Xbox 360 Critic Reviews

With fighting games coming back into vogue in such a big way over the past year, anticipation was quite high for a next-gen entry into the Samurai Showdown legacy. Unfortunately, bad design choices, uneven gameplay, and a limited number of gameplay options ruin this title for all but the most hardcore Samurai Showdown fan.

While Samurai Shodown Sen delivers a fun experience at times, it doesn’t deliver a very polished one. The broken jumping mechanics and unbalanced gameplay make for a frustrating experience overall.

It's good to see Samurai Showdown back, but Sen isn't what hardcore Samurai Showdown fans were hoping for. While I wouldn't quite call it a bad game, it isn't a very good one either.

It is hard not to feel the cheap and dirty motif of the game from top to bottom. There is a severe lack of polish here and it shows. Still if you love fighting games and have been a fan of the series I recommend giving it a rent to see if it grows on you.

Some fans will consider Sen a diamond in the rough, and if you’re playing with friends and can overlook its problems, there’s some decent action to be had. The more I played the game the more it grew on me, but I never shook the feeling that fans deserve a lot better than what Sen has to offer.

Compared to other beat ‘em ups it lacks polish and epic sized modes but SNK Playmore has reanimated this series to good effect with a solid combat system.

Overall, Samurai Shodown Sen is a mixed bag indeed. The gameplay seems just adequate and the online play can be bogged down with the certain cheater moves we all love to hate. That being said though, nostalgic fans may want to check it out but most will probably pass this one over.

Samurai Shodown Sen is a competent weapon-based fighting game with some unique gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, it suffers from far too many shortcomings to make it worth recommending.

Samurai Showdown Sen isn't the worst game, but since there many other really cool beat 'em ups, it simply can't compete. For example, Super Street Fighter IV has a lot more at stack at nearly the same price.

Despite a strong and unique cast of characters, the poor presentation, barebones features, and subpar gameplay make this hard to recommend, especially at full price.