Samurai Shodown VI Review

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Samurai Shodown VI plays like other classic fighting games. You can high punch, low punch, low kick, high kick. Chaining these moves together will of course lead to some devastating combos. Much like other fighting games it has an Arcade mode, versus mode, practice mode, and even has a survival mode which is similar to a challenge mode. The Arcade mode is like most fighting game Arcade modes. You will challenge several opponents in one on one combat and try to become the victor. Each match will become progressively more challenging than the last. The first to win two rounds of each match is the winner. The most difficult opponents in this games arcade mode are the larger characters in my opinion. Their grapple attacks can often be incredibly powerful, dealing a lot of damage.

The most interesting mode in my opinion is the survival mode. In it you will face a Varity of opponents, each with a bonus challenge that you can try to meet. Before each match you will have a chance to pick between 3 different challenges for you to attempt. These challenges range from performing a number of special attacks, Combos, ect. If you clear the challenge you will receive a small refill of your health or extra time. I mentioned that one of the bonuses can refill your health because much like the modes name suggests your goal is to see how long you can survive. What ever damage you take from each fight will carry over to the next match.

The Practice mode is an incredibly useful mode especially for players who are new to the series or to the fighting game genre. The mode in general is self-explanatory, you will have the chance to select a character you wish to get familiar with and a CPU opponent to train against. This mode is a great help to you if you wish to learn how to chain together specific character unique combos before going to the survival or arcade mode. It is highly recommended that you start here as the difficulty of this game can quickly become unforgiving. This is especially true if you make it to the final boss in the arcade mode. As with most arcade style fighters the final boss will show you no mercy.

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There is also a mode to let you edit the character sprite of the fighter you enjoy playing as. To do so you will select the color from the character you wish to change and edit the RBG levels. The sprite editing is a little limited, you can’t drastically change the character, this is more of a pallet swap for the fighter. This is a nice feature though as it does give you some more options rather than the default settings that they offer.

As for the graphics, this games colorful sprites look great. The animations of each sprite are fluid and help diverse each character, making each fighter feel unique. The attack animations for when you are in combat are flashy and give a sense of nostalgia. The art of the game reminds me of old arcade games from the 90’s. During the game, before each fight you will see a world map and it will show your character travel the globe to reach the next fighter. The backgrounds for each arena will change and help showcase the change of setting to reflect this. On the topic of backgrounds, they are lively and unique from each other.

The sound design for this game is superb. The characters themselves are all voiced in Japanese however, before each fight you will see subtitles as to what they are saying to each other. During the fights all the characters moves like sword swipes, ect have unique sound effects that adds to the entertainment of the combat. The music of the game is also really good, it fits the atmosphere of each stage well.

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The replay value of this game is really good. With a large list of fighters to choose from and many modes to select from you will have a lot of reasons to revisit this game. One of the trophies they added suggests that you play and complete the arcade mode with each fighter.

Samurai Shodown VI is a highly recommended game if you’re looking for a good fighting game. The gameplay mechanics work great and the presentation is even better. It offers many gameplay modes to keep you busy and has a large list of characters to play as. Like most fighting games of this type there is a high difficulty curve that may discourage some newer players from trying this game but, if you are up to the challenge this is a worthy addition to your collection.

Rating 9

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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Comments (2)

  1. Avatar Ikki March 22, 2017
    • Avatar Mega Man March 23, 2017