Every once in a while a game comes along that you can confidently declare this game is a work of art. Last generation it was Okami and Odin Sphere and this generation it’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Anyone questioning if this game would be worth the wait wonder no longer. This is easily one of the best games the Wii will ever see.

As many of you probably already know Muramasa is heart stoppingly beautiful. It’s not a stretch to say this is the most beautiful game the Wii will get. The game features stunningly beautiful hand drawn art work in every aspect from the back grounds to the characters and the attention to detail is to be commended as well as the incredibly beautiful use of color in the game.  The art work will often have you stopping to admire the back grounds or will have you in awe over certain bosses.

The soundtrack for the game as well is incredible with classic Japanese instruments and some of the most beautiful melodies heard this generation. The soundtrack is also dynamic so the vast majority of the songs have a faster darker tone for combat and a lighter and pleasant tone for when the player is just exploring and the songs merge and mesh between the two flawlessly.

The game takes place during the Genroku era of Japanese history and as Odin Sphere drew heavily from Norse Mythology Muramasa draws heavily from Japanese Mythology and culture. You will see many of the legends of Japan and will encounter many vicious Oni(Demons)  as well as some gods. Samurai and Ninja are also heavily involved. The Mythology takes center stage here and is heavily involved in the story lines for both characters.

The game has two characters to play each with their own distinct story lines. Momohime is a Hime(Princess or women of higher nobility) who is possessed by the evil Jinkuro and Kisuke a ninja that has lost his memory and must uncover how he lost it in order to save someone he deeply cares about. Unlike Odin Sphere the games two characters rarely cross paths and their story don’t intertwine nearly as much. That’s not to say they don’t meet as they do in a few cases. Both Momohime and Kisuke can obtain different endings depending on the blade used to defeat each of their final bosses.

There are plenty of blades in the game as well. With 108 blades to forge and obtain. In the forge the player will use Spirit and Souls to create new blades throughout the game. The Forge has a massive branching tree that has many paths and the player can choose to forge down each path or focus on one. However you will need to obtain certain blades via bosses before you can forge past a certain point.

Blades fall under one of two categories. Odachi are bigger slower blades that have higher attack while Tachi are smaller lighter blades that allow much quicker movement and agility. Players can switch between up to 3 blades so mixing and matching is defiantly encouraged. Blades all also have added effects like Strength and Vitality plus among others so this will need to be taken into account as all blades have a Strength and Vitality requirement before they can be used so adding a blade adding strength and vitality will certainly make it easy to use newer blades.

Players will also be doing some cooking and creating some traditional Japanese meals and snacks that will be used to gather sprits and regain health. Some of the more complicated meals will also have added benefits such as decreased enemy encounters or increased income. Players to lazy to cook can also stop by a road side hut and have someone else do the cooking for them. There are benefits to each approach. Having the rest areas cook for you gives a much larger amount of sprit needed to forge new blades however it costs money and does not offer a added effect like those mentioned above. The player cooking themselves will obtain less sprit but will gain a added effect. It really depends on what the player needs at the time.

When it comes to game play the game has options. You can use one of 3 methods to control the game. The Wii mote Nun chuck combo, Classic controller or Gamecube controller. While all the control types work well using the classic controller or a Gamecube controller is highly recommended as the analog stick on the nun chuck is just to sensitive and you will often find yourself jumping when you didn’t mean to or rolling into a crowed of enemies if you are not careful. The game controls nice and fluidly and the action is fast and intense.

In combat the player will be able to jump, double jump, dodge and roll in addition to all the various attacks they can perform so needless to say the game plays at a pretty fast clip. Combos are very important in the game as they prevent enemies from retaliating. Each blade has a durability gauge and once depleted to nothing they will break and need to be returned to the sheath to recover. Blocking a attack or reflecting a projectile will damage the blade and in addition each blade has a special attack that when used will also drain the durability of the blade. It’s important to balance when to use these attacks so as not to have all your blades broken at once which leads to certain death.

Players will have access to healing items in combat that can be used easily with a down press of the D-Pad. There are various items in the game that have varying healing effects. However the game does not allow you to spam healing items to overcome a challenge as each item adds a certain amount of fullness to the character and seeing as all the healing items are food the player will need to wait until they get hungry again. It’s a nice way to balance the intensity of the boss battles and prevents the game as a whole from being to easy.

With this much to offer you will be wondering if there are any complaints about the game and I have to tell you there are not many. For some there may be a bit to much back tracking however I think of it as a nice chance to take in the beautiful art work. The game is also a bit on the short side clocking in at just under 10 hours for each characters story line. However the game does have much more to offer after the game ends with the ability to access new areas and new bosses as well as new challenges and collect new blades.

At the end of the day this is a game every Wii owner should have. It’s very rare a game this beautiful comes along and it should not be missed. The game is accessible to most any audience and varying difficultly levels insure that hardcore gamers will still have something to challenge them. If you own a Wii you owe it to yourself to own this game.

10 Ninja Heads out of 10

Popularity: unranked [?]

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