Muramasa: The Demon Blade Review – Sword-Chucks, Yo!

A short time ago, Muramasa: The Demon Blade was released on the Wii, taking the crown as the current “Wii hardcore game” for people to keep an eye on.  Did it live up to expectations, or leave gamers feeling dull and uninspired?  Read on.Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a 2D side-scrolling action game for the Wii; developed by Vanillaware, the creative team behind the PS2’s Norse hack-and-slasher Odin Sphere, the game has a bit of a history to live up to.  Odin Sphere was greeted with wide praise from the industry when it was released in 2007; featuring an uniquely gorgeous art style and an unique take on the action RPG formula, gamers had good reason to be optimistic for Muramasa after playing Odin Sphere.

Welcome To The Stage of History

Muramasa is set way, way back in the feudal era of Japanese history; this means samurai, ninjas, and monks wearing silly hats are practically leaping out of the woodwork to stab you.  However, the game also features a much more mythological take on its setting, allowing players to interact with (and fight) shape-changing fox demons, tengu (mountain dwelling, winged monsters), Oni (traditional demons), and a variety of other unusual creatures from Japanese folklore.  When players begin, they’re given the choice between two playable characters; Momohime, a princess whose body was recently stolen by the spirit of a criminal swordsman, and Kisuke, a ninja being hunted by his own clan for a crime he doesn’t remember committing.  Your choice of main character influences a number of factors, including where your character starts out on the game’s rather large world map, your baseline attack combos, the weapons they have access to, and of course their storyline and boss fights.  When you’ve chosen a character, you’re not tied down to them, however; any time you load your  save, you’re given the option to switch characters, letting you tackle the two storylines in any order you wish.  For reasons I’ll explain shortly, it’s wisest to do the two stories separately rather than trading off, however.

Compared to Odin Sphere, which was portrayed as a sort of storybook epic, Muramasa’s storytelling is a bit less…overt.  There are plenty of cutscenes before and after boss fights, but by and large the story is limited to a series of reasons to institute you moving from one area to another.  Kisuke and Momohime have very different reasons for doing what they’re doing, and their storylines are rather distinct, bringing them to different parts of the world at different times and rarely intersecting outside of a few humorous, yet optional, hot spring crossover sequences.  The story itself is full of references to Japanese mythology, It’s not particularly developed or deep, but the authentic Japanese voice acting (no English voices here, folks!) fits the story and setting to a T, and the dialogue is cleverly written enough that the game won’t bore you.  Just don’t go in expecting Silent Hill 2-level plot depth and you’ll be fine.

Taste My Blade: It’s Chocolate Flavored!

On the gameplay front, Muramasa is a strange beast.  Despite featuring a levelling system, a wide variety of equippable items, and a (minor) emphasis on storytelling, it’s hard to call it an RPG.  And even though it’s a 2D side-scroller in which you carve through seemingly endless hordes of enemies, it’s not really a beat-em-up either.  The best way to put it is that Muramasa is Muramasa.  The game features a number of control options, including Wiimote + Nunchuk, the Classic Controller and the GameCube Controller.  Most players will likely start out with the Wiimote + Nunchuck control scheme, which actually fits quitte well, all things considered.  All movement, including jumping is controlled with the analog stick, while all combat is handled with a two-button system; the A button controls your basic slashes while the B trigger powers your special attacks.  The D-Pad lets you toggle between and use your equipped healing items, while the C button on the Nunchuk toggles between your equipped weapons.  All in all, it’s a simple, unintrusive control system, and it does what it needs to without being overly complex or frustrating.

Aside from the controls, the combat system in the game is equal parts simple and complex; you’re allowed to equip three swords at a time, each one featuring its own stats, special effects, and an unique Soul Power.  Each sword has a Soul Gauge (represented as the blue bar beneath its icon); this Soul Gauge powers a number of effects.  Most importantly, it powers your sword’s Soul Power, which is a special attack that can manifest from something as simple as throwing a fireball, to something as complex as a quick-draw that kills every enemy on the screen.  The Soul Gauge also acts as a durability meter for your swords, and every time an enemy attack impacts with your blade it consumes a bit of Soul.  When a sword’s Soul Gauge is empty, it will shatter, becoming temporarily unable to use Soul Powers and losing a large chunk of its attack power.  However, with a simple button press you can switch between your equipped blades, unleashing a very powerful quick-draw slash that hits everyone on screen if you’ve waited long enough between switching swords OR if your blade has just been broken.

The game features two classes of swords for players to use; normal blades, which feature quick, short-ranged combo slashes that do normal amounts of damage and allow for lengthy air combos if timed correctly, and long swords, which deal considerably higher amounts of damage but feature far slower combos and are far less useful in the air.  Generally, players will have access to a wide selection of both types of blades at any given time, allowing them to customize their arsenal in any way they desire, based on the blades’ specific statistics and if a particular Soul Power sticks out above the rest.

