While the conventions are indeed given a new twist, the game’s formula is largely the same as other Ryu ga Gotoku games with the emphasis on random battles on the streets, exploring the environments and two cities to activate sub-stories which are as comical, sad, interesting and over the top as you’d come to expect; taking itself seriously during cutscenes and story-related dialogue scenes then letting itself go lose when out of them, like the lengthy combat scenarios and boss battles that liter the main story. Training is available throughout each chapter and more becoming available as you complete them and progress through the game. There is a wide variety of mini-games to act as little excursions like turtle racing, Shogi, fan tossing, make-shift bowling, Hanafuda and more. There is also a premium adventure to unlock which works mostly the same as the other games, as well as the Ultimate Fighting which mixes things up more than ever before, even allowing you to control boss characters in certain challenges, which is just neat.
Because of how the game’s world map opens up as the game progresses, you see a greater degree on the exploration side to the series as it’s more imperative than ever to seek out training–almost as if it’s a Miyamoto Musashi role-playing simulator. I say this as it’s the only true way to gain abilities and certain heat moves, as leveling up only nets you small boosts in health, power, speed, and the occasional additional bar for your heat gauge. One of my complaints is the odd pacing in which you learn new abilities and heat moves which either are too situational, and thus not as useful in the long term, or so late when it should have come earlier to have a more broader repertoire in situations that it could have actually been very helpful. One of the biggest examples is, strangely enough, the dual sword style, which doesn’t get a proper amount of new moves and extensions to combos until about 3/4th into the game, which I find odd considering the importance of it.
As with future spinoff titles, the team used this as means to not only test the waters of future hardware but to experiment and throw around ideas that would serve as major and minor staples of the series, with other ideas that were introduced but were never utilized again. Things like the introduction of revelations, which would be the means to learn unique heat moves in this title with Miyamoto’s calligraphy skill as like the real-life one; brandishing weapons is a key strategy in having your opponents drop their guard and is incredibly useful; the world no longer being connected in pieces that transitioned into each other to form a city with a fixed camera and instead all connected seamlessly with a the camera behind the character; how weaker enemies at rare moments lose their morale after defeating a tougher enemy in the group, which would become a more common thing in later games. Ideas that stayed with Kenzan include the bottle gourds that enemies carried that contained healing or crafting items upon defeating them or picked up before the end of the fight; the first and only use of rag doll physics as far as I know, which is funny to see but it does tend to look awkward; being able to increase your heat gauge by holding the strong attack button after finishing a combo, which keeps the flow of combat at a nice steady pace, and probably more that don’t come immediately to mind.
Like the games subtitle, the graphics themselves feel more dated than other entries on the PlayStation 3, but it does have very colorful and vibrant good ole outdoor areas. For example, the back roads with the falling autumn leaves, the large rice fields and farmlands, and a near fully rendered Kiyomizudera, which today is a hot spot for tourism. And that’s another thing that impressed me, there are plenty of areas in the game that you only visit once for story purposes or just have little use in general, almost like setting up movie scene locales. However, the team decided to go all out with such attention to detail I simply commend them as one of the only few development groups in the world that takes the time to craft such dazzling set pieces. While it may not be one of my favorite soundtracks in the series, they still manage to retain those fantastic guitar riffs and catchy tunes for all the lengthy battles and boss encounters, three being very notable and some of my favorite tracks in the series hands down.
If I had played this game as a localized title back near its release, I can say I probably would have appreciated Kenzan more as it laid the groundwork for the newer generations’ titles. I can still say without a doubt that this is a good game–in fact it can be a great game at times–only held back by questionable design choices and some experimental ideas that sound good on paper but don’t work out that well in execution. Clocking myself at about 80 to 100 hours to do nearly everything the game had to offer and complete most of the checklists, Kenzan managed to live up to my expectations and more; no regrets on importing it. It’s not as fast-paced as 2 with its crunchy cathartic gameplay, but it does dial back the hand-to-hand combat for sword fighting and it pulls it off well. I highly recommend the game for those looking for another samurai title and of course fans of the series–that is, if you don’t mind playing the not-so ideal way to play–but it’s better than nothing, I’d say.
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Review Copy Purchased by Author
I want to say my heartfelt thanks to all those made and contributed to the fan-translated materials that I could use. It was thanks to you that I could finally play this game after all these years and thoroughly enjoy it. For those interested in importing, here are the guides I used to complete and do most of the activities in the game.
Translation 1, 2 and 3
