Slashing through hordes of zombies as scantily clad babes sure sounds like a fun concept on paper, doesn\u2019t it? That\u2019s the premise behind D3Publisher\u2019s new Xbox 360 hack-n-slash gorefest Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad<\/em> \u2013 actually, I shouldn\u2019t call it new since the game originally came out in Japan back in 2006 and has only just now been brought over to North America — and it is indeed a good one. But don\u2019t let that enticing setup (and all the jiggly female parts) seduce you into forking out bills to pick this title up. Frankly, Onechanbara<\/em> is a bottom feeder in the hack-n-slash genre.<\/p>\n

Onechanbara<\/em>\u2019s Dynasty Warriors<\/em> meets Devil May Cry<\/em> meets anime porn vibe is actually kind of fun at first. The simple combat system allows you to jump in and begin hacking zombies into bloody bits without even the slightest learning curve, the buckets of blood and mangled body parts that spew forth during all this hacking and slashing is delightfully satisfying, and the three different zombie-slashing hotties you get to play as \u2013 Aya, Saki and Anna \u2013 are meticulously detailed in all the right places, if you know what I mean.<\/p>\n

But sadly, after only a level or two the game settles into a rut of simplistic button-mashing so dull and tedious that the game\u2019s short 6-hour campaign feels like it drags on for more like 20 hours, and by the end of it you won\u2019t have any care to go back for the time-consuming, achievement-rewarding side quests or the secondary survival mode. The entire game consists of trudging through the same recycled sewer, underground parking lot, city street and cave environments while furiously mashing on the X button to mow through any undead being that crosses your path, occasionally pausing to wipe all the blood off your sword so the edge stays sharp.<\/p>\n

Character swapping, multiple weapon types, a level-up system and the ability to dress up the girls with unlockable costume pieces are in place to add depth to the experience, but in execution the impact of these elements is skin-deep at most. No matter which character you play as or how you improve their attributes, the strategy never changes and the combat never evolves. Playing co-op certainly makes the brainless gameplay a tad more digestible since it\u2019s often hilarious playing through a terrible game with a buddy to mock its ineptitude, but that\u2019s hardly a redeeming quality.<\/p>\n

Lack of depth is the least of the game\u2019s problems, too. The level designs are bland, confusing and repetitive, the lock-on and camera systems are woefully finicky, the animations are stiff and robotic, and the bosses are dumb and easy to exploit. Worse still, the game\u2019s localization is piss poor. Grammatical errors litter the text dialogue, and the text font is difficult to read to boot. Since the voice acting is all in Japanese, these problems render the story bits virtually impossible to follow (as if the story in this type of game would be worth following if the localization was spot-on).<\/p>\n

Onechanbara<\/em> shows signs of life early on, but ultimately never goes anywhere beyond what\u2019s presented in the first level. In its entirety it\u2019ll straight up bore you to tears. Honestly, the loading screen mini-game that plays out like a side-scrolling 2D Flash version of the core game is the best part — you know a game has serious problems when the loading screens are what you look forward to most. Harsh, I know, but it\u2019s the truth. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Cool loading screen mini-game
\n+ The explosive gore and scantily glad chicks look pretty good<\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– Mind-numbingly shallow button-mashing gameplay
\n– Tedious pacing
\n– Bland, recycled level environments
\n– Poor localization
\n– Inconsistent camera and lock-on system<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: Xbox 360
\nPublisher: D3Publisher
\nDeveloper: Tamsoft
\nRelease Date: 2\/10\/09
\nGenre: Hack-n-slash
\nESRB Rating: Mature
\nPlayers: 1-2<\/p>\n

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Slashing through hordes of zombies as scantily clad babes sure sounds like a fun concept on paper, doesn\u2019t it? That\u2019s the premise behind D3Publisher\u2019s new Xbox 360 hack-n-slash gorefest Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad \u2013 actually, I shouldn\u2019t call it new since the game originally came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[238,3,21],"tags":[1201,1509,699,6079],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vgblogger.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}