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Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Wii
The Most Beautiful Game This Gen is on the Wii
5/5 stars
“Muramasa: The Demon Blade” is the latest action/RPG by the fine folks at VanillaWare. They have quite the reputation for creating beautiful and interesting games dating all the way back to “Princess Crown” on the Saturn (I'm still waiting for a North American release on that one!). “Muramasa” was one of my most-anticipated games this generation; but does it live up to its pedigree?
Presentation
“Muramasa” is, quite simply, beautiful. I have long believed that VanillaWare's incredible sprite-work is what 80% of modern games SHOULD look like, with the remaining 20% free to experiment with polygons and Uncanny Valleys. “Muramasa's” environments are built from innumerable layers of parallax scrolling, many of which contain animation, that create a world that is a pleasure to traverse. Everything in the game is hand-drawn in the VanillaWare's signature style and looks like traditional Japanese art brought to life. Little details like the way pampas grass sways in the wind or how waves break on the beaches show just how much care went into “Muramasa's” graphics.
The sound in “Muramasa” is also excellent. The voiceacting in the game is the original Japanese recording with no localization whatsoever. I normally consider the lack of an English dub to be a cheap cop-out, but since “Muramasa” takes place in feudal Japan, it makes perfect sense to have the characters speak Japanese. Like most Japanese voiceacting, dialog is extremely well-done. Character voices are fitting and nobody stands out as particularly annoying. The localized subtitles are well-edited; I only noticed a single mistake.
The music in “Muramasa” is of the same high quality as the graphics and voiceacting. It is faithful to traditional Japanese musical styles but with several modern touches that keep it from sounding obsolete. The game has quite a few catchy tracks, but unfortunately the one I had stuck in my head was a track featuring a synthesized bark/chant that sounds like a chorusline of clones of The Master from “ActRaiser” swinging their swords. I swear, it has to be the same sound that has been sampled from “ActRaiser” into “Muramasa.” On the whole, though, the good tracks compensated for the single annoying one.
Story
“Muramasa” actually tells two stories that merge-together, much like the parallel stories in VanillaWare's last game, “Odin Sphere.” Instead of the Norse mythology of its predecessor, “Muramasa” is ensconced in traditional Japanese mythology, much like last generation's best game, “Okami.” The first of the two playable characters is Momohime, a demure Japanese maiden who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and became possessed by the spirit of Jinkuro, the usurper of the Oboro-style of sword combat. The other playable character is Kisuke, an amnesiac ninja who finds himself hunted by other ninjas and somehow able to fight in Oboro-style as well. The Oboro-style is required to wield the demon blades forged by the spirit blacksmith, Muramasa. Each character has access to Muramasa's spirit through a very sexy kitsune (fox-girl) character that follows them around. It seems that the kitsunes have a vested interest in collecting enough souls, the fire of which is the only fire hot enough to forge demon blades, to allow Muramasa to forge a sword sharp enough to cut through fate.
Because “Muramasa” features two characters, one would expect the game to have two different endings. That is not the case: “Muramasa” actually has six different endings. The four additional endings all require specific swords to be equipped when confronting the final boss. The required swords are conveniently listed after the credits in the normal endings, which saves a lot of frustration and trial & error.
Gameplay
“Muramasa” is a side-scrolling action/RPG that plays a bit like a 2D fighter combined with the classic 2D “Metroid” games. In a move that more Wii titles should emulate, “Muramasa” supports Wiimote+Nunchuck, Classic Controller, and Gamecube Controller play styles. I tried all of them out and found that I liked the Gamecube style the best due to the arrangement of the face buttons and the Gamecube's more-precise analog stick. The only thing missing from “Muramasa's” control setup is button mapping. It also bears noting that “Muramasa,” despite being a Wii game, has no motion controls whatsoever.
The analog stick (or D-pad on GC and Classic Controllers) moves the characters from side to side, makes them crouch and roll, and also makes them jump. The fact that there is no option to map jumping to a button instead of Up on the stick/pad annoyed me, but it is the sole blemish on “Muramasa's” otherwise-perfect gameplay. Characters in “Muramasa” can double-jump from the get-go and holding up on the stick/pad while in the air allows characters to slow-fall, whereas pressing down on the stick/pad while in the air makes characters fast-fall.
