Petr Šourek Not so long ago, the game Samurai II with the subtitle Vengeance saw the light of day for our portable Apple devices. Now it's also coming to our favorite computers. How did the conversion to Mac OS go for this Brno company? Let's take a look at it in the next few lines.
I recently reviewed the iPhone version of this game (you can find it here). We will briefly review the plot.
The story is really simple. It follows on from the first part. If you're going to finish it and don't want to be surprised, skip this paragraph. It was then that our protagonist, the samurai Daisuke, set out to protect the villagers from the evil samurai Lord Hattoro and his two henchmen. On the way he met a young lady, a spark flew, but the famous happy ending did not happen. Although he killed the main villain, the lady was killed as well. One of the two drives escaped and here begins the second part. Daisuke's eyes go dark and he sets out for revenge, and of course his way, so he'll be wading in blood again.
Thematically, the game is very well done, ever since it was first released on the iPhone. If you look at an imaginary story from ancient Japan, how many such games have you played in your life? The atmosphere is brought to perfection by special manga graphics and especially by the fact that you really "fight" like a samurai. So, no long-winded beaters, but if you fall on an unprotected enemy (with their back to you), for example, it's a matter of one press and the enemy will slide to the ground in two or more parts. Of course, everything is enhanced by interesting and brisk music, which completes the whole atmosphere. The story is drawn using a comic that tells us the whole story, which is a bit short but fun to replay.
The graphics are done to perfection. Compared to the iPhone, it has a higher resolution and some graphic effects have been added on top. I was quite pleased to see that the game ran smoothly on my MacBook Pro Late 2008. Which was a nice surprise compared to when I was playing on Windows and the graphics, which were no better than the Amiga 500, wouldn't even run on my PC. I play the game at a resolution of 1440x900 pix, at full details, and I haven't had a single twitch. The only thing that bothers me about the game in this regard is that the game is not able to remember one setting. It remembers the resolution and details, but always automatically clicks "window mode" when starting. I have to unclick it to go into full screen mode.
As I wrote in a previous review, I wouldn't play the music on its own, but it works great with the game. But it's interesting that when I played this version, where the music is exactly the same, the music from the game Prince of Persia: Sands of Time started playing in my head during some notes and I don't know why. The sounds are nicely done, I don't know where they were sampled or how the guys from Madfinger Games got them, but they add to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, I've played this game many times, which has resulted in me trying to turn off the music whenever possible.
Gameplay is also good. I was in control of the character even on the keyboard, which is not usual. You can also use a gamepad for control, but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to try it. I have no reservations.
The game is beautifully rendered, but if you own the iPhone version, I think you'll be fine with it. If you want to play this game in a higher resolution, or if you don't own the game for iDevices and you like action games, this game is perfect for you.
Samurai II: Vengeance - €7,99
I played it on iPhone4 and it's amazing, beautiful graphics and movements, absolutely smooth... unfortunately after a while it got to me all over again.