Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes is Capcom’s hack-n-Slash take on feudal Japan’s Warring States period. Think of it as a Japanese Civil War with over-the-top characters and massive amounts of melodrama. Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes is the third installment of the Sengoku Basara series. Capcom’s first attempt to bring the series over to America ended up in failure with the poor localization of “Devil Kings” or Sengoku Basara.
It's not... exactly historically accurate
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes’ main story centers its plot around the events that lead up to the Battle of Sekigahara where the Eastern Army lead by Tokugawa Ieyasu faces off against the Western Army lead by Mitsunari Ishida. That is about the extent of an accurate history lesson you are going to get from the game. Where other games might have taken a realistic approach to the history and time of the game (see: Koei’s Samurai Warriors), Capcom has decided to take all of the history books and toss them out the window. What you get is a lush and vibrant hack-n-slash world filled to the brim with wacky characters—and this is a good thing.
The gameplay is simple: You slice, pierce and maim enemies to death with your character of choice. You can play through campaign mode where you can experience the character’s story, or you can enter into a quick battle mode where you can take your favorite hero and play any previously completed mission. Sengoku Basara added a nice little gallery feature where you can see your hero’s profile, music, voices and videos.
The roster of heroes and heroines has something for everyone—including the bulky oversized sword guy, annoyingly cute little girl with a bow, stoic ninja who does not talk, and the generic spear guy. Don’t be fooled by my mundane descriptions of these characters. They are just as silly as the more eccentric characters such as the effeminate-looking man with a bladed Hula-hoop, attractive lady who keeps a rocket launcher in her skirt, the Demon Queen, and don’t forget the giant mecha. Fighting enemies is fairly easy enough.
Yes, there is the prototypical effeminate lady-man character
On the offensive side you can perform a normal attack which can combo into itself for more damage or you can also use character-specific special moves which are usually stronger. In addition to the normal and special attacks each character has a “Basara Art”, which is a fancy term for a super meter. When full, it allows the character to unleash a super move which almost guarantees certain death to your enemies. Players can also enter “Hero Time” which slows down the entire battle to a snail’s pace. In Hero Time, you can freely beat up any enemy moving in slow motion. You can combine the “Hero Time” with your “Basara Art” and unleash your character’s ultimate move which just causes absolute chaos and destruction to your enemies.
Utter destruction
As for your defense, you are given many options as well. Your hero can block or evade incoming attacks. While blocking attacks you can perform a parry which can stagger enemies and give enough time for a counter attack. If you find yourself being juggled in the air you can perform a midair flip which allows you to hopefully move out of harm’s way and reestablish your offense. When certain attacks clash with each other you can enter a duel mode which is battle of who can mash square faster.
Sengoku Basara does not disappoint with the amount of collectibles in-game as well. Inventory-wise, each character can acquire many different weapons, accessories, bodyguards and costumes. Weapons have different properties such as increased attack, increased health, and so on. Accessories are more of a defensive complement to your character. You can earn random accessories in battle which can be used to customize your hero to your play style. For example, you can make a fast but weak ninja hit enemies with the power of a dump truck—with the right accessories. Sengoku Basara offers an item creation system which is a real time sink. After each battle you collect materials which are used to create accessories. The only catch is that there are two kinds of materials: common materials and region-specific materials. Common materials are found at any map, whereas region-specific materials can only be found at specific sites. Grinding away for specific materials can be a real pain.
Kablooey
The overall experience Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes delivers is a good one. Visually the game looks stunning, for the most part. The game plays very smoothly—almost always running at 60 frames even when the screen is cluttered with hundreds of soon-to-be-dead soldiers. The only knock on the visuals is that all the generic soldiers look the same. They just have different weapons or different colored armor. The world itself is colorful and easy to navigate. There is no need to worry about getting from point A to point B. The maps are designed in a way where there is always some relevant battle to be fought. Objectives are always clear with the game’s use of a cheesy cut scene to explain what you need to do and where to do it.
Sometimes you just want the characters to shut their mouths
In terms of audio the game is a mixed bag. The music itself is varied from guitars riffs to jazz, synth pop, classical and some war drums. It sounds good. The sound effects are varied enough to distinguish different kinds of grunts, moans and death cries. The big problem in the sound department comes from the English voice acting. The voicing for this game is hit or miss. Some characters have wonderful voices that suit their character, while others—and sadly a majority of the cast—have uninspired voices that are just too obnoxious or too outlandish to make me care. Another hit against the voice acting is how frequently the computer NPC’s have to talk. You are on your way slashing through an enemy camp and all of a sudden their commander appears. He or she will say something to introduce themselves as your are already slashing at their throat. When they die, they have to get in that last word. After that your own NPC’s have to chat you up or down if you dispatched the enemy in a efficient or sloppy manner. There is always nonsense chats popping up out of nowhere which just leaves you feeling a bit annoyed.
Aerial flips get you out of tough situations
If you are a fan of the hack-n-slash genre then Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes will be a nice little diversion for you while you wait for something better. Try the demo out—it really gives you a feel of what the game is like. I would say that this game is a rental for anyone who is not sure whether or not its worth it.
Pros:
+ Quite polished for a $40 hack-n-slash
+ Simple combat system
+ Lots of weapons and accessories to collect = Replayability
+ Two-player local co-op
+ Unique roster of heroes and villains
+ Map design is good
+ Game loads fast compared to other games in its genre
+ DLC characters are coming
Cons:
– Voice acting makes me want to strangle someone sometimes
– Size of roster shrank from previous versions (30+ to 16)
– Easy difficulty
– No online co-op
– Regional Materials make item grinding a pain
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