REVIEW : SAMURAI SHODOWN (XBOX Series X)
Fighting games there are many, but none like Samurai Shodown. The veteran SNK saga gave us endless joys in the past with its particular playable proposal and the overwhelming charisma of its fighters, but, unfortunately, it has been in darkness for almost a whole decade, surviving based on spin-offs, digital re-releases of his main instalments and experiments that did not finish as well as they should.
Samurai duels
The first thing we have to make clear is that we are facing a 2D fighting game very different from any other that we can find on the market today. The important thing here is not the offence or learning countless and complex combos, but measuring the distances well, studying your opponent and trying to make him make a mistake that we can take advantage of to connect some of our blows.
The most interesting thing is that this is not the only use that we can give to said meter, since, at any moment, we can use the explosion of fury to enter a special mode in which we will be much more powerful and lethal, and in the that we can unleash a unique attack whose damage will depend on the amount of fury we have at the time of use. Of course, keep in mind that if you do, you will automatically lose this state, even if you fail.
As you can imagine, a resource as powerful as this is not something that we are going to be able to abuse, so the developers have had the right idea to make our fury bar disappear for the whole fight after making the explosion. By only having a single chance and by assuming the loss of several very important tools, their use is usually relegated to the last round and to finish securing a victory.
To all the aforementioned we have to add a spectacular blocking, parrying, counterattacking and dodging system that works wonderfully. When defending in a normal way, we will retreat according to the force of the impact that we have received, which conditions our response time to go to the attack before the enemy finishes recovering, although we can raise the defence just at the moment in the that they are going to hit us, we will make a perfect stop and we will completely sell the opponent, being able to break his position easily.
On the other hand, the dodges are even riskier, since when doing them our character will make an animation that barely lasts a few frames, during which it is invulnerable, so if we do it just when we are going to suffer an attack, we will avoid it and not we won’t even have to wait to recover to go on the offensive, but if we fail, the consequences can be catastrophic.
It is a game that prevents us from relaxing in the least, since comebacks are a matter of one or two strokes, and each moment can be the last, which increases the tension to the point of making us forget that we have to breathe.
As we have already said several times, today there is no other fighting title with such a slow and exquisitely measured pace capable of transmitting such unique sensations, which makes it clear that we are facing a very special and pampered product that will fascinate us for months as soon as we connect with your proposal.
Mode shortage
To complete the offer we have a championship, where we will have to defeat the entire squad, the classics Versus, Survival, Time Attack, Training and Tutorial (the latter two can be greatly improved), and a novelty: Dojo, where we can “train” the AI ​​so that learn from us and adopt our fighting style. The grace of this is that we can upload their data so that later other players face our virtual disciple in a model in which we must defeat several “ghosts” in a row, but when push comes to shove it is no more than simple curiosity since it does not offer anything new or different compared to the rest of the modes.
Online multiplayer is also nothing to write home about, limiting itself to offering punctuated and casual games. Having been playing a few days before its official launch, we have had some difficulties finding opponents, although most of the battles we have fought have worked quite well for us and have not given us lag problems.
The beauty of feudal Japan
On a visual level, it is a beautiful game and a real treat for the eyes.
The sound follows the same trend, with a very Japanese and varied soundtrack that knows how to raise the tension of each confrontation while perfectly setting everything we see on screen. To highlight the spectacular song that we will hear during the credits, a true marvel. The effects are also quality and the Japanese dubbing ends up completely immersing us in this very particular feudal Japan. Of course, the texts are duly translated into Spanish.
