Is there anything cooler than an afro sporting samurai with vengeance on his mind? It's a purely rhetorical question, as the answer will always be an unequivocal no. Afro Samurai for the Xbox 360 and PS3 is the first game based on the hit anime/manga property of the same name, which follows the adventures of Afro Samurai as he tries to become the wearer of the Number One headband. It's a game that fans of the franchise will dig for all the same reasons they enjoy the anime, and there's even enough stuff there to please the non-hardcore fans as well.

Afro Samurai tells the tale of the anime series, though some elements are expanded upon or tweaked so as to give veterans of the franchise a new story to follow that isn't a complete rehash, while giving newcomers a great crash course in the mythology of Afro Samurai. The story centers on the Number One and Number Two headbands, which grant godhood (essentially) to those who wear them. The Number One is most definitely a fighting god, while the only person who can ever challenge them is the one who wears the Number Two. The problem is that there are so many people vying to be the Number Two - so that they can be Number One - that the wearer's life is always full of danger and death.

Slicing and Dicing

It's a familiar story to those like myself who have watched all the Afro Samurai series and movies up to now, and for the most part the game services the narrative well. It's still about Afro Samurai striving to be the Number One to get revenge for the death of his father, but there's a tighter focus on the headbands themselves and the mythology of them, as well as a more introspective look into the head of Afro that isn't seen so much in the series. The game's even a bit self-referential towards the gamers who have already seen the series, as Ninja Ninja personally calls them out, asking, "Oh, so you think you know what's going to happen next?" Besides a few new areas and bosses to contend with, the ending has been changed a good deal too.

A problem with the game's narrative, however, is that it isn't able to rely on things in the series to slowly unravel the story. A huge selling point of the anime series was getting flashbacks into Afro's life and the people he has affected, but the game isn't awarded those same opportunities. If you just had Afro walking around as a little boy and not killing anybody, where would the fun be for the player? The game does use one flashback scenario to play as a level, but after that everything is pretty much constantly flowing forward.

A big part of Afro's life is working his way towards being the Number One and battling all comers who wish to halt his process or claim his headband for their selfish desires. The gameplay is therefore focused on this exact element in the form of a hack-and-slash adventure game oozing with style.

Afro's repertoire of moves consists of a light slash, heavy slash, block, jump attack, and kick attack. It's pretty easy to just hammer away on these buttons to kill many enemies, but others are trickier and will constantly dodge, block, or punish you for your haphazard button presses. Instead, it's best to study the combo list, as well as mix and match attacks to form a friendly combo of your own. If there's a move set you find works extremely well for a certain enemy type, a good rule of thumb is to spam it until the fiend is finished. A really helpful move is also the pounce attack, which allows Afro to follow-up a properly parried attack to jump on his foe and then either slice their head off, stab their head, stomp their head, or fling them across the room. It's a brutal move that typically gets a zoom in, but besides being great to witness, it's also a great one-hit kill to help clear a room when the fighting is getting tough.

Afro Samurai

Fans of the series, however, will know that just hacking and slashing isn't all the series is about, as it's also about buckets of blood gushing like a geyser and oozing from a number of sliced off appendages, and Afro Samurai marvelously delves into this sadistic side of the combat wonderfully. While killing a foe with a number of attacks will typically end in a slash to an arm to signal a kill, the bloodier moments are all reserved for the focus moves, which slows time and allows Afro to zone in on his killing prowess. Once in focus, the screen will slow to a crawl, the graphics turn shades of gray, and then the player has the option of performing a one-hit kill using either a horizontal or diagonal slash. Players can just unleash the default move once it's been charged enough, but it's often more gratifying and rewarding to manually aim the blade strike yourself, which is done by pushing on the left thumbstick.

The focus kills serve several purposes. For starters, proper usage can often translate into a whole group of enemies being instantly killed at once, as I was able to kill four enemies in one-hit one time during the adventure; that's going to save you a lot of time and keep you from getting the pounding they probably would've otherwise delivered. Secondly, the one-hit kill slashes can be used during portions of the game called Body-Part Poker, which has you trying to make a set of cards by slashing at only one body part at a time. The third reason is the best, however, as it's just freaking cool to slowdown time and carve someone up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. The game has implemented a system where the enemies and their body parts have been so intricately made it's possible to carve enemies up in a number of ways, which always lead to buckets of blood and hunks of meat just resting on the ground. You can split people from top to bottom, slice their legs off, an arm, their torso, their head, or even split their skull in two right at the eyes. Individually focusing on a body part doesn't provide any other gameplay tweak other than giving you an instant kill, but it's still fun for variety sake.

