Brave Fencer Musashi

Legend of Zelda. Secret of Mana. Brave Fencer Musashiden. The title may not have quite the same ring as its predecessors, but Musashi is a worthy member of the action/RPG club. It even hits all the usual marks for the genre: you play a sword-wielding hero out to rescue a distressed, if sharp-tongued, princess.

Where it breaks from the crowd is that it is fully polygonal, characters, enemies and backgrounds alike. The trouble is it is not the most stunning 3D game out there. Musashi looks fairly detailed, but spreading the polygons everywhere leaves the backgrounds and enemies looking a touch flat. The framerate is good, at least. The audio fares better. The standout is the excellent voice acting: every major character’s quoted text is spoken, and the actors fill their roles well, with extra (less articulate) samples flying around during the action. Some tunes are mere accompaniment, but others are outstanding scores you may catch yourself whistling.

Musashi is not the most addictive game in the genre, but it is endlessly playable, largely thanks to the sheer range of moves at your disposal. You start with a single sword, a jump and a parry, then gain a second sword and a stack of special techniques like rock climbing and a double jump. You can throw enemies into each other, toss one skyward and hack it to bits on the way down, or swing both swords at once for high-damage combos. Best of all are the abilities you steal from enemies, from mundane projectile spells to oddities like a pogo jump, and the game is packed with puzzles that demand you use them to progress.

The one real gameplay snag is the control, which is generally good but turns awkward whenever the ever-shifting camera does. You can adjust the camera freely in town, but in dungeons you are limited to a little zoom and otherwise at the mercy of the designers’ chosen angles. It is a minor irritation that rarely gets in the way.

If you have not imported it, it is worth waiting to see how the English release turns out, since without reading Japanese the import is near-impossible to finish without a guide. I doubt the American voice cast will top the excellent Japanese one, but otherwise the US version should be a worthy buy for anyone who loves a Zelda-style adventure. This is one of the best on the PlayStation.