PlayStation User Reviews

One of my favorites sword games. It was very realistic and with clean movements. I really recomend it.

Típica secuela de videojuego que agrega cantidad en lugar de mejorar los errores pasados, esta secuela se queda a medias de lo que ya era un juego a medias.

Back before there were games like For Honor, Nioh and Ghost of Tsushima... retro gamers like me had to play the classic samurai games like PS1's Bushido Blade 2. It's definitely a step up from Square's previous Bushido Blade and this time it includes 2 player link mode which is used to connect multiple PlayStation consoles to each other. The roster includes a much larger twenty two characters, so if you've ever played the original, this game has a similar feel to that and more. I'll be honest, I'm not one to play Samurai games myself but this one being made by Square captured my curiosity and I knew I had to try it. The skills from other fighting games translate well to Bushido Blade 2. There are no such thing as a health bar here because the game is hyper-realistic. So much so that, you and your opponent can even die at the same time from falling off the edge and taking fatal fall damage. OG fighting game players will know the importance of spacing and this game is no exception to that rule. The strategy based movements of mixing up your spacing is arguably one of the most important aspects of Bushido Blade 2 and they give you plenty of options. Unfortunately, it's impossible to grab your opponent as they usually hold a giant sword in their hand but in some very rare cases like these, that might be a plus. This game is more about holding your ground as if it were a real sword fight making the defense strategy a much larger aspect of the game as opposed to offense. They even include a run mechanic to evade your opponents if things get a little too heated and you need to take some time to collect yourself. During the duration of the fights you will have a sword in your hand and it is allowed to be customized to your liking... I won't say how many there are but they vary in both size and shape. If you care about story this game only includes a little bit of that but I personally, wouldn't go into this game for the story. The voice acting is great and it might come as a shock but yes, this game includes voice acted lines for just about every character. There is almost never an end goal during the duration of your playthrough other than fight for your own life. It's also worth noting, that this game has two main modes... a third person view mode but also a first person POV mode. The animations are a bit wonky at times but at no point did I feel like it interfered with my enjoyment or concentration during the fights but I know this can be important to a lot of people. However, don't expect any amount of length when it comes to Bushido Blade 2 as the fights don't really last long and the campaign mode can be completed in just a single sitting. The depth perception might be another issue because every map is extremely flat and some even have levels to them making it very easy to accidentally fall and die but I found this aspect of the game to be interesting as it keeps you on edge at all times, no pun intended. POV mode could have been better but it's a missed opportunity to do so much more with this title. On the positive side, you will always know what moves are occurring due to it's color-based coding which they don't emphasize enough except for in the physical manual that comes in the game case. Most likely you will find yourself getting really random wins and never really know when you're going to have a long match or a short match due to being able to die off a single fatal hit once again staying true to the realism of a real life samurai fight. At the end of the day, not every samurai game is going to hit the ground running. But your character might if you're playing Bushido Blade 2. In my mind, I made it out to be better than it actually was only because I knew going into it that it would be a unique experience and that it definitely was. For the time period, you have to remember that there was no such thing as a good samurai game... it was destined for failure from the start but even so this game made the most out of their options and were only testing the waters. Everyone who grew up in this specific early era of video games knew this and some people actually really enjoyed playing these type of games over and over again, believe it or not. Sadly, that era was back then not now. In The Book of the Samurai... author Yamamoto Tsunetomo says: "Only when you constantly live as though already a corpse will you be able to find freedom and fulfill your duties without fault. The way of the warrior (Bushido) is to be found in dying." This is what Bushido means, what it always has meant and it still holds true even today. The way of the warrior is to find yourself within death and I can't help but think that Bushido Blade 2 has found freedom and fulfilled it's duties but in doing so has also found itself and unfortunately also it's place in the modern gaming world, making this the perfect title for one of the pioneers of the samurai fighting game genre, Bushido Blade 2.