Afro Samurai

Let’s be honest — Afro Samurai, like its manga and anime roots, is not some cutesified, magical schoolgirl vehicle. It’s gory, it’s potty-mouthed, and its story contains neither rainbows nor kittens. (Okay, it does have teddy bears.) And what Namco has done with the license transposes the gritty tale of a sword-wielding, stone-faced samurai seeking revenge on the man who decapitated his dad into a lightning-quick, multi-combo, interactive beat-’em-up.

As Samuel L. Jackson’s sublimely voiced Afro (Jackson also provides the voice for Afro’s naughty-minded guide, Ninja Ninja), your blood-spurty path winds between past and present — but one thing doesn’t change: you’ll still be slashing, ripping, and kicking so much enemy heinie, you’d think there was a heinie tree growing nearby. Thankfully, combat is fast, combo-riddled, and incorporates your ability to pinpoint which part of a foe you want to sever — even down to noses. Not that you’ll have the luxury to choose in most instances: Afro’s oldschool kick and slash rhythms are relentless, and only the most seasoned brutalizers will possess the skill to deftly juggle the game’s In-Focus mode (which briefly slows down time) with the moves to deal out nose-lopping damage.

And the camera isn’t always on your side, swinging loosely during integral boss fights and often settling in the wrong position at the wrong time. It’s not so abusive that’ll you’ll be driven to tears, but with all the high-quality razzledazzle going on with Afro’s lovely looks, hip-hop beats, and sophisticated revenge tale, it’s too bad the spotless presentation doesn’t bleed seamlessly into every aspect of its gameplay and mechanics.

Yet, Afro Samurai persisted in mesmerizing us. And really, with Sam Jackson spouting lines like “That girl puts the two ‘asses’ in ‘assassin’” in feudal Japan, how can we resist?