Cool art work huh? It's Sengoku Blade (or Blaede) a horizontal shump game originally released in the arcade in 1996 in japan and eventually again later that year on the Japanese Sega Saturn. It was produced by shooter lord Psikyo and published by Atlus. Sounds like a winner, no?
It's quite the interesting title and for the most part, I would say the game definitely met my expectations and even succeeded them in certain aspects.
Gameplay
The game gives you 7 levels of difficulty all the way from monkey (
) to very hard. I had trouble completing the game on any difficulty above very easy. There is also a option to have up to 4 credit continues.To start off the game presents to you a choice of choice of 5 characters to chose from the most notable being Koyori the girl with the big boobs and ,also, a option for 2 players. One extra character can be unlocked later.
Each character has their regular attack, special attack that essentially covers everything onscreen and also another extra attack which is used by their "pet" or extra item. I think that extra attack adds a little something extra and it doesn't just seem like just a standard shooter. I tend to use the girl with the fire breathing lemur, but they all have their own unique flair. Controlling the characters is very fluid and I encountered no slow down what-so-ever.
After chosing your character you are sent to level one which seems to be randomly generated. There are a total of 3 initial stages that have unlimited continues and 4 more after that where if you die you'll have to start at the beginning of each particular level.
In stage 5 you'll have a branching path and can choose between the upper palace (?) area or lower. The lower area is a lot tougher, but it has more exciting gameplay and encludes one of the most exciting final boss fights EVER. My only qualms with the game is that the characters are a little too big in compared to some of the bullets that head their way and this makes it VERY hard to dodge bullets on difficulty settings "easy" and above. It's mainly just memorizing bullet patterns on the higher difficulty settings because some of the bosses shoot bullets literally right at your face and there is no time to move out of the way. Some may also not like the repeating bosses in the game but
this is still a very fun game.
Grahics
Very solid! I really loved the artwork, spirits and animation. It really captures the look of fuedal japan quite well. There is also a second disc in the Saturn version that includes original artwork, sketches, videos and artwork by fans. Awesome!
Sound
Very good score here as well with japanese music similar to what you would hear in the game Okami. There is also voice acting for each of the characters storyline complete with a few cut-scenes toward the end. (in japanese of course)
Summing up:
Although not the best shooter on the system, I think it's definitely one of the most unique. Its not too expensive at around $50 so definitely if you can find a good deal on it, pick it up and give it a go!
Final Verdict - 8.5/10
