Category: 
Don’t buy this game. This is an example of a game that was put together hastily because of the popular anime cartoon on Cartoon Network. None of that translated to the game. None. In this case fans of the anime should steer away from this piece of junk so that the next time someone tries to put out a Samurai Champloo game it might be decent.
It starts out with a choice of either Jin or Mugen as the playable characters. In the show Fuu is a non combatant character. So it is forgivable that she is a non playing character in the game. What would have been better is if something interesting could have been devised for her. Such as using her parasol, clay pots, and throwing rotten vegetables for weapons. That would have been plausible, and humorous, and in the spirit of the show.
The game-play is abysmal. Firstly the interface is badly designed. You can’t tell what all the numbers and status bars signify. They pop on and off the screen. You are forced into a story mode type of scenario that you cannot escape from or skip. Usually I prefer a story mode in any fighting game or RPG that has it. But this is unintelligible.
A major flaw is the frequency of the load screens. They aren’t neatly or subtly done. They flash across the screen as if they were done by a teen intern playing with wipes at the public access channel. The title graphics are written with paint splashes in english that would have been fine if they were kanji. The alphabet doesn’t look well when it is painted like Japanese calligraphy in this game.
The level design or lack of it could be one of the biggest problems here. The RPG element is buried by the incomprehensible maps and unreadable interface. When you do manage to find a fighting arena it isn’t linear and enemies can attack from any direction. They morph up from the “ground” and pop up behind you. There has been an obvious effort to make this a unique and non linear game, but that fails miserably. The environments themselves are so bad that they are almost non existant. It takes me back to memories of the wire line art in the training mode in the original Bushido Blade on PS1.
The combat could be fun but it is constantly interrupted by “twitch commands” that want you to enter certain button presses when they appear on the screen. Unfortunately this device is a fad in game development that I sincerely hope will go away. It isn’t challenging and completely takes you out of the game and makes the feeling of immersion impossible.
The environments lack any texture at all. In the first levels which are supposedly taking place in snow, characters are just submerged in blank whiteness. It is unbelievable that this “game” got to the marketplace in the state that it is in. When you compare it to other fighting games such as Soul Calibur 3, or even the not as good, Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks the Champloo game doesn’t measure up in any category. Martial arts fighting games have consistently been some of my favorites on the PS2 throughout the years. This one has to be one of, if not the worst.
Other anime games such as the recent Inuyasha : Feudal Combat was fantastic. That franchise went through three games before they got something playable. The load screens are like a soft cherry petaled breeze that you look forward to. It may indeed be terribly difficult to translate the anime genre to a game in the first place. Then you have to account for language and cultural differences. There is the fickle American gamer audience to consider. Foreign games have a hard time here. I would suggest that anyone doing a game for the American audience should hire a gamer as a consultant. I’m available! I am not unsympathetic to the problems that are inherent in making the transfer from anime to a game. Other games have managed it beautifully so…
I can imagine what this anime series would look like if it were pasted over a wonderful game engine that works. Perhaps like the one in Soul Calibur 3. If the Champloo unique and funky art style, was created on the gorgeous environmental rendering that the geniuses at SC 3 have it would have been amazing. Sadly instead the game is just crappy in every way measurable.
The only saving grace is the voice acting and the music. The original actors are speaking on it. The music is there, but it wasn’t enjoyable because of the horrible and distracting “game play”.
I have to give Samurai Champloo a 2 out of 10.
2/ 10
Replayablity : No. Just no.
Girls Point of View - Graphics : the worst
Will Girls Want to Play it? : No, no, no.
Purse : Don’t go there, until it’s in the bargain bin.
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