The First Samurai
| Developer: Vivid image | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Image Works | Sound: |
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| Year: 1991 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Action-platformer | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
The First Samurai (a nod to the The Last Ninja series) is set in medieval China (at least, at the start). Armed with a magical sword, you must avenge the death of your master by killing an evil sorcerer…
The story is beautifully illustrated with a long intro that immediately immerses you in the atmosphere. Everything in this game is enchanting, from the fantastical scenery to the monster design, not to mention the quality of the animations, music, and sound effects. The only thing that gets a bit annoying after a while is the samurai, who lets out a savage scream every time he swings his sword…
The controls are intuitive, whether it’s for attacking or using items and secondary weapons. The action is sprinkled with small puzzles involving objects to collect and use in the right places. It sometimes requires a bit of thinking, but never becomes a headache—after all, we know you hate that.
On the complaint front, we’ll just regret the lack of a two-player mode and the character’s sluggishness, as he can only move by walking.
We would have liked to gag him too, true!
Finally, the game is rather long, with no saves or passwords, and the fatigue does eventually start to set in.
Today’s useless fact: A certain Cornelious Stradivarius, in a comment on a longplay of the game, informs us that the mystical sound accompanying the character’s appearance is borrowed from the Flash Gordon series (1980).
If a black screen lingers at startup, click.
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