SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad...Why God...WHY!?

Posted: Feb 15 2009 04:01 am

I just rented this piece of shit from Gamefly because this month is a pretty crappy month for video games, except Street Fighter 4 and a couple others. This game is just atrocious. The combat is far too repetitive, and the graphics suck and look like something from the early PS2 days. I figured the game wouldn't be that great just by the name but this is terrible. Like I said this looks like something that was developed for the PS2. It is a travesty that this is being sold as an Xbox 360 game.

The combat is all hack and slash and is way too repetitive. Also having to clean your sword off is a dumb gameplay mechanic. If the sword has too much blood covering it the blade will get stuck in your enemies. You hit a button to remove the blood by flinging it off. This gets old when you are under attack from a huge swarm of zombies.

The Level design sucks too. The levels are all linear to a fault. I've seen more non-linear design on early N64 games than this.

Avoid this piece of shit, I'm mailing it back to Gamefly first thing tomorrow.

Posted: Feb 15 2009 04:14 am

I would express my condolences on the bad rental, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there's a game with both "samurai" and "bikini" in the title. Oh, the things the Japanese come up with. (I'm assuming based on the title its based on an anime series.)

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

I think it's just the Japanese trying to jump on the grindhouse wagon when it comes to the idea. I saw this on G4 a few months ago, and thought it was a PS2 game as well. I automatically assumed that anything with over-used manga-style characters in bikinis would be dog shit no matter what.

Posted: Feb 15 2009 04:50 am

If the combat was better, the graphics didn't suck and the levels were no so linear it could have been fun. I'll stick with the Afro Samurai game for my hack and slash fill.

Posted: Feb 15 2009 08:32 am

Yeah, the 360 game got AWFUL reviews. Its Wii companion, Bikini Zombie Slayers, scored significantly higher marks.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Feb 15 2009 09:03 am

With a title like that, the game could only be one of two things:

1) A game so fucking awesome the entire 18-35 male demographic would effectively be removed from society while playing it.

2) A game that blows chunks.

Looks like it's #2.

(double entendre possibly intentional)

Posted: Feb 15 2009 10:11 am

So what it's like Way of the Samurai with chicks in bikinis? Confused

Posted: Feb 15 2009 09:16 pm

It's like a really crappy version of a Dynasty Warriors game with girls in bikinis killing zombies.

Posted: Feb 16 2009 01:02 am

Yeah...I had hoped it would not suck, but realistically, how likely was that? Also, I heard that Playboy got some NSFW pics from the developers. Still doesn't make up for the crappy gameplay though. Sadly no

Posted: Feb 16 2009 02:16 am

SoldierHawk wrote:

I would express my condolences on the bad rental, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there's a game with both "samurai" and "bikini" in the title. Oh, the things the Japanese come up with. (I'm assuming based on the title its based on an anime series.)

Actually it's a series:

The OnēChanbara is an action game series developed by Tamsoft for D3's Simple 2000 series for the PlayStation 2 and later ported on cellular phones, Xbox 360 and Wii. The title is a portmanteau of the Japanese words onē-chan (lit. "big sister", but also a slang term for a young adult woman) and chanbara ("sword fighting")

Most of the titles are Japan-exclusives, but some have been released as Zombie Zone or Zombie Hunters by 505 GameStreet in Europe and are now starting to be released in the US. A film based on the game series has been released in Japan, simply titled OneChanbara.

Posted: Feb 16 2009 04:09 am

lordsathien wrote:

SoldierHawk wrote:

I would express my condolences on the bad rental, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there's a game with both "samurai" and "bikini" in the title. Oh, the things the Japanese come up with. (I'm assuming based on the title its based on an anime series.)

Actually it's a series:

The OnēChanbara is an action game series developed by Tamsoft for D3's Simple 2000 series for the PlayStation 2 and later ported on cellular phones, Xbox 360 and Wii. The title is a portmanteau of the Japanese words onē-chan (lit. "big sister", but also a slang term for a young adult woman) and chanbara ("sword fighting")

Most of the titles are Japan-exclusives, but some have been released as Zombie Zone or Zombie Hunters by 505 GameStreet in Europe and are now starting to be released in the US. A film based on the game series has been released in Japan, simply titled OneChanbara.

