ESRB: T for Teen
Genre: Action role-playing game
Number of Players: Single player
Developer: Vanillaware
Release Date: September 8, 2009
Official Website

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When I heard that I was the lucky one to review Muramasa: The Demon Blade I was very excited!  I loved all of the videos of it that I saw as it looked like a beautiful and action packed side scrolling game. And I must say that it did not disappoint! The storyline is interesting enough, and I like that you get a little something different with the plot depending on which character you play as.

You are able to play as Kisuke, a ninja who cannot remember his past, or Momohime who winds up being possessed by the spirit of the swordsman Jinkuro. The storyline is nicely done, however the focus is all on the action. The cut scenes before and after bosses help to further the plot, and they are well done between the animation and the voice overs. The story is nicely written, and makes you feel like you’re playing through an old Japanese story. Once you go through a cut scene, it’s right back into action fighting a massive boss or searching for your next destination.

You can also play the game in three different ways: Muso, Shura, and Shigurui. Muso mode focuses more on the character and leveling, and can be considered the easier of the ways. Shura mode is more action based and is for more skilled players. Once you beat the game in Shura mode, you unlock Shigurui mode which plays similar to Muso mode, except your HP stays at 1 point and does not increase as you level. This gives all kinds of players something to try out!

The controls for the game are really easy to pick up, and the fact that you can use the Wii-mote and nunchuck, classic controller or game cube controller is a great option. I wound up just using the Wii-mote and nunchuck and found it easy to use the attacks. You move with the nunchuck, A is attack, C switches out your blades, and B activates the hidden ability that each different blade has. You do need to watch the soul gauge that each blade has as once it is drained your blade breaks and you’ll need to switch out. This never caused an issue for me as you can wield three different blades, and each one will recover over time if you don’t use it.

In general I also think that the graphics and soundtrack compliment the game to a T. The characters and backgrounds are beautifully animated, and coupled with the soundtrack make it such an interesting and beautiful game, I caught myself staring at the scenery quite a bit and enjoying the music before moving on to a new area. At points it even felt as if I was playing inside of a painting. The blade forging and cooking aspects of the game help add to the role play aspect, and I enjoyed these parts of the game as well.

All in all I think if you’re a fan of RPGs and/or side scrolling games, you’ll highly enjoy this game!