Ive been playing through this and man, what a cool little game! Sure, its definitely aimed towards kids, but Im 21 and its keeping me interested. You have an assortment of ways to attack the evil samurais, from stealth attacking to bombing them with rocket arrows or just plain slamming through them. There are a ton of things to collect (almost too much) from little statues to herbs to money and it also keeps track of the cages that you destroy that have little fluffy animals in them.  You also can create a plethora of potions, but you find a good amount scattered around in the game environment
  
Im really liking the music, it fits perfectly and is incredibly peaceful when it needs to and gets you going when you are fighting, really good job on it. Sound effects are pretty standard though. 

The story is a bit childish, but its told in a pretty adult way, and the voice over is a bit too overdone - I was laughing a good bit. All in all, its a fun little game to sandwich in between now and the other great games coming in this Fall. Oh - and it has really easy achievements, so thats a bonus! :D

I agree totally.  I can't believe the lack of reviews from the 'major' gaming sites.  I'm loving this game too and I'm 33.  I love, besides all the things you mentioned, all the details they put into the animals.   I use them quite often to help me find all the herbs and things.  But what's so cool are the detail given to the animations that are specific depending on the species.  They can all walk, run, jump but they all also have 'special' moves.  Like a rabbit thumps his leg, bears stand on their hind legs and roar, foxes howl, cats hiss, frog's croak.  Even the chickens lay an egg for their special move.  Anyway....I just created a potion that lets you become a koi fish and swim and then a farting potion that when consumed creates a huge green gas cloud around you.  There is so much to find in this game plus the atmosphere and look to it all it awesome.  I'm not too proud to say that this game is frickin' cute and cuddly and I love it.   Any game that breaks from the norm is ok in my book!

yeah - a great game doesnt always have to have blood, guns, and explosions!

hmmm... there is a good amount of button mashing, but there is some strategy to how you can approach your battles, for example: 
 
I was just caught by guards while using a camoflauge spell in this castle area, I immediately started to run away to a higher vantage point, I switched to Shun (the archer guy) and used his special technique which is a rocket arrow, decimating the majority of the large group that followed me. I then switched to Hiro (the main character) and finished them all off quickly.  
 
You can also stealth your way to instantly take out enemies - it was fun to stealthy take out an entire level, which was pretty difficult. I kept getting caught, but you can easily run away and re stealth again (I hate being caught and being screwed in other games, this is alot more forgiving)
 
You basically have about four buttons in combat, your X which is the main attack, Y which can stun enemies so you can easily hit them... holding in Y while having this special orb power saved up lets you use a special attack. and then the right trigger is used for your Kuji magic or items. The Left trigger is used for blocking. 
 
You do get 5 other people than the main guy through the course of the game. I only have 3 right now - one is the archer, another is the large dude who knocks alot of people around, and the third is a girl who pretty much mimics the main guy, except that her special power is different.

the demo impressed the fuck out of me.. i'll try to get that game soon cuz it seems like a big treasure of explosive fun !!!! 

Yup! This aint Bionic Commando!!!