The graphics were superb, vibrant, and had smooth frame rate. The environments were beautiful and diverse, from the ocean, to the winter coated mountainous peaks, to rural farmland, to major cities. 2D has never looked so good. The action sequences were animated nicely and had enough flare to the battles to make them exciting and fun to watch. The art style was very unique, unlike anything Ive seen in a game before.

Voice acting in Muramasa The Demon Blade really stood out for a number of reasons. The first and most noticeable was that all the dialogue was done in Japanese, secondly every character you interact with has a voice actor, and lastly the intensity of the dialogue and tones were excellently done. There wasn't a single line that was out of context of the situation it was used in. The sound effects were fitting as well, and added a audio flare to match the visuals, not to mention very traditional to the Japanese culture. Music was very Japanese traditional as well. Very fitting to the environment it was used in.

The mechanics of the flow of the game is simple in structure. The game is a 2D action RPG side scrolling adventure. You go from screen to screen jumping and collecting souls, items, and engaging in random battles. When the battle system is engaged you draw your sword, and the controls alter slightly to include battle actions such as blade attacks, quick draws and secret arts. The battle system lets you equip 3 swords, each with different attack strengths and secret arts. To acquire more swords you need to defeat enemies and acquire souls in order to forge newer, stronger, blades. 108 in all. On top of the 3 swords you also equip an accessory that either boosts attack or vitality or has its own property. There are plenty of different accessories in the game to find and try out. On top of the battle system and forging system, there is also a cooking system when you acquire certain cookbooks. Cooking restores health, spirit, and sometimes gives an added benefit such as regeneration or improved attack and defense.

The controls were very hands on, precise and felt natural in the battle system. There were multiple control setups for different controllers, such as the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo, the Gamecube controller, and of course the Classic controller, which was my choice among the three. Moving around, and attacking were simple to learn and execute minutes into the game. The battle system doesn't really expand past the initial point of the tutorial besides differing secret arts, yet it never seems to feel repetitive or labored, it's fast paced and requires strategy later on, so its not just a case of button mashing. Another element to the game was that no matter how high a level you attain the enemies difficulty increases as well. So there is no way to become too overpowered thus making the game have a noticeable challenge through the entire experience. The bosses are fairly strong, but not frustrating in nature, yet you will find it rare to find a boss too simple to complete. The game has 3 endings for each character which lets you play through the game once, and the post game twice, which allows you to go back and replay bosses from both the characters story and the other characters story as well, obtain items you may have missed, complete enemy lairs, and acquire more souls to forge all the blades, thus giving a richer, more content filled game.

Overall Muramasa The Demon Blade is worth the time and effort to complete the game 100% It's enjoyable both in gameplay and in aesthetics. Gorgeous visuals, beautiful music, solid energetic voice acting, and amazing controls make for a top notch title to add to your collection. Poor sales are due to lack of marketing, and the lack of interest based around Japanese styled games in North America, not from the fact the game is poorly designed. I would only hope that Ignition Entertainment would be coming out with a sequel.

For Byronic Gaming I give this game 4.7 Muramasas out of 5.