Way of the Samurai 3

So I finally got around to playing through one of my favorite budget titles from Spike. The way of the samurai series has always been unique in the many ways it mixes RPG/action and story progression. They added a few new things in but this is pretty much the same exact game as the other ones. Lets start off with a little preview of what kind of choices you might make.

You start off as a ronin samurai who has been wounded from the previous battle. A townsperson comes up to you and asks if your ok. You can then kill him or tell him to leave or even faint if you want. (although not on purpose) Depending on what you do even this little detail might come back to haunt you later. Almost every choice you make will lead you down a path to one of the 26 endings. If your the kind of person that likes to see everything then you could spend many hours in this game collecting things. Along with those endings you can collect, swords, customizing items, character Titles, and partners.

Now the gameplay is quite simple but it can be quite hard to master. You have both a light and heavy attack which are different for each weapon. Since every weapon has a different style which requires you to level it up to gain new attacks. So one sword might have you hold it to your side while another one has you in a Ninja Stance. (sadly no pirates to fight...)

You can also block your opponents attack which could lead to a parry if your timing is correct. If you manage to parry your opponents attack enough you might get a chance to match it. Once you match a attack you will parry it no matter what so it's pretty much a auto defense but it's pretty hard to get the timing down so it won't be that easy to break the game. Also if you knock your enemy off balance you will get a chance to instant kill them with a QTE. Once you instant kill them you will go in to chain mode which will let you kill anyone in one blow for a small amount of time. I'm sure most of you will love all the killing but if you wanted to go all Kenshin on these guys you can. That's right you can use your blunt edge of your sword if your don't want to be a killer.

Besides that you also have little mini games like slice up this fish for me or I'll throw food at you to cut. This adds a little something else to do but aren't that interesting. You also have jobs which you can get from one of the 3 factions. (Rebels,townspeople, Fedual Lord) Which are usually knock this guy out or find my underware... no I'm not kidding with that last one that is one of the missions which is pretty much a fetch quest. These usually get you more money than the mini games but could use some variety. I would guess each faction has about 10 different jobs for you do and they keep repeating after a while which might get annoying.

The smithy has been upgraded since the last game so you can now forge your own weapons using weapon parts you find by looting or buying em. Depending on which skills you have learned with a certain style you'll be able to use them in that sword if you have enough skill points. So you can have your own unique sword unlike any other but after you make one I doubt you'll be back for more later.

That about sums up all the main points in WotS3. Make your way through feudal japan as a lone samurai that plays by his own rules. The repetitive nature of the gameplay can get boring after a while. Also I haven't touched on the graphics yet and well let's just say it might as well be a PS2 game. If you love state of the art graphics then this game isn't for you. If quirky Japanese style games are more of your thing then maybe you should pick this up.