It’s been three years now, and the concept Samurai Jack‘s fifth season even exists remains to be unimaginable. Here you could have a cult basic cartoon from the early 2000s — one which was mild on story however slathered in visuals, setting, motion and tone — revived years later with its unique creator to offer followers a decision they by no means thought they’d see. And when the credit rolled as Jack sat underneath that tree in May 2017, many thought that was the final they’d see of Genndy Tartakovsky’s cult basic creation. But builders Soleil show there’s nonetheless numerous enjoyable available on the planet of Samurai Jack because of the brand new hack and slash game, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time.
The story picks up proper in the midst of the ultimate episode — Ashi takes again management of her physique whereas preventing Jack, realizes she had Aku’s powers, opens up her personal time portal and he or she and Jack bounce by means of to lastly get him again to the previous (“Gotta get again…”). But then issues deviate as Aku blasts the 2 whereas within the portal, inflicting Jack to fall right into a pocket dimension “between time.” From there you battle your means by means of basic setting and episodes from the collection, naturally culminating in an epic ultimate confrontation with Aku. It’s not a lot a brand new story a lot as it is a celebration of the present itself by taking a “What if?” detour.
In some ways, the game looks like the absolute best model of a PlayStation 2 period game adaptation of a cartoon (I saved pondering of the remaster of SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom from earlier this 12 months merely for the selection in a 3-D artwork design). Each stage is pretty simple and asks you to smash and break all the pieces in sight to collect up the six several types of collectibles you should use to both improve, replenish or restore your arsenal. You’ll combat waves of enemies (most of which spawn out of skinny air) within the extra open areas, then make your method to a boss combat. You’ll catch on to the rhythm of the degrees pretty rapidly, however the fight is a lot enjoyable and has a stunning quantity of depth that you’re going to by no means get bored — even if you’re surrounded by enemies that go down with a single slash.
As for the fight, Jack naturally has his magic sword at his disposal. But you may even have staffs, golf equipment, throwing weapons, bows and arrows, pistols and machine weapons (sure actually) to alter up your preventing fashion. I personally thought I’d solely persist with the sword and upgraded it as rapidly as doable. But as soon as the game handed me Jack’s Lightning Spear from the beginning of Season 5 and I noticed how simply I might mow down a number of enemies without delay I by no means seemed again. By the time you get to the ultimate stage, you may have an enormous arsenal at your disposal to mow down a literal military of robots. It’s fortunately by no means too difficult, and the problem of unlocking and mastering totally different combos and methods is as addicting as it’s rewarding.
There are a couple of points, however they not often detract from the gameplay loop. Weapon degradation makes an unwelcome look and it makes all the bows and weapons means too fragile, however fortunately your primary weapon is usually sturdy sufficient to outlive in-between discovering Da Samurai (he is your service provider within the game) in every stage. The digital camera and controls may also shift right into a 2-D fashion at the least as soon as per stage and, except a specific boss combat on a transferring practice, it typically feels misplaced. Speaking of boss fights, the second half loves to repeat and paste mini-boss encounters with Demongo and it will get outdated fairly rapidly.
But there are simply so many little issues to love in regards to the game — from all the voice solid returning (Lord how I’ve missed John DiMaggio as The Scotsman) to the little references to different episodes unfold all through Aku City, to the way in which Jack’s gi will get ripped when he takes harm and to the recreation of quieter moments the place you slowly enter an space crammed with ambient noise earlier than enemies assault. While the game will solely take 10 hours at most to beat, for a $40 worth it is a enormous bang to your buck.
Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time captures a lot of what made the unique collection resonate with folks, and the gameplay provides you the sensation of being an unstoppable pressure like Jack. Whether you caught the present again in its unique run or solely hopped on when it arrived on Adult Swim a couple of years in the past, it is a should.
Rating: Four out of 5
Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is about to launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC on Aug. 21. A assessment code was supplied by the writer for the aim of this assessment, and it was performed on a PlayStation 4 Pro.
