The studio that created Princess Crown for the Saturn and Odin's Sphere for the PS2 really got it right with this quirky, frantic, and oh-so Japanese game. Muramasa: The Demon Blade is that Japanese gem that so rarely makes it overseas.
You play as two characters: Momohime, a princess possessed by the soul of a demonic swordsman and Kisuke, an amnesic ninja. Each gets caught up in a whirlwind of events consuming a fantasy version of shogunate era Japan.
The Look:
The games visuals are the best I've seen. Ever. A still from this game would be nearly indistinguishable from an Ukiyo-e print, the art style that modern Japanimation was eventually derived from. The characters sprites, especially the bosses, are fluid and incredibly well animated, popping out quite well against a range of detailed and fully animated back-grounds. In short, looking at this game is nearly as much fun as playing it.
Unfortunately, such detail comes at a price. Don't expect to see too great a variety of enemies; the same grunts are repeated over and over.
The Feel:
The story related in Muramasa is fairly epic and richly vested in Japanese mythology. Thankfully, the localisation team altered the script enough to explain to Western audiences the significance of the zany Japanese goings-ons that you'll encounter.
The game has an almost Metroid-Vania design with many branching paths but don't worry about getting lost; Should you choose you'll always have a marker to guide you in the right direction.
The game isn't particularly long; You can finish it in under 10 hours. But with two characters and multiple endings, the game can rack up quite a bit of playtime. Muramasa isn't very difficult though there are options that can be chosen to raise the level of expertise needed to progress.
The Touch:
Muramasa is a frantic and fast paced game. While the game CAN be played quite expertly, until you've put in a few hours and learned the ranges of your attacks and gotten a feel for the controls, the gameplay might be a little sloppy. However, no matter how long you play you'll likely always feel clumsy with the jumping...it's hard to be accurate.
The designers were wise and allow Wiimote+Nunchuck, Classic Controller, and Gamecube Controller. I'd suggest going with the classic controller. It gives the game the responsive and comfortable feeling of a classic Super Nintendo platformer.
The Sound:
A historically accurate array of instruments are mimicked to create a very appropriate classical Japanese soundtrack. Voice acting is all in Japanese and felt pretty tolerable. Sound effects such as swords crashing or people screaming are so-so, but are good enough that it won't negatively impact your experience.
The Result:
I bought this game new at the full $49.99 and I don't regret it at all. With two characters and 3+ endings, this game can easily keep you entertained for up to 30 hours, an almost unheard of amount of content for a platformer.
Fortunately (after a fashion) this game was a real sleeper in 2009, and has dropped in price significantly as a result, selling new in retail for about $34.99. If you find it for that price (or even a little more) and have any interest in playing the most polished platformer since Symphony of the Night, don't hesitate. Consume!
