Bushido Blade 2 is the sequel to a most curious fighting game. It tries to bring about classic samurai sword duels, but in the modern age, and using families of ninjas.  You and a single opponent face off against each other, and victory can be pulled by just a single, regular hit if you time it right. Rather than use a life bar, the game goes off an injury system based on body part struck. A hit to the neck, head and some chest hits can kill outright. Hits to the arm or leg weaken your opponent. but never kill. This is not a flashy fighting game, there are no fireballs, jumping katana spins, no magic spells. Its not realistic - it is a video game, but it tries to ground its moves in reality.

You choose your fighter from a small cast, and find out they are divided among two factions. Each side wants to wipe the other out. Each warrior has their own speed, strength, and weapons they prefer. Many characters cannot use all the weapons.  You will begin fighting inside your school's home base, then spread out from there. Cut-scenes introduce new challengers and allies that  will come to help you -but all battles are one on one. As you fight nameless generic ninjas, you will encounter rival fighters from the other team, upon defeating a certain number of them in a variety of locations, you take on the boss - which is different depending on which clan you belong to.
The regular weapons include four types of swords, both eastern and european design, and two kinds of spears.


Graphics: 6
The graphics were a little underwhelming when this came out, with its vast, dark backgrounds and most flat stages. Some are cooler than others, like the bamboo jungle. While definitely not the prettiest game, the outfits the characters have a very unique look and are colorful - from a kabuki faced creepy guy to a black guy with an afro and purple suit.

The weapons are the other stars here, and each looks great, having a low, middle and high stance -offering completely different attacks.
Blood will show slightly when stabbed or the killing blow is landed. If you continue after defeat, you will see bandages wrapped around where you were injured before. Its a nice touch -yet upon a continue you move as if the injuries are nothing - making it fairly moot.


Sound: 4
There is almost no music in this game, and while there is a lot of voice acting, it can be quite cheesy. Battles take place in silence or the slight ambient sounds, as the game wants you focused on this battle of life and death, which would be fine.. if the characters were all serious. But no, the fighting could include a guy in purple bell bottoms and a man looking like a much older Tuxedo Mask.
The sound effects for landing hits are decent, the non-lethal blows loud and dull sounding. Killing blows have a bit visceral edge to them. When an opponent drops their weapon, you can hear it fall, and this sounds quite realistic. One thing I liked is the sound muffles or raises its volume based on distance. So when an enemy ninja spawns far from you, you will faintly hear his cry to arms in that speaker.


Addictiveness: 7
I did like the story mode. Seeing each character's two allies was interesting, as was their motivation. For instance, just because they are allies doesn't mean your character even gets along with them.  My favorite character was Matsumushi, the wandering samurai. He seemed to be pulled into the battle reluctantly, reminding me of all those spaghetti westerns starring a neutral wanderer who gets involved in local events.

The simple combat was also a nice change from all the quarter circle + button attacks and hyper combo-breaker fighting games. Its simple, yet deadly. You watch your opponents stance, his weapon, and his speed, and plan to kill in one sweeping arc. Failing that, you can wound them over and over, hitting them when they are down, stabbing them in the arms so they can barely hold their weapons.  The fact you can lose or win a match with more luck than in traditional fighting games held something novel for me.


Story: 8
For a fighting game, this is pretty good. The dueling clans, one who wants to reclaim a sword to reclaim their honor, and the other holding onto it to the last bitter breath. There is a training sequence first, where you kill goons and hear the voice of your leader (the boss of the clan) who you will never see unless you play as the opponent. 

I mentioned the relationship of the allies, some being more friendly than others to certain characters - but the enemies also respond this  well. Some seem almost regretful to fight some opponents. There are many characters from the first Bushido Blade game present here.
And when you finally get to the end bosses, lets just say one of them was not what I was expecting at all. Each character has a different ending. I won't say there was a good continuity of unity within the clans, your assortment of characters can be rather motley, with little to distinguish who is fighting for whom based on how they dress.


Depth: 7
The game plays differently than other fighters. It does not have as many combination moves, and punishes both cpu and player for overextending their reach. Its good to wait sometimes, for the foe to come to you. If your opponent gets the drop on you, you can be hobbled early on! Limping along or even without the use of your legs at all! As tough as this can be to overcome, you can do the same to them!

The list of characters is quite expansive and each looks unique, but there are a lot of similarities (two ninjas, two quick characters), or fighters with swapped movesets. Utsusemi and Matsumushi even look a bit alike, both wearing kimono, and both specializing in katana swords, but one has more special moves and other is only faster and has the ability to throw his second sword. Both characters can use the daisho two-weapon fighting style, so the differences between them are slight.

Unlocking the characters takes quite a bit of time, you would have to play the story mode with each of the basic fighters, each whom can unlock two, but its tricky. Each warrior you select (even the unlockable ones) will meet two fixed persons from their clan, and you will get a chance to play as each for one stage. If you can keep the new story character alive the whole stage, you will unlock them.

The moves are decided by the type of weapon you have, and certain characters have special moves or stances with said weapon - making it even more specialized. You can choose three forms for each weapon, which provides a general weak point and focus of those moves. Nearly every character comes with a secret secondary weapon, and these can get creative. One is a young, spoiled girl who throws a frog at her opponent - which startles some and others ignore. The moves are not difficult to pull off - think Mortal Kombat - everyone has the same basic attack patterns, just adding their own flair to them. But I was disappointed in the main weapons, as they have shrunk from the first game. I clearly remember a sledgehammer weapon in the first, and a epee sword. Those are now gone.

The decision to keep (it started in BB1) lots of dull, useless ninja opponents between character battles is a bad move in my view. Sure, you need more to kill, but its like a bad martial arts movie. They just appear, one at a time, maybe say something, then stand there or make the feeblest attacks before you run them through. They provide almost no challenge.  They are merely fodder for padding game length. However, the two bosses (one for each clan) are nothing like the multitude of ninjas. Each has a special weakness as the only mean to defeat them, making their battles slightly more clever.


Difficulty: 6
Learning the ebb and flow of the game is the first hurtle, as this game requires some patience and tactics to pull off wins against tougher opponents.

The regular enemies will not harass you much, they use giant windup attacks that expose them before and after they strike. The character battles depend on lots of things, your choice of weapon, your stance, the stage (using height over your opponent for example). There are some instances where you can get the better of the cpu by luring them up or down ledges, and they will methodically climb after you, exposing them to hits. 

The aforementioned bosses at the can be a breeze or very difficult - depending on your luck, and if you understand how to defeat them. Even knowing how to beat the Meikyo boss, I still struggled one time for almost ten minutes with no clear opening. I didn't really mind, as it felt more epic, you cannot wear the bosses down, you have to strike at their weakness in one critical blow. There is a mini-boss for each clan, that is less fun. This person (male or female, depending on which group you chose) uses a gun. Its very cheap, and doesn't really feel like a fight at all. 


Final Score: 7.1
For a different type of fighter, try this game. They didn't make any others after this, so this could be considered their best effort. It has a lot of different characters with their own personalities, and a host of weapons to choose from. Just hope you like killing random ninja guys a lot.