Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii) Review
It’s a very rare situation when I can safely say that a Nintendo Wii game is without a doubt one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. It’s also an even rarer situation when said game plays well too. Muramasa: The Demon Blade is the third title from Japanese developer Vanillaware and the first one for the Nintendo Wii. Those who’ve played GrimGrimoire or Odin Sphere will know what kind of game to expect stylistically, however, Muramasa balances casual gameplay with hardcore gameplay to make it a game that is sure to appeal to everyone. There are even a few elements of one of my favourite Nintendo franchises, Metroid, thrown in.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade takes place in an ancient Japanese time when many key figures in history were rising to power, and this situation created a lot of conflict between the nations within Japan, specifically over the ownership of demon blades, mythical weapons said to give the owners immense power. This story is more of a background to the settings of two individual characters’ own stories, Momohime and Kisuke. Kisuke is a male ninja who has no memory of his past but has a strong sense of determination to get vengeance (yes, we don’t get it either). Momohime is a renegade princess running away from her kingdom, though along the way she gets possessed by a malevolent spirit named Jinkuro. Both the characters have unique stories that provide unique experiences which give the game great longevity, though the premise for these stories is fairly typical of what you’d expect from an Asian-developed project. Still, the stories are intriguing enough to carry the action at a steady pace.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade’s visual presentation is, without a doubt, its defining factor and one of the best available on the Nintendo Wii, if not the whole industry. Muramasa is presented in a hand-drawn two-dimensional art style that utilises several layers to present amazing evironments. All of the artwork is heavily influenced by ancient Japanese artwork and is a fitting tribute to the inspiration these scenarios draw from. Environments are colourful and well animated, enemies are beautifully designed and the characters are well drawn. Each of the settings feature nice little subtleties that really add to the game’s atmosphere – short tufts of grass blow gently in the breeze on a large rice farm, shadows move and interact with one another through windows on a feudal rooftop, and flames burn and illuminate areas gently. Muramasa: The Demon Blade is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and breathtaking games that I’ve ever been able to sample, not to mention it scaling beautifully on larger television sets.
Muramasa allows players to choose one of two characters and play out their story, with both characters playing similarly but experiencing different events, battling different enemies and just generally embarking on an altogether different environment. The crux of the gameplay involves traversing environments, collecting all kinds of swords (there are over 100) and defeating boss characters to unlock barriers to new areas. It’s a very tight-knit mix of your classic platformer with some Metroid-style backtracking. Players can only attack when enemies are on-screen, and have a variety of abilities to use. For the most part, players can hastily mash buttons to get through the game, but on higher difficulties players will have to rely on blocking, countering and dashing to survive. There are some light RPG elements involved – players can level up their character and equip accessories to add effects, but these aren’t really necessary to play the game if you feel a bit ’scared off’ by the thought. To put it pretty simply, Muramasa is fairly simple to play and approachable in the Easy (Muso) mode, but proper players will probably want to learn the intricacies of the combat system and tackle the harder (Shura) mode.
Perhaps the most unique feature of Muramasa is the sheer amount of weapons available. Upon completion of certain parts of the game, the Forge mode becomes available in which the players can forge their own blades to use. Each blade has a unique attack as well as properties, and with a total exceeding one hundred blades, there are a lot of blades to collect. As the Forge mode takes place in a tree-like setup, certain blades cannot be forged without certain ones being previously forged, meaning you’ll never really overpower yourself, and that the game stays balanced at all times.
The soundtrack in Muramasa offers up a plethora of oriental-themed tracks, with some being fast-paced, some being tranquil and some just being ambient sound effects themselves. The soundtrack in Muramasa really compliments the style of the game and you’ll probably find yourself just stopping to take in the atmosphere that this soundtrack really augments. In addition to the pieces, the game’s sound effects are appropriate enough to give them a very visceral feel, really hammering home the atmosphere that the developers are trying to establish. Finally, the voice acting is all done in Japanese, with no options for an English track. This may discourage many players as most of the resulting dialogue is essentially English subtitles, but one could also argue it assists in building the atmosphere I’ve talked too much about.
While the game itself is rather short at around about six to ten hours, players can attempt to have a crack at the other character’s story, extending the life of the game quite a bit. In addition to this, additional areas and weapons are available upon completion of the game, and there are multiple endings available for each character. While we only experience two, research suggests that there are about three endings for each character. Completionists will easily stretch this experience out to at least twenty hours, but the game itself is comfortably completed within six to ten hours, as previously mentioned.
It’s hard to admit it, but Muramasa: The Demon Blade definitely has more style than substance, but thankfully all the components come together to create a pretty interesting and engaging experience that almost every Wii owner should experience. The gameplay is simple enough for anyone to play, while at the same time, having the potential to keep even the most hardened gamer occupied. Ive said it before and I’ll definitely say it again, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is one of the most beautiful video games that I’ve ever played, and that includes titles released on the Wiis high definition cousins.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a competent action-RPG that combines absolutely breathtaking and beautiful scenery with a well suited soundtrack. The games simple approach is sure to be attractive to newcomers, while fans of the genre will probably find solace in the games harder mode. If youve liked the look of the game ever since it was announced as “Oboromuramasa”, then youll probably fall in love with Muramasa: The Demon Blade. I know I did.
Graphics 9.5
Amazing hand-drawn graphics with some well animated characters. Environments are flawlessly drawn, though can be distracting at times due to their layering.
Gameplay 7.5
Interesting combination of a hack-and-slash game with light RPG elements makes for some nice gameplay. Unfortunately, a lot of backtracking makes the game longer than it really is and could make players lose their motivation to finish the game.
Sound 8.0
Relaxing and immersive soundtrack that really helps build the world that the developers want the player to experience. Sometimes there is a bit of repetitiveness, but all in all a very well complimenting soundtrack.
Tilt 7.0
Multiple endings, two storylines and hundreds of weapons makes Muramasa a feast for the completionist, but at its core the game will last players six to ten hours before being completed.
Value 7.5
A well put together combination of Metroid-style backtrackings with a pretty nice fighting system akin to a 2D fighter makes Muramasa one of my dream games. Fortunately, most of its parts are quite enjoyable though sometimes the game did feel overly long for me.
