Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword

Genre: Action

Players: 1

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Review:

Sakura Samurai is an Action game released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012. This game puts players in the role of a young warrior tasked by a magical spirit to save a princess from an evil regime in a stylized version of Feudal Japan.

The presentation in Sakura Samurai is gorgeous, using a mix of vibrant color and dark shady tones to create some nice contrast, with detailed 3D for its characters and locales. The areas you’ll be fighting within are all somewhat limited, and the character designs are stylised a bit like somewhat cartoony caricatures, making this a game that feels like it has a lot of personality rather than just trying to be realistic. In fact, the sort of style this game gives off is very reminiscent of the film Kubo and the Two Strings, and those who have seen that film know that to be a high compliment. These visuals are backed by some lovely instrumental music that evokes the time period in question, along with some good grunts and shouts from the characters as they’re fighting.

The gameplay in Sakura Samurai plays out almost like a series of one-on-one matches of chicken. You’re encouraged to wait until the last moment to dodge your enemy’s attack, meaning your reflexes will be tested with each encounter. Early on, you’ll be taking on groups of enemies, but even in these cases you’ll be attacked by enemies one at a time, dodging each attack at the appropriate time with the appropriate dodge and counter-attacking.

However, I feel like this game’s action is so specifically about that one thing that it ends up making this a very niche experience. You’ll be doing the same repetitive actions over and over again here. Dodge, attack. Dodge, attack. Dodge, attack. And while there is indeed some skill to this, as enemies will try to fake you out or confuse you by swarming you, but ultimately you’ll still be responding to each attack more or less the same way, though more nuances are added as you progress.

If you relish the idea of a game that will test your pure skill at responding reflexively, Sakura Samurai will absolutely be a great game for you, as it boils the combat down to that bare essential while surrounding it with some beautiful imagery. But players looking for more variety may want to look elsewhere.

tl;dr – Sakura Samurai is an Action game that has players confronting enemies in a stylized take on feudal Japan, with players executing perfect timing to dodge enemy attacks and counter with their own strikes. The game focuses so much on this core mechanic that it can get repetitive, and not everyone will appreciate that. Still, for those who are looking to test their reflexes, they’ll find this to be an excellent way to do that, with some excellent depth and a beautiful presentation.

Grade: C+

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