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Name: Samurai Shodown: Sen

The Samurai Shodown series has been going for around sixteen years now and in all that time it has evolved from its simple beginnings as an arcade fighting game into a much loved franchise by a group of pretty hardcore fans. Samurai Shodown: Sen is the eleventh in the series and combines its traditional 2D roots with an up to date 3D fighting engine, it's a revival of sorts, being the first Samurai Shodown on the Xbox 360, bringing the classic arcade gameplay into the HD era. But is it the sequel we've been waiting for?

The majority of fighting games don't include much of a plot or story, usually just a brief introduction to the environment and characters with which you'll be dealing death with, Samurai Shodown is no different, although it does have a sixteen year heritage under its belt, something other games can't even come close too. Taking place in 1791 it revolves around a girl named Suzu who gets rescued and adopted by the Amori Clan and raised as a Princess, unfortunately Princess Sozu disappears and Takechiyo, one of the games many characters, must find her. It doesn't get much thicker than that but then this isn't an RPG, it's a fighting game, and that's without a doubt what any fan of the genre will be here for.

However, while the plot may be slim pickings, the character roster makes up for it with a wide selection of characters both new and old, and there's plenty of choice to choose from. The usual characters from the series are in such as the legendary Haohmaru, Charlotte, and Hanzo, and there are plenty more, over 20 in total, although half of them are new to the series, some bring with them a fine mix of fighting styles from other historical periods such as Draco, who comes from the Wild West, a Viking named Garros, and Walter, a Knight. Each of the characters fall under one of four categories, Power, Speed, Tricky, and Skill, and dependant on the character you choose also defines the way the characters skills are employed to some degree.

The real meat of the game though boils down to the fighting styles and the way the combos work. The battle system revolves around a combination of vertical and horizontal slashes, throws, and kicks within the 3D arena, these attacks charge up each characters Rage Explosion state, this state, once fully charged, allows the use of the Rage Explosion Moves which are much more deadly than any of their standard counterparts. One of the most pleasant aspects of the fighting is the various finishing moves which can be used, similar to the ones found in Mortal Kombat, these finishing moves allow you to chop arms off or even decapitate your opponent in a most glorious fashion, they're difficult to do, but very effective as a finishing move.

Playing offensively is just as important as going on the defence however and each fighter can deflect any oncoming attacks or sidestep around them within the confines of the digital arena. The main issue with this style of gameplay is what Samurai Shodown first moved away from, button mashing. Previous games in the series employed a more tactical approach towards a fight, using calculated attacks to inflict damage, usually however fights just boil down to a myriad of random attacks in the hope of a win. It isn't as smooth as other fighting games currently available mind you, the moves fit together well when used as a combo but each feels heavy and stiff, and even though the animations are well represented, it still detracts from the overall experience of the fighter.

These flaws become especially apparent online when faced with random opponents from across the globe, that is, if you find a game, unfortunately it seems people either don't want to play, or can't, which is disappointing. Games can be found if you're willing to stick around and keep searching, and hoping other owners of the game are doing the same, there are definitely players out there, which is evident from the online leaderboards, however finding them can be a challenge upon itself. Going online does include the option for private matches or ranked games dependant on your choosing, so if you have a few friends in an Xbox Live party then it's fairly easy to get some games going.

Visually Samurai Shodown Sen has its own unique art style which decorates the non-playing portion of the game such as the menu and loading screens, this style is reminiscent of the feudal Japan era and looks great on smaller screens, if you're the type of gamer who likes to play on the big screen however then the artwork does become a little blocky in places, no doubt down to the low resolution of the image. These concerns are dismissed once you're fighting since the battles take place within a 3D environment with 3D character models though. One point worth mentioning is the loading screens, while they are a little long they make use of the time by displaying you with moves you can use and the controls that entail, they can be skipped by pressing start, thus decreasing the time the game loads slightly. The loading time isn't anything major however and the battles are fairly smooth but they do suffer from the odd drop in frame rate, something which is usually a game killer in a fighting game, but it very rarely occurs during a fight so it isn't something one really needs to worry about.

Beyond the story mode and online multiplayer you have the option of playing in the practice mode which allows you to test out your moves on an AI opponent, the AI can be set with a varying level of skill and all the move lists are easily accessible which is pretty standard in the current generation of fighters. The rest is populated by a versus mode for local multiplayer, achievements, rankings, and survival. Survival is similar to the story mode but your characters health doesn't start at full after each round, each opponent you face becomes harder the further you get, basically until you die.

So Samurai Shodown Sen is certainly a competent fighter, it does however have a few draw backs, some of which are not found in other titles within the same genre. This isn't to say the game is terribly bad, since fans of the Samurai Shodown series will find an enjoyable game within if you can forgive some of the issues. It isn't the long awaited next-generation Samurai Shodown game we were hoping for though, and casual gamers not familiar with the series may not enjoy the game for what it is, but it does a fairly good job at bringing an existing franchise to the Xbox 360.