Age Rating:
PEGI 16+
What is it?
A beat-away-hordes-of-enemies melee combat game set in mythical feudal Japan. Big men, big weapons, scantily-clad warrior women, ropey voice acting… it’s all there.
Is it fun?
Not really.
Is it worth the money? £29.99
Nooooo…
Why not?
This game has quite possibly the worst camera you will ever experience, should you have the misfortune of playing this game. Every location feels immensely frustrating because you can almost see where you’re going, if only the camera would just tilt a little more.
But it doesn’t. Ever.
It’s quite tragic because otherwise, this game is quite fun. It looks incredible and the weapons are great fun. I’ll admit, it’s nothing special as far as Mythical-Japan-hack-and-slash games go, but it’s certainly not bad. Benkei’s ‘Kamui’ attack is particularly satisfying. But playing Genji leaves you with the constant nagging feeling that your upper-peripheral vision is fading. Or to put it another way… it feels like you’re playing with a stiff neck and a baseball cap pulled too far down your head.
Ordinarily, I can make do with difficult cameras. I thought Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was enjoyable. Genji, on the other hand, wants you to climb onto rooftops but won’t let you aim the camera upwards far enough to see what else is up there waiting for you.
Ultimately, this game is a turd. A lovingly polished turd. Quite possibly the finest, most sparklingly shiny turd you’ll ever come across… but still a turd.
Don’t buy it. Get Ninja Gaiden Sigma (review coming soon!). Or perhaps Heavenly Sword.
Links
Genji: Days of The Blade Official Site
Screenshots:
Popularity: 18% [?]
September 22nd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Yep, the stupid camera annoyed me and I was only watching.
It makes the camera in Tomb Raider (any of them, take your pick) look like the best in-game camera ever!
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
This is a real shame - the video I’d seen of Genji made it look pretty good.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Yeah, I was really disappointed. The first few sections were fun. It was only when archers were standing on the roof and I couldn’t look up to see them that it got really frustrating. Ordinarily I’d stick with it but in this case it was just too limiting.
And for the record, I never had a problem with the Tomb Raider cameras (2, 3 and 4). Was the camera control different on the PC or something?
February 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I don’t know about all that. I thought it was fun, andthe camera view wasn’t much of a problem for me eithr. In my personal opinion, it was an awesome game. :3