Why can't the Japanese just look at porn like normal people? Why does it always have to be disguised as video games of scantily clad women playing vollyball, or killing zombies? At the very least there would be fewer shitty games on the market. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Feb 16 2009 03:23 pm

I'm surprised any of you thought this would be a good game, Syd mentioned it to me a few weeks ago and my first thought was that anything that ridiculous sounding couldn't possibly be good. And I was right.

Posted: Feb 16 2009 10:30 pm

You know there was already a thread for this game:

http://www.sydlexia.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4564

Posted: Feb 16 2009 10:41 pm

The Wii game is good cheesy fun.

Posted: Feb 16 2009 11:40 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

The Wii game is good cheesy fun.

Good, because I was looking forward to it ever since I read about it. I'll get it used or something.

Posted: Feb 17 2009 01:30 am

Black Zarak wrote:

I'm surprised any of you thought this would be a good game, Syd mentioned it to me a few weeks ago and my first thought was that anything that ridiculous sounding couldn't possibly be good. And I was right.

I didn't expect it to be good but I didn't think it would be this terrible. I have the 4 game plan from Gamefly and I mainly rent for the Xbox 360. Since there is nothing really good this month besides Street Fighter 4(Which I've already pre-ordered from EBGames) I decided to rent this to make use of my rental plan. Like I said I was not expecting anything great but neither was I expecting it to be such a bad game that looks like it was developed for the PS2.

Posted: Feb 17 2009 10:04 am

From the videos I've seen, the 360 and Wii versions don't look all that different from each other. Why is it the Wii version is getting better reviews? Isn't it basically the same game?

Posted: Feb 19 2009 11:02 am

It makes considerably better use of the system hardware. As for being linear, so what? Personally I like it when a game is linear. Pac-Man is linear. Super Mario Bros. is linear. Streets of Rage is linear. Not every game has to be a giant sandbox filled with 50 hours of aimlessly wandering around bullshit. The genre is called "HACK AND SLASH". It's not called "hack, slash, and try find your way out some needlessly labyrinthine level."

Posted: Feb 19 2009 06:06 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

It makes considerably better use of the system hardware. As for being linear, so what? Personally I like it when a game is linear. Pac-Man is linear. Super Mario Bros. is linear. Streets of Rage is linear. Not every game has to be a giant sandbox filled with 50 hours of aimlessly wandering around bullshit. The genre is called "HACK AND SLASH". It's not called "hack, slash, and try find your way out some needlessly labyrinthine level."

Exactly what Syd said. It's doesn't need pointless fetch quests in a large sandbox environment or whatever. Most games don't. The number of recent sandbox games that were good BECAUSE of the sandbox element can be counted on one hand. If I wanted to go walk 'round a huge city, I'd take a bus to the nearest city and wander around said city.

As for the game itself, I played the Wii version, it's pretty fun, reminds me of Devil May Cry... but with more huge lady lumps.

Also-

Quote:

looks like it was developed for the PS2

It's worth noting that both versions seem to be "enhanced" ports of a Japan-Only PS2 game called "Onechanbara". The original game was a budget game, and as such didn't sell so well (though I think it did get released in Europe, I swear somebody mentioned this earlier on in the thread).

Posted: Feb 19 2009 06:26 pm

Actually, IIRC, the series is very popular in Japan, and has somewhere between 6-9 games. The series was popular enough in Japan to warrant the release of a live action movie based on it. But very few of the games have been released outside of Japan, and the ones that have have not done particularly well.

Posted: Feb 19 2009 06:56 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

Actually, IIRC, the series is very popular in Japan, and has somewhere between 6-9 games. The series was popular enough in Japan to warrant the release of a live action movie based on it. But very few of the games have been released outside of Japan, and the ones that have have not done particularly well.

Ah, I didn't know. I guess part of the reason the games don't do very well outside of Japan is because they're usually bargain bin titles (I've done some research on the one or two Onechanbara games released in Europe, and the one I have seen, I seen in a bargain bin at Tesco). So yeah, though they're pretty good games, a lack of marketing (and the stigma of being a bargain bin title) is probably just why the series isn't as successful in the west.