The A button is the attack button. Both characters fight in an identical fashion, which involves various combo chains and juggles that are executed by pressing or holding the attack button while in the air, standing, or crouching. Holding the attack button puts characters into a defensive stance and, when crouching, can unleash a spinning-jump-attack when the button is released. Each sword also has a special attack that can be executed by pressing Y. Special attacks vary widely from incredibly useful to utterly useless. However, all special attacks expend some of the character's collected souls, so spamming them isn't a good idea.
There are two different types of swords that characters can equip: blades and long blades. Blades allow faster chains of attacks whereas long blades are slower but have more hits per swing. Long blades also have some interesting aerial characteristics which allow characters to float while performing mid-air attack chains. Characters can each equip three swords at a time and switch between them by pressing the L button. Upon switching swords, the character performs a “quickdraw” attack that hits every enemy on the screen. There is a bit of recharge time required between quickdraws, so players can't abuse them.
In addition to the character's typical life meter, each sword has a durability meter. Blocking attacks, either by entering the defensive stance or swinging the sword while the character is being hit, reduces the durability of the active sword. When the durability is reduced to 0, the sword breaks, which prevents further blocking and significantly reduces the damage it deals. Swords slowly repair themselves while sheathed (i.e., not the active sword) and the player can actively repair them by collecting souls (either from fallen enemies or in places where souls accumulate, like treetops) or using whetstones to sharpen them.
“Muramasa” features an inventory system that allows each character to carry up to 9 of each item in the game. These items range from medicinal pellets to food to whetstones. Pellets and food are both healing items. The difference between them is that food causes the character to feel full, and thus cannot be used in rapid succession, whereas pellets do not. Food items tend to restore greater amounts of life than pellets, so it's a trade-off between power and speed. There is also an Item Shortcut sub-menu that allows players to choose five items to appear on a cycling list in the upper-right corner of the screen. The active item can be cycled with the R button and used with the X button. This feature isn't incredibly useful, but it does save some menu navigation while healing during battle.
Two other gameplay systems feature prominently in “Muramasa”: Forging and Cooking. The Cooking system is fairly simple. The characters' inventories have spaces for various uncooked food items that can be found or purchased throughout the game. Some of these food items can be cooked into portable healing items, but the majority of the recipes found throughout the game are for stat-boosting meals that can only be eaten outside of battle. Stat boosts range from minor effects, like a small increase in attack power, to incredibly powerful effects, like a one-use “Divine Recovery” that revives the character with full life upon death.
Forging is also fairly simple. To forge new swords, each character must have all of the preceding swords in the chosen sword's genealogy (yes, in Japan, swords have families), the required amount of Spirit (obtained by eating food), and the required amount of Soul (obtained by killing enemies or collecting them from the game environment). Each sword has stat requirements, so a character must meet or exceed the specified Strength and Vitality in order to equip a sword (these stats can be boosted by equipping a single piece of non-sword gear). Many swords have special effects that are active while equipped. All three sword effects are active all the time, regardless of whether the specific sword is the active sword or broken.
The player's task in “Muramasa” is to guide their chosen character around a massive, interconnected world map, seeking the next story point. While moving between cutscenes and boss battles, the player will encounter random battles with a variety of enemies, find various useful items, shop at various merchants and restaurants, and collect souls to power the demon blade forge. There are also monster lairs to clean out, which hold fairly challenging battles. Fortunately, “Muramasa” has two difficulty settings, Normal and Hard, and is forgiving with its continue system. If a character dies in a monster lair (or while fighting a boss), he or she is booted out of the monster lair with all of the consumable items used during the unsuccessful battle returned while retaining any experience earned. When a character dies during any other battle, the player is given the chance to immediately retry the battle.
Overall
“Muramasa: The Demon Blade” is an amazing experience. The achingly beautiful presentation enhances the original story, which provides a solid framework for the tight gameplay. I recommend “Muramasa” to everyone who owns a Wii. Fans of “Okami” and Japanese mythology who don't own a Wii might have found their system seller in this game.
Presentation: 6/5 (yes, that good!)
Story: 5.5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 5/5
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