Afro Samurai

7/10

Afro Samurai Screenshots

Game Description

The marketing end of the Afro Samurai cross over is that the game would closely coincide with the releasing of the “Resurrection” series. This ploy doesn’t matter much, nor does it appear as the overriding motive, mainly because Afro Samurai can stand on its own as one of those wonderfully aesthetic video games that doesn’t come around that often. Yes, Afro Samurai—the game—relies heavily on the assets from the anime, but said assets are spectacular; as is Namco Bandai’s work at turning it all into video game code.

All of the pieces of the gameplay puzzle appear to be here, but often times these bits feel strewn atop a table rather than ordered, glued together and framed. For instance, the HUD-less design of Afro Samurai obviously allows its style to shine through in as many instances as possible, but there will be times when you simply want more information, such as the location of your next checkpoint locale (rather than having to rely upon the “Ninja Ninja” GPS—basically, Sam Jax barking commands to your next route) or a little more clue as to how power-ups are affecting Afro’s battlefield prowess.