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Genji is the PS3’s first foray into the oh-so-popular genre of the Onimusha-style feudal Japan hack and slash. It’s quite a delight to look at but uninspiring to play. Plagued with a maddening camera and repetitive, clunky combat system the visual highs are punctuated by a parade of gameplay lows.

Genji 2 is an action game which is based on Japanese history

Genji’s plot is relatively incomprehensible but has something to do with battling an undead army (the Heishi) powered by magenta crystals (mashogame) and led by a wrinkly octogenarian crone, all the while making your way to the underworld.

It’s a nice touch that elements of the game are supposedly rooted in actual Japanese history, but the notorious “giant enemy crabs” and glowing undead enemies remind us that clearly (and thankfully) historical fidelity is not what the developers were seeking.

Real time character changes

Your party is composed of four warriors: Yoshitsune, a double sword wielding samurai who is the most dynamic fighter of the bunch, Shizuka, the curiously blonde warrior woman whose weapon doubles as a grappling hook, Benkei a giant club-wielding monk who is strong but slower and less responsive than his counterparts and finally Buson who wields a staff that’s good for some twirly rhythm gymnastics and not much else.

Swapping between characters on the fly by tapping the d-pad is an important element of the game. Some characters are better suited to certain situations than others and you are encouraged to switch between characters for better combos in combat.

Giant enemy crabs

Genji’s visuals are more than impressive. Environments and textures are a delight to behold. The screen explodes with color in a refreshing departure from the washed-out, brown palette of most other next-gen games we’ve been seeing. Genji also has plenty of final fantasy-style CG eye candy to keep the cutscenes interesting. The music of Genji does an excellent job selling the mood of ancient Japan (think drums and wailing). However, sound was completely lost in a cinematic or two. But overall the pleasure of simply watching the action goes a surprisingly long way to improving the overall enjoyment factor of the game…

Famous battles which actually took place in Ancient Japan

Sadly, no lovingly rendered character animation could completely make up for Genji’s stunning shortcomings. Most frustrating is the game’s tendency to leave the player in the dark. You are often left with very little indication of your destination or mission. The game lacks a real tutorial and often fails to inform you of abilities and important gameplay elements (like the leveling system). It’s all too easy to find yourself unable to advance the game without reading the in-game manual or wandering aimlessly until a cutscene is activated.

Moreover, the missions and environments are disappointingly linear. Environments that seem to be wide open are actually far smaller than they appear, and are littered with invisible walls that make exploration all but impossible. And what’s the use of a beautiful forest if you can’t explore it on your spirit animal quest?  The levels in between the epic battlefields and boss fights are wasted space, glorified loading screens – designed simply to get you from battle A to battle B. These great conflicts are clearly where the game should shine but even they fall short.

Controls are transparent and simple to master but characters can be unresponsive and slow. Combat has a comfortable degree of difficulty, and weapons can be leveled. Switching on the fly between characters and weapons using the D-Pad is especially intuitive. The option to use the controller’s motion sensor to dodge comes off as shoddy and tacked on - the action is so imprecise it’s difficult to understand why someone would ever use it.

Combat in general is standard hack and slash button mashing fare. You can pull off combos by switching characters on the fly, but repetition is truly king here. An interesting addition to fighting is the kamui plane. When you have filled your “kamui” bar, you can go into another mode of gameplay that is basically a minigame. Well timed button presses will dole out more powerful damage to any enemies in the vicinity.

Genji’s true Achilles heel is the camera. It’s static and closer to the characters and the ground than usual which, in theory, brings the player closer to the action. In reality it frustrates at every turn. You will often find yourself fighting enemies that are off camera, or between your character and the camera. It can be depressingly more useful to use the tiny, spare map to fight and locate enemies rather than actually look at the screen. A camera like this, clearly forged in the belly of a mythical hellbeast, has no place on a PS3 launch title.

Attack its weak point for massive damage

Genji is a beautiful but deeply flawed game whose mediocrity is all the more frustrating when you consider that gameplay could have been vastly improved with a few simple fixes. With a controllable camera or targeting system, the game would easily transition hateful to average. Now imagine how great it would have been with compelling gameplay!

Article by: Emily Mollenkopf
Video produced by: Mark Fahey