First Samurai (1991)

Beat. The game started out quite interesting, like Castlevania with a katana. I did not like the infinitely respawning enemies but the core gameplay is solid. The mechanic of losing your sword to restore health followed by killing enemies to build up energy to get the sword back gives a nice sense of tactical staying power. It gives room for error by allowing you to make up for it through efficient unarmed combat. I got stuck briefly on the 2nd level (the train) because I did not realize you had to collect all 5 runes to unlock the boss. That boss had lousy mechanics though because there was not enough room to avoid attacks; felt like you just had to tank the hits. A parry or block mechanic would have made this game better, especially with all the annoying tough ranged enemies in the 3rd level. I got stuck there trying to get the last rune high up on an unreachable platform. Tried reading walkthroughs and reviews but they were no help. Turns out I missed a bell near the start and randomly stumbled upon it after I thought I had searched the entire level. This was the only level where I ran out of throwing weapons. I liked all 3 (dagger, axe and grenade), with ammo count being the main concern. No further problems until the final boss, where his 2nd form shot in a spiral pattern that was nearly impossible to avoid. Checked the walkthrough, which said there was no good strategy, just take the hits and hope for the best. Not good boss design. Took a few tries until I barely managed to scrape past with only a few hits before death.

Not a bad game but lacking when compared to the Castlevania games. Needed a bit better mechanical, level and boss design, and would be cool to see that weapon loss healing mechanic in a more advanced action game.

6.5/10