Bringing your A game - Afro Samurai

Afro Samurai by Namco is based on the animated series of the same name and features a soundtrack from prominent hip hop producer RZA.  With voices by Kelly Hu, Ron Pearlman and Samuel L. Jackson, the creators can't be accused of lacking the cool factor. 

Anyone familiar with the series will know how dark and atmospheric it is, with tense face-offs capped off with extreme bloody violence.  The good news is that they've managed to carry most of this across to the game, with a dark, cell-shaded environment and a colour scheme emphasis on blue, grey and blood red.

The game starts you off by utilising a flashback, promptly throwing you into the origin story of the main character (Afro Samurai) thus explaining his motivations.  The gameplay handles like the "Prince of Persia" series, but with much less emphasis on jumping, climbing and puzzle solving.  Instead, the focus of the gameplay lies with a combat system that encourages bloody swordplay including a nifty focus mode, which turns the world grey and slows time a little, allowing you to aim your dismembering blows, slicing opponents up.  Not one for kids then!! On a side note,"Kung Fu Panda" is worth a shout for under-agers - it's pretty similar, though much fluffier. 

While I found the game more impressive than I thought it might be, there were times I almost grew bored of the fighting.  Though the actual fight animation is impressive and the moves varied and well put together I'm not sure if I could go through the whole game without a little more diversity.  I also had the feeling that it was just a little less polished than it could be.  Small things, like the fact there was no options menu to alter the sound levels or camera controls in-game; when you die, the screen just goes black and it loads the section again - no confirmation that you had actually failed the section; little niggles here and there, but nothing overt.

I enjoyed the gameplay and will play it again at some point in the future.  It's well worth the £7.99 price tag. I think that if you've watched the series, you will get a lot more out of the game.  Otherwise it may seem a little off the wall.

I managed 11 achievements for a total of 95G in one play through and I rate Afro Samurai at a 7/10 - watch the series and then play the game, they go hand in hand.