It's a bit embarrassing, but recently I've been playing...

Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad

Yeah, yeah, but here me out. In some other thread I complained about games not really having much unlockable content anymore. But this game is built around that. The embarsassing bit being that that the unlockables are mainly clothes for the all female cast. One of which wears the typical Japanes school uniform and looks about 12. Another decided the best attire for fighting zombies was a bikini, high heels, a cowboy hat and a feather boa. So... yeah.

But seriously, the game is designed to make you play it a lot if you want to get everything. Just playing through the story isn't guaranteed to unlock anything, although you'll probably get a few things by chance. There's two main things to unlock. Clothes and bracelets. To get clothes, you need to complete quests, which are actually various conditions that you need to meet in any of the chapters of story mode. There's 20 of them, each with 3 levels, so really there's 60 of them. So one quest might involve killing a certain number of zombies in one chapter. Level 1 might be 200 zombies, level 2 would be 400, etc. There others like reaching a certain combo count, doing a certain number of counters, killing the bosses quickly, etc.

Bracelets are power up items, which can be leveled up through use. They do stuff like make special combos easier, make you stronger, etc. You get them by killing a special type of zombie, that can only be killed with a special combo. The later on in the game they are the more hits they require, so you need to level up your basic stats to even be able to kill them.

And the gameplay is crammed with some quite nice mechanics too. Like, when you attack zombies, tow things happened. Your sword gets bloody, which slows down your attack speed. When the sword is completely bloody, it will stick in the enemies and do no damage. So you have to clean it periodically. Either fully, which leaves you open for a second or two, or you can do a mini clean after any 2nd hit of a combo.

What also happens is that your character gets covered in blood. When they get fully bloody, you into Rampage mode. You do double damage, but take double damage, and your health goes down steadily on it's own.

The combat system is also surprisingly decent, if you want to get into it. There's the standard combo, which is just mashing X. You can make this combo longer by leveling up your skill stat. Y is a melee attack, which you can mix in, but it's majorly weak and pretty pointless.

There's the CLM combo, which you can do after any 3rd hit of a normal combo. You pause for a moment, and then press X again to start it. You swing your sword back and forth, and you can aim it for the first few hits, but after that you just move forward in a line, slashing back forth. Which eat swing, the timing for the next button press tighter. With full skill level, it can be 25 hits, and after about 15 hits it's fucking hard to do. There's the Cool Combo, which is done by pressing X just as the last hit connects. Cool Combos are the only way to kill blood zombies, which is how you get bracelets. So to get them, you need to be somewhat decent at the game to begin with. Especially the later ones. And remember, as you attack your sword gets bloody, which slows your attack speed down, changing the timing for combos.

When you lock on to an opponent you have access to other moves like the dodge and forward thrust, etc. Each character also has some unique attributes. One can switch between a single or double sword style. Double swords gets more hits on enemies, but I think it has less reach. You need the double swords for the higher level blood zombies, because it takes, for example, a 16 hit Cool Combo to kill them, and you can only get that many hits with two swords. The other character has some grapple attacks and such.

However, all of this is somewhat marred by the fact that anything that isn't a boss is basically no threat to you at all. Until the later stages of the game when there's a lot of soldier zombies which grenades and guns. But still, it's not that hard.

And for anyone who reads all that, just go back and look over it, while ignoring the first paragraph. Because that's the only thing I think would turn people off the game. It's basically a slightly cheap, simple version of Bayonetta. And Bayonetta didn't really interest me, but I wanted something to waste some time on, so I got this.

Actually sounds like it could be a fun game.

Sounds like the kind of thing that'd be mindless fun for a tenner.

Its ok to have a fetish just never go into detail.

SimianWonder wrote:

Sounds like the kind of thing that'd be mindless fun for a tenner.

That's exactly what it is.

I played this on the Wii and couldn't stand the control.

Well that's the Wii. I have it on the 360.

I also think it's weird that some of these Japanese niche games make their way to the 360 rather than the PS3.

I must "confess" to having this. A little mindless violence in a game is good for some light relief occasionally. Can't say I put a huge amount of time into it up to now. The original of this remake was part of a budget series on the PS2 released only in Japan.

Another "mindless violence" type game was Earth Defence Force 2017, a "budget" release on the 360. This was fighting giant insects and I must say looked pretty decent. It was quite satisfying to be surrounded by giant insects and after a huge firefight to emerge victorious. As well as the insects there were the motherships and the bug's nests to destroy. I think there were 50 levels to clear. A lot brighter than Onechanbara in that it is a light urban environment with some pretty decent sized free roaming areas to hunt the bugs in. Another remake of a PS2 game released in the same series in Japan. Difficult to obtain in the UK now I think.

I think there were supposedly another one or two releases from the same series going to appear on the 360.

Bassman wrote:

I must "confess" to having this. A little mindless violence in a game is good for some light relief occasionally. Can't say I put a huge amount of time into it up to now. The original of this remake was part of a budget series on the PS2 released only in Japan.

Another "mindless violence" type game was Earth Defence Force 2017, a "budget" release on the 360. This was fighting giant insects and I must say looked pretty decent. It was quite satisfying to be surrounded by giant insects and after a huge firefight to emerge victorious. As well as the insects there were the motherships and the bug's nests to destroy. I think there were 50 levels to clear. A lot brighter than Onechanbara in that it is a light urban environment with some pretty decent sized free roaming areas to hunt the bugs in. Another remake of a PS2 game released in the same series in Japan. Difficult to obtain in the UK now I think.

I think there were supposedly another one or two releases from the same series going to appear on the 360.

I got global defence force its amazing i reviewed it if you check the review section.

I have the Japanese PS2 release of Global Defence Force and the two Onechanbara Games.

Not sure the 360 version of Earth Defence Force 2017 has London it. At least the 360 version retains the split screen action if you want it.

Bassman wrote:

I have the Japanese PS2 release of Global Defence Force and the two Onechanbara Games.

Not sure the 360 version of Earth Defence Force 2017 has London it. At least the 360 version retains the split screen action if you want it.

I dunno if there's any difference in the versions english version had split screen and the london level was awesome. Also really enjoyed the godzilla fights. They really need to make sequels.

If a game is fun, play it.

Considering this was made at 1:55 GMT, you must like it a lot.

Hey, I'm a night person.

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

Hey, I'm a night person.

As in a lady of the night?

Sure.

Or a creature of the night...