Afro Samurai Set To Hit The Streets
A few months back, Fruit Brute and I got a little preview of the internally developed Namco-Bandai title Afro Samurai. While we didn't get to actually play the game back in April, it looks like the folks at Namco-Bandai have been hard at work on the game, so much so that the big PR arm of the company has already sent out a press release about the release date of the game: January 27th, 2009. The release date is somewhat far off, which first caused me to wonder why they would already be announcing such a specific date. My curiosity piqued, I did a little digging and found a press release from 4 days earlier saying that Spike TV would be starting the next season of the animated series in January 2009, so they must be a PR dates to coincide with each other.
Either way, this is one game I saw at the Namco-Bandai Editor Day that looked full of potential. The cell-shaped, cross-hatch animation and art style give the game a great and stunning look and the action sequences seem to be bloody and on-beat. There's plenty of things that the developers are doing right with the game and hopefully the new deadline won't cause for the loss of too many items from the feature list to ensure that the game ships on-time. Plus, everyone loves a character voice by Samuel L. Jackson (except maybe when it's complaining about 'snakes on a plane'). Click Read More to see the full press release.
Santa Clara, Calif., (July 28, 2008) - Leading video games publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that high-style action will be unleashed on January 27, 2009 with Afro Samurai® for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Based on the critically-acclaimed anime series starring and executive- produced by Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai the game blends urban hip hop culture with traditional Japanese aesthetics to create a brutally fresh cinematic, interactive experience.In Afro Samurai, follow Afro in his tale of revenge as he searches for his father's murderer and the holder of the coveted number one headband. The game follows the plot of the original anime series with added material and background for fans and new comers alike.
Blood is beautiful™ in this hip hop infused action adventure as Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Afro and Ninja Ninja, his wisecracking sidekick. A striking cross-hatch art style gives Afro Samurai a truly unique look and feel across beautifully animated open environments as he wages war against his adversaries to become number one. Using an innovative gameplay system, enemy A.I. is affected by the beat of the musical score supervised by The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame. These dynamic battles ensure stylized encounters throughout the game that affect the overall tone of gameplay. Slice and dismember opponents as Afro acrobatically leaps from one location to the next, interacting with anything and everything in the environment to help him on his journey.
For more information about Afro Samurai, please visit: http://www.namcobandaigames.com or www.afrosamurai.com.
PixelPoet
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 29 July 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: afro samurai, namco bandai, playstation 3, xbox 360
Not surprising that they're launching it with the next season. Hopefully that means it won't end up having anything rushed to it. Looks real good thus far.