Nerd Mentality

Oboro Muramasa Impressions

Posted April 10th 2009 by kino.

Muramasa swords had the stigma in feudal Edo-era Japan of bringing death and destruction, often on their own bearer, so much that shogun Tokugawa famously banned his most faithful samuraï from ever wearing them.

This new Wii Action/RPG by VanillaWare takes place during the Genroku era, under the fifth Tokugawa shogun. Chaos is spreading over Honshu when the powerful Muramasa blades summon evil spirits from the netherworld. You play as either a young amnesic ninja or a cursed kunoichi, and you travel through the land, fighting foes and collecting souls and blades.

The game plays as a traditional horizontal scrolling action game, having the player run through beautiful hand drawn environments and jump around on tree branches or roofs. When enemies are close, your character automatically draws his sword, and you can then use the A button to slash, or use B for special attacks (depending on the sword you have equipped). You must clear the area out of bad guys before you can proceed to the next screen. I have only tried Shura Mode, which focuses more on action, but there is also a Muso Mode which gives precedence to Role Playing and leveling up over slashing living things. I have encountered no motion controls so far, which to me is a slight disappointment. I'll have to try the different gameplay modes and control options to see if that resolves this gripe of mine.

Progress is pretty linear so far, though I've just played through the first level, and I hear the path branches out more starting with the second. The game uses a Metroid-like automap should things start getting confusing. Muramasa being an adventure game, there is some emphasis on exploration, and you'll encounter many NPCs on your way, some humans and some not so (you'll particularly appreciate meeting the kitsune creature after your first boss fight, her assets barely contained into her tight kimono). All cutscenes are rendered in-engine, often with a slightly zoomed-in view of your character, à la Warioland Shake. Just like Nintendo's platformer, this is a good thing as the game truly shines by its visuals.

Muramasa is drop-dead gorgeous; all graphics are in finely detailed, beautifully hand-drawn 2D. Unlike the developer's previous title, Odin Sphere, animation is smooth as a baby's bottom, probably thanks to a mix of a matured engine and the Wii's power. Sound design was handled by Basiscape, who once again did a fantastic job with the game's soundtrack. Every character is fully voiced, including NPCs and the Japanese music adds tremendously to transporting the player to this mystical feudal world.

Oboro Muramasa is not exactly import-friendly, as all menus and onscreen text are in kanji with very little katakana and no trace of English. Thankfully the game is coming to the west through XSEED Games in the US (later this year) and Rising Star Games in Europe (Spring 2010, sadly). Let's just hope that unlike the previously mentioned Warioland Shake, Muramasa: The Demon Blade as it going to be called over here doesn't suffer from being an anachronistic 2D title, even in a sea of 3D mediocrity.

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