Using the focus will also allow you to counter artillery, which comes in the way of bullets and RPGs. Much like how Afro does it in the series, by slowing down time and giving a proper sword strike at the right moment, it's possible to either split ammo so that it passes you by and does no damage, or you can reflect the bullet back like a game of Pong, killing the foe instantly. There aren't many gun foes, however, so the move is mainly used for one or two boss fights.

Scoping The Landscape

In a surprising turn Afro Samurai doesn't feature a traditional HUD system, which at times is great, but frustrating at others. Afro himself is the HUD, as a charm dangling from him will glow and turn colors when abilities are ready or you are doing something special, while Afro's clothes act as the health meter for the game. When you're just starting out a level Afro's clothes will be clean and white, but the closer you get to death the more red you'll start seeing, plus you'll start hearing your heart beat too. Much like Afro, the enemies feature the same blood tinting clothes technique as well to show how much damage you're doing to them. While it keeps you engaged and makes it feel like you're watching the series rather than playing the game, at times you want to know just how much more damage you can take, or how many more hits you need to land to kill a boss.

As for the boss fights of the game – as every hack-and-slash adventure needs a handful of baddies to contend with - they can be pretty challenging, but patience and study pays off. Players will fight people from the series such as The Empty Seven and Kuma, and finally ending with a showdown with Justice – the man who killed your father. The bosses are pretty old school in their behavior, as each one has three different phases and spawns different moves based on what phase they are in. There were one or two bosses I had to try multiple times before I learned how to properly attack them and win, but there were others I got right away, though they did give me quite the pounding.

The thing about Afro Samurai, however, is that it's a franchise that succeeds not just because of the action, but the stylish way in which everything is presented, and the game faithfully mimics everything fans love about the series. The Asian landscapes and traditional samurais and ninjas are mixed with killer robots and rocket launching monks. One minute you'll hear an oriental flute twittering away, but then the next a kicking groove and bass line has popped in with a verse of rap. The RZA, who scored the original anime series and the recent movie, is back with a new soundtrack that is just as amazing as the others. It's a soundtrack I'd love to see published and released on CD. I'm not usually one for game soundtrack buying, but this one I'd pickup in a flash. The game also features the same voice cast from the series, which includes names such as the man, the myth, the legend himself – Samuel L. Jackson – doing the double role of Afro Samurai and Ninja Ninja, while Ron Perlman is back to do Justice, and Yuri Lowenthal is back too to play Kuma and Jinno. A few of the grunt enemies aren't voiced as well as the star cast, but you'll still enjoy hearing them curse at Afro or give one final "screw you" to him before they die.

Graphically the game is excellent as well, as it features a lovely semi-cel-shaded style that looks like the mixture of an anime and manga brought to life. It's hard to notice it sometimes during the hectic frenzy of a battle, but when you can zoom around your character or get to watch them interact during a cutscene, the graphical style of the game is really well-done and quite lovely at times. The game is also directed and staged very well, as there are moments where you'll just look at the screen and think, "Ah man, how cool is this?" For instance, during some of the battles against a lot of enemies at once, they often hop into battle, giving you this slow-mo moment of them flying through the air. Also, the game will sometimes temporarily split the screen up for you like a page in a manga, to help you focus on something that is going on, like helping you pay attention to a guy getting ready to shoot you.

Off With His Head

The game isn't perfection, however, as it does have some nagging qualities. I didn't like how some of the game played out in regards to story and moving Afro from story point A to story point B, as there's one point early on where after a hit you just suddenly wakeup in a new place, apparently having been near death, though nothing is known. Another problem is the game's brevity, as it's only a couple of hours to finish, which I was able to do in a two-day bender. I don't know if I was so compelled to keep playing that's why I finished it so fast or not, but I definitely wanted it to be longer.

In terms of more gameplay oriented problems, the collision detection is a little off when it comes to platforming and interacting with objects, so don't be surprised when you land a tough jump only to slide off because you just weren't far enough on to register. The camera system is wonky too, though never so dreadful that it hampers the game. Some boss fights are more difficult thanks to automatic camera shifts and you will take damage from enemies on the side of the camera you can't see, but it isn't too hard or time consuming to hold the block button in to protect yourself and then manually swivel the camera around with the right thumbstick.

We're now at the close of the review, but trying to attach a number score is proving difficult. As a big fan of the Afro Samurai franchise, it's easy for me to overlook some elements that other gamers might cry fowl over, because even though I'm noticing them, at the same time I'm thinking, "Sweet! I'm fighting a robot while skydiving!" and letting my love for all things Afro Samurai cloud my better judgment. As a final score I'm giving Afro Samurai for the Xbox 360 and PS3 a solid score of a 3.5, as it's a blast of a game though there are some things holding it back. If you're a fan like I am, however, bump that score up to a 4.0 and have yourself a blast with this game as you take on the role of Afro and slice and dice through your own stylish adventure.

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