Way of the Samurai 2 review (PS2)

There is a lot of false mystique surrounding what it was to be samurai. The fact of the matter is many of them were drunken sociopaths who simply took advantage of their standing in society. Which thankfully, gives me something else to blame Tom Cruise’s movies for. But he’s an easy target compared to the game I’m about to discuss.

You know the sort of people who join re-enactment societies, playing out historical battles? The sort of people who enjoy real tabletop role-playing, with a pen, paper and no joypads? Well they just might like Way of the Samurai 2. Which means that most other people probably won’t.

You have insulted my honour

It’s a no-frills experience, which is almost expected for a game that asks you to fill in its gaps with your imagination. Unfortunately it doesn’t always cooperate with the player in going along with the illusion of being a samurai. The main culprit here is the bad voice acting and bad Japanese-to-English translation. It’s like playing cowboys and Indians except that there’s one noisy kid who never really gets into character.

Even though Way of the Samurai 2 makes an earnest attempt at creating an environment for the player to explore, it often manages to seem a bit too static and the payoffs for the different choices don’t necessarily impress. The payoff in this case is the choices themselves and if the game doesn’t intrigue you right from the start there is little to draw you in further. Way of the Samurai 2 has secrets that you will only uncover after playing it through at least four times. And if the first time grates at all, then the fourth is unlikely ever to happen.

Crossed swords

Role-playing a character (even without joypads) can be a lot of fun, but you need a clear sense of the result of your choices, beyond opening doors and killing people, otherwise the whole exercise can seem like talking to yourself. Which makes playing Way of the Samurai 2 a bit like being a Tourette’s ridden drunk who runs around shouting unintelligibly while pretending to know karate.

Other games that offer a sense of choice like Deus Ex, Thief or even Metal Gear Solid have direct and natural-seeming responses to the player’s actions, Way of the Samurai 2 has a range of static paths that you can navigate, with some deviation. This is an illusion of player freedom more than anything else. There is no sense of causing events to occur, more a sense of needing to cause events to occur properly. Each path you follow has a set of rules and if they are broken, you come off the path into punishing gameplay mediocrity.

There are solid elements in the game design. The swordplay is actually fairly rewarding, but the plain animation makes battles seem more repetitive than they really are. You could play it purely as a walk-along fighting game, but you’d be disappointed and bored. Almost tragically, the soundtrack is stunning when compared to the rest of the game. Even when it lingers in the background, it still manages to be stirring. In moments it actually seems as if someone has composed a modern remix of traditional-sounding Japanese music without coming off like a pretentious idiot.

Honourable suicide

A lot of people may well defend games without any sense of immediate gratification like Way of the Samurai 2 by stating that if you don’t understand the game’s design choices, you don’t understand what it is to be samurai. Making a game with a design that is obtuse and often unrewarding doesn’t necessarily simulate an obtuse and often unrewarding lifestyle. It just makes it more difficult for the player to relate to what is going on. And I don’t think that was what Acquire were aiming for with Way of the Samurai 2.

The Bushido Blade games, on the PS One went much further in conveying what it was to be samurai, even if they did almost defecate on their own paradigm by introducing the use of firearms by some enemies. What they did tell you was that even if you dressed in neon yellow, samurai don’t use AK-47s against their enemies. Even when their enemies already had AK-47s. Way of the Samurai 2 imparts such gems of experience as ‘If you shout at small children, they will run from you.’ I feel much wiser now. Wiser, and more Zen.