![]() ![]() ![]() It could be better though, as setting up a game veered into godawful territory that highlighted just how bad the user interface is. Online play so far is a smooth and bloody brouhaha, at least on the local side we tested so far between myself and Geoff, who lives many many leagues apart. The storyline is also completely bonkers, offering the lightest of references and not giving a damn to anyone’s familiarity with the original source material, creating a lore that’ll have you scratching bloody chunks out of your head as you try to figure out just why a dual sword-wielding samurai is beating up on a Chinese scholar who’s attempting to cosplay as Captain America with her shield. It’s oddly archaic in what it offers, and while Samurai Shodown will easily gather together a hive of fans who crave its distinct action, it’s nowhere near as comprehensive in its online offerings such as Mortal Kombat 11 or Street Fighter 5 who boast massive leagues and evolving competition on a daily basis. ![]() Samurai Shodown is a love letter to its past, but one that reflects the more modest scale and budget of the small studio that has poured their heart and soul into it. That ghost will make its way online, ready to battle other players with an AI personality that serves to replicate your character when you put your controller down for the night. While I couldn’t test it due to the servers not being up yet, Dojo mode promises to be a feature that’ll push you to evolve constantly, as it’ll take all the data gathered from your various sessions and create a ghost who can match you blow for blow with your own combat quirks. There are some neat ideas on the horizon though. A refinement of what makes Samurai Shodown feel unique in an ocean of fighting games that dominate the genre currently. It’s not so much as a whole new sword in the sheath, but a sharpening of the blade that has served SNK so well. This titular shodown between players can, of course, be further countered with Lightning Blades wherein players strike back in an instant and leave their opponents gasping in a geyser of their own blood that has the potential to shave up to two thirds of their health away, but it’s also the kind of attack that has a slight telegraph to it and needs to be used when the moment to launch it is perfect.īeyond that, Samurai Shodown feels like the kind of game that you remember from the good ol’ days, a combination of Rage Gauge mechanics, deflections and grapples that set opponents up for an injection of steel to the abdomen. A sensation of action that feels clean and hefty, where rounds feel like they’re always one counter away from giving the advantage back to your opponent. There’s a tension to the combat, where matches can be decided with a mere handful of moves and within seconds, as opposed to other fighting games that draw out the action with time-stretching special attacks and combos. ![]() Samurai Shodown is the kind of fighting game where equivalent retaliation dominates the screen, long enough for you to seize the moment and rotate your analogue sticks into a flurry of impressive special attacks. It’s about knowing which attack to unleash at any given moment, parrying and deflecting between light, medium and heavy attacks and striking in that moment of opportunity. Instead, Samurai Shodown emphasises a layer of precision between each slash of the sword and poke of the rapier. This isn’t the kind of game where a sprint across the screen in an effort to deliver dialled-up combos will secure you victory. In your hands, Samurai Shodown still feels like a blast from the past that’ll awaken your muscle memory. Each of the cast pulsates with energy thanks to revamped visuals, which feel like a hybrid of style and substance as you unleash fiery combos and nigh-unstoppable mad dashes across the screen. Make no mistake though, this is still a 2D fighter at heart, one wherein the zone that you inhabit can result in a make or break situation depending on your chosen warrior and the weapons that they wield. The most obvious of which are the visuals, which lift Samurai Shodown from its quaint 2D sprites of yesteryear and instead focuses on presenting an experience that takes half a dimensional step forward towards Street Fighter territory. Samurai Shodown was the franchise that fighting game hipsters found themselves praising for its blue-collar style and bloody attitude.Ī decade later, and SNK is finally ready to take a stab at the franchise again that is an unapologetic return to basics while throwing in a few new modern touches for good measure. A stand with the SNK logo on it, more modest graphics and a different approach to one on one combat. Between the arcade stands that every kid in the 1990s went mad for, there was always that other cabinet that fighting game purists gravitated towards. ![]()
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