Even Specials are slow and leave you open and this means that damage comes quickly and matches can end in seconds if you know what you’re doing.Įvery character plays pretty differently and there are plenty of interesting match-ups that can be had.
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Instead, this is a game more about spacing and less about long chains of attacks. This is thanks to a particular type of design – maybe one that some players won’t enjoy – as it dishes out slow fighting action twenty-hit combos are incredibly rare. Practically every character feels phenomenal to control and all are fun to use. They just stand in a corner, spam moves repeatedly, jump forward at random, and don’t block much.Crucially, the moment to moment fighting in Samurai Shodown is incredibly fine-tuned and perfected. That’s not bragging the ghosts don’t seem to accurately replicate any kind of fighting style. You can play against the ghosts of random or high-level players, but I was able to plow through all the ghosts I encountered without breaking a sweat. My connections online were decent overall, but unreliable plenty of matches were perfectly fine, but a few were practically unplayable.Ī new Dojo mode records players’ actions and turns them into a “ghost” copy of yourself for others to fight online, but this system doesn’t really work. However, ranked play lets you rematch multiple times, which is great when you just want to keep butting heads with a specific player. Casual matches are limited to 10-player lobbies, and you can’t invite a friend into a lobby you’ve joined. The online works well for the most part, but has a few weak spots. While the fighting itself has lots of offer, the infrastructure surrounding doesn’t always help combat stand out. These moves offer newer players a flashy way to turn the tide, but veterans can just as easily counter them, or use them to seal the deal. However, if you need to turn a match around, sacrificing the meter for the rest of the bout sends you into a rage explosion, which lets you pull off an incredibly fast, devastating lightning-blade attack. Your rage meter fills as you take damage, making your attacks stronger and allowing you to pull off powerful weapon-flipping techniques.
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You also have access to a rage meter and a handful of super moves, all of which double down on the risk-reward aspect in flashy ways. But you eventually have to take risks to win, which is where things get interesting. In fact, it’s often best to wait for your opponent to commit to an unsafe bet and punish them rather than start on offense yourself. You can also roll out of the way of knockdowns, which helps reset the situation after someone lands an attack. Learning defense is incredibly valuable, as a well-guarded player can block, dodge, or deflect attacks from overeager attackers.
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Heavy attacks and certain special moves leave you wide open if you bungle them. Light attacks can get you out of a bad situation, but only tickle your opponent’s health bar. On the flip side, damage and risk in Samurai Shodown strike a dynamic balance. Because of this, matches become tense staredowns punctuated by single blows that sink into your opponent with a satisfying display of blood. Most attacks don’t flow into each other, and what combos exist are only two or three moves long. But it flounders without that other human player, hindered by a scant single-player offering and a decent-but-basic approach to online play.įights in Samurai Shodown are deliberate, relying on a combination of careful offense, intricate defense, and risky gambles. At its best, it’s a powerful lesson in learning and reacting to another player, as victory doesn’t require you to learn jargon or memorize long combos. Samurai Shodown showcases the highs and lows of the fighting genre as a whole.