The men standing in the middle of the dusty streets of the ghost town twitch their trigger fingers and spread out. Their opponent shows no sign of nervousness and does not take his steely gaze from the gunslingers that begin to sweat. Suddenly the men draw their six shooters and, before they can even pull the trigger, the lone man pulls out a long blade and is on them. Within seconds the man slices into these men and watches them drop to the ground. The man is a samurai and the men he killed were hardened gunslingers. Samurai Western on the PS2 brings us two different worlds but does it manage to be original and fun? Let’s just say it could have been better.

This fish-out-of-water tales introduces Gojiro Kiryu, a samurai who heads to the Wild West in search of a man he plans to cross blades with and eventually kill. The town he steps into makes it clear that they don’t like foreign strangers and to make matters worse a man named Goldberg rules the city with an iron fist. The road to revenge takes Gojiro through a number of dangerous enemies that won’t go down easy.

While it might seem laughable that a samurai wielding a sword could take down men with guns, Gojiro’s skills are extraordinary and abnormally unique. It’s tongue-in-cheek, indeed, but it is also quite cool especially since Gojiro possesses the ability to move fast enough to dodge bullets and even deflect them with the right timing. His combo attacks start weak but the more enemies you defeat in battle the more experience points you can gain in order to upgrade skills and weapon mastery at the end of each stage.

Samurai Western’s action is pure hack-and-slash action with combo attack that changes depending on what stance you unlock. For example, the Makiwari is a high stance that sends enemies flying back and even comes complete with its own special attack. Below Gojiro’s life gauge is a Master Gauge that once filled you go into Ultimate Master mode. Ultimate Master mode allows you to deliver finishing strikes without being attacked. This mode comes in handy since you’ll fight a large number of enemies that tend to pop up each time you turn around.

The bad part is that while the slashing action feels fun at first, it becomes too repetitive to the point that even the neat special moves just results in the same animated deaths. There are different swords and they do change the action a bit but not by very much. You’ll enter locales that’ll feel very familiar seeing as there is little variety in environments. Even the enemies begin to look the same so boss battles become welcomed events just to see different enemies. And while the game has 16 missions, this gaming experience moves along quickly to the point that you can finish the game in two to three hours. 

Visually Samurai Western is just a decent-looking game with very little in terms of spectacular effects or detailed environments. The only time the game really shines is during cutscenes or when Gojiro goes into Ultimate Master mode. There are dismemberments and the blood does fly, but it doesn’t get too extremely graphic. The worse part, though, is the fact that many of the locations you’ll visit start looking the same and the enemies start looking like clones.

Unfortunately, the sound does not make up for the game’s lackluster visuals. The voice acting, for example, is poorly handled and makes the main characters sound like unintentionally funny stereotypes. Gojiro sounds like a Japanese tourist while the overuse of the word “varmint” and “dang” makes up the vocabulary of the majority of the enemies. Even the game’s soundtrack just doesn’t feel very original.

When all is said and done, Samurai Western fails to stay fresh and entertaining to the point that gamers might not want to see this through to the very end. It’s a shame really since the action - at first, anyway - is fun and the characters (while stereotypical) are actually amusing. Sadly, its repetitive nature just holds this game back considerably. If you’re in the mood for a good samurai game I suggest you try the Onimusha 3 and if you’re in the mood for a western you should try Red Dead Revolver ... either way stay away from this one.

Gameplay: 6.2
The hack-and-slash action has been done better than this even with the combo attacks and the new stances that come complete with their own special moves. Dodging and deflecting bullets isn’t easy, but thanks to the character level upgrade it becomes a lot easier. Too bad the action becomes monotonous the more you play.

Graphics: 7.0
Visually speaking, the game isn’t gorgeous, but at least it’s not entirely bad either. Cutscenes look decent enough, but you’ll be up against an army of villains that all look alike. In fact, even the environments start looking the same.

Sound: 7.0
The soundtrack is standard western fare only not as beautifully orchestrated as other western-themed games. Even the voice acting isn’t as good. In fact, the characters sound like cheesy caricatures ... particularly the main character.

Difficulty: Medium
You’ll often be overwhelmed by the number of gun-slinging bandits and ruffians, and some boss battles can be pretty difficult. Luckily Gojiro has a number of cool combo attacks and special moves to even the odds. Deflecting bullets takes a lot of practice, though.

Concept: 6.5
There are some classic western locales but they are recycled throughout the game. There’s even some collectibles, such as new attire (different hats, among them). There isn’t a lot to go back to once gamer goes through the 16 levels.

Overall: 6.5
Unfortunately, Samurai Western wears out its shogun-meets-spaghetti-western appeal all too quickly and you can blame that on its repetitive hack-and-slash action. There are instances where the game is genuinely fun, and some of the boss battles are nicely challenging but its weak spots are too numerous to ignore. You can go ahead and skip this one.