tommy_lop's Full Review: Inuyasha: Feudal Combat for PlayStation 2
I got Inuyasha feudal combat last week when it arrived at my gamestop. I was looking forward to the game because I am a big fan of the series, but I was a little worried because Bandai can make the worst fighting games ever made. The good news is that the gameplay is pretty solid, unfortunately there isn’t that much to do in the game.
Story.
Ok bits of false advertising on the back of the box when it says relive your favorite battles of the cartoon series. You might be thinking Inuyasha feudal combat is a lot like DBZ Budokai. It isn’t; the stories in the main story mode are completely new. Each story opens with a narration by the character that story is about and what they are after, Inuyasha and Miroku’s chapter they are out to kill Naraku. Sesshomaru is out to try to see why Inuyasha was given the Tetsueiga sword, and Shippo’s a bit goofy with him trying to prove that he’s the strongest demon in the land by beating up Inuyasha, Koga, and Sesshomaru. Those are the 4 story modes and there incredibly short with each one only being about 5 fights long. I was also surprised that Kagome didn’t get a story line seeing how she is the main character of the series it’s odd not to be able to control the main character in the main mode.
Graphics.
If only the graphics in the Inuyasha the secret of the cursed mask where this good. This time the Inuyasha characters are done to scale and are all cel-shaded. While the cel-shading in budokai 3 was better the graphics get the job done. The background for the stages you play in are ok, each stage looks different and has a good amount of scenery. But a few of the backgrounds like the rock pit look like they could use a bit more pizzaz.
Sound.
The music is ok it has some of the Inuyasha feel to it. But there is a problem with it and that the track doesn’t start in till about after 2 seconds the fight starts. It’s a small wait time but a noticeable one when you realize your whacking your opponent with no music in the background. All the VA’s from the series reprise the roles of the characters they play in the series. There is also a little bug in the game that whenever Sesshomaru beats you has a CPU player that the sound clip of his victory taunt doesn’t play correctly just making him flap his lips.
Gameplay.
Ok the gameplay has a few new ideas. First there are the standard fighting one on one stages, and then there is a team up stage where you team up with a computer AI character and duke it out against two other AI characters. The goal of the game is that each character has a health bar, and when they loose all there health they loose a life point. When the lead character of a team dies and there are no life points to revive him then the other side wins. If a helper character dies without a life point to revive them they will stay KO for the rest of the match.
Now there is a bit more to it then that. First off if your going at it has a team then you need to know that certain team up’s work well then the other. This is where knowing the anime may give certain players an advantage. Has team up’s like Inuyasha and Kagome will start off with a better team rating then say a Inuyasha and Sesshomaru team up. Now the team rating is important because the bigger it is the more helpful your AI helper becomes. You can increase your team rating by protecting your teammate from damage and letting them finish off the opponents. If you max out your team rating you will glow red and then you can do a double finishing move. Finishing moves are done by hitting the O button, these are the only moves that have a DBZ budokai watch a cut scene feel to them. Anyways if your team rate is maxed out you will do a double and depending on your team they will either attack together or combine there two finishing move scenes side by side. Either way this pretty much empties one health gage to whoever gets hit by it.
Has for the moves and controls there pretty good for the most part. The characters move around easy enough. There are two type attacks the quick and weak, and the strong and the slow type move. You can combine buttons in order to do combos. Also each character has a strong projectile special attack that can be done by standing still and hitting strong attack, Wind Scar is an example of such a move.
Now there is only one bad thing about the controls and like a lot of button masher brawlers once you hit a button combo your character will run around doing it in till he has completed the combo, rather he is hitting anything or not. So if you miss your opponent there is no way to cancel in time to get clobbered by your opponent. It’s not has bad has Star Wars Episode 3 revenge of the sith, and the opponents AI also has this problem has well so it’s not one sided but it is still annoying.
I should also note that each arena you play in has a gimmick. In the rock pit you can set off booby traps that make rocks fall on your opponent. In Naraku’s castle you have to watch out for Miasma that bubbles up from the ground.
The modes.
Ok my main complaint is that the game is short and there are only really 2 one player game mode and then a 2p vs mode. The story mode which I all ready explain a little works like this, you start with Inuyasha’s story and battle through that mode. Once completed Miroku and Sango’s story will unlock and after completing that another one will be unlocked. But there are only 4 stories and there really short so this mode is beaten pretty much within an hour. To help the replay value a bit there are 4 unlock able characters (Naraku, Human Inuyasha, Full demon Inuyasha, and Bankoutsu of the band of 7) that can only be unlocked by beating each story without using a continue. And this can be rather tricky on a few of the story mode.
Next comes the mission mode which tries to stretch the game out a bit longer. But if your looking for an RPG adventure game mixed in with the arcade action of the story mode your going to be disappointed. It to is rather short and a list of more like mini challenges. You have games where you have to smash a large demon that moves through the area, destroy all the rocks in the area, or defend your partner who is low on health. Your reward for beating all the areas is you’re able to unlock Naraku’s castle mode in 2p.
Speaking of 2p mode why isn’t there a 2p co-op or a 4p mode in there all together. There is only 2 and it’s always vs each other, any partner has to be controlled by the AI. It’s a shame because if you could battle a 2-on-2 team battle the game would have been an awesome party game. Has it stands it’s an ok 2p game but it’s nothing really special.
Final recommendation.
Inuyasha feudal combat has a lot of good ideas but it’s just to short and limited. Only 2 people could play in a game that could have easily been a 4p party game, and the lack of missions in story mode and the lame mission mode don’t help. The good news is that Bandai has laid the foundation of what could be a good game series, the original DBZ budokai was lacking in a few areas but the sequels kept making it better. Here’s hoping for a much improved Inuyasha feudal combat 2. Has for this game inless you’re a die hard Inuyasha fan or a person who loves fighter I would recommend waiting till this one hits the bargain bin to get.
Experience the world of Inuyasha! Featuring 12 playable characters from the Inuyasha TV series. Use the interactive environments to gain a battle adva...More at Amazon Marketplace
Choose your partner and fight your way across feudal-era Japan. Team up with friend or foe as you battle out the storylines from the TV series!More at eBay
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