Throughout the game, players will be able to forge new swords via the pause menu; it’s impossible to collect every sword by simply grinding, as the game uses a branching “tree” system similar to the skill trees in Diablo or World of Warcraft.  Every time you defeat a boss, you’ll be given a special sword that grants you access to more of the world map and more of the forging menu.  Rarely will you ever feel like the swords you have access to are too weak for a given situation; at certain points in Momohime’s story I actually found myself granted a number of swords that I was too weak to use, in fact.  Each sword offers special passive bonuses and Soul Powers, making the collection of swords quite an entertaining diversion.  Even more interesting is the fact that once you’ve cleared the game with both characters, you gain the ability to perform Sword Fusions between blades on Kisuke’s tree and blades on Momohime’s, resulting in extremely powerful fusion blades that can help you with the game’s wide selection of hidden bosses and secret endings.

Iron Chef: Feudal Japan

Outside of your vast, overwhelming arsenal of swords, players will also be collecting a number of accessories that grant different stat upgrades and special effects like passive healing or a bonus to your accumulated EXP; while you can only equip one at a time, no matter what the situation there’s probably one accessory that’ll help you overcome it.  Alongside your accessories, you’ll find a number of healing items which can be bound to the D-Pad for quick usage.  However, as it’s not always easy to access an item store, the game makes use of a cooking system to constantly keep your healing item reserves stocked.  Thankfully, the cooking system is much quicker and simpler in Muramasa than it was in Odin Sphere, allowing you to either create consumable healing items on the fly, or heal yourself with special Hot Pot recipes that bestow you with special stat buffs.

Like a Painting Come to Life

To borrow the parlance of outspoken game designer David Jaffe, Muramasa truly does look “like a painting come to life”.  Utilizing some of the most complex examples of 2D imagery in recent memory, the backdrops and landscapes in Muramasa make the game resemble an animated trip through an ancient Japanese mural.  Without question, the graphics are the game’s strongest point, presenting to the player a world of immense beauty and scope, and truly justifying the game’s setting.  Much like Odin Sphere before it, Muramasa’s visuals are as much a part of the story as the characters themselves, and the setpieces found during the boss fights are even more impressive.  The characters are also quite well-animated, with small subtle touches like the waving of Kisuke’s scarf as he runs or Momohime’s kimono floating around her in mid-air going quite far to establish the amount of effort that went into preserving the authenticity of this 2D world.

If there is any flaw to be found in the graphical style, it’s that while the boss fights and set piece stages offer a wide variety of vastly different, beautiful vistas to marvel at, the mid-game is slightly less impressive; travelling from boss fight to boss fight often results in your hero sprinting across the Japanese countryside for a number of minutes at a time, and there is a rather noticeable amount of recycled backgrounds and “room” designs on the overworld.  It still looks absolutely gorgeous, but it can be slightly disappointing to run through two totally identical rooms in a row with the only difference between the two being the enemies that spawn within them.  For that matter, the game feels less like exploring a single, seamless world (like a more traditional Metroidvania) and more like running through a series of isolated “rooms”; the repetition of backgrounds and room designs seems to lend to this.  It seems that more could have been done to differentiate the zones and give each area a more unique feel, including adding a bit more platforming to the game.  It’s also quite frustrating that the game has no “quick travel” feature, allowing you to revisit zones you’ve already cleared, until you’ve already cleared the game.  Some of the time wasted running from one end of the map to the other could’ve been saved if this feature was unlocked earlier.

Bloody Good Fun

Muramasa: The Demon Blade is an interesting title on all counts; unlike other “Wii Hardcore Exclusives” like MADWORLD or No More Heroes, the game relies not on overly gory visuals or overly “mature” gameplay concepts in order to sell itself.  Instead, its primary focus is the gameplay, elevated by an unique art style and an undeniable charm.  While it’s not going to push any limits in the story department, it offers an unique, entertaining experience that feels more like a game on the PS3 or the XBOX 360 than a typical Wii game; it features no motion control or pointer functionality whatsoever, it offers visuals that work just as well on an HDTV as they do on an SDTV, and most importantly, it’s just fun.  While the game has certainly got its flaws, RPG enthusiasts on the Wii would definitely do well to pick up a copy of Muramasa before it disappears.

Pluses
+ Gorgeous art style accurately captures the feudal Japan feel to an unparalleled degree
+ Well-designed and well-animated characters and bosses give the feeling of an animated painting
+ Clever, well-designed hack and slash combat feels satisfying, but challenging
+ Two selectable difficulties with specific gameplay styles make it easier for players to get involved
+ Usage of Japanese voices helps add to the authenticity of the setting
+ Wide variety of stylish, unique special moves makes collecting swords a rewarding diversion

Minuses
- Environments can feel repetitive at times, especially when travelling near the end game
- Level design could’ve benefitted from a more “Metroidvania” feel, with more unique zones and more platforming
- No quick travel option is unlocked until players have cleared the game the first time
- Battle system can feel somewhat “grindy” after extended periods of play

Available now exclusively on the Wii
Rated T (Teen)
Players: 1
Finished Kisuke and Momohime’s storylines on Muso (Normal) mode; experimented with Shura (Hard) mode while working towards hidden content endings.
Final Verdict: While the story is understated and the world isn’t quite as fully realized as it could have been, the expertly designed art style and flashy, entertaining combat makes Muramasa an entertaining action game for the Wii and definitely worth playing for fans of the genre.  Odin Sphere loyalists should buy it no matter what, but Muramasa most likely won’t be converting the more casual Wii audience into RPG fanatics.