If you ever happened to look at my trophy or achievement list you would see some very strange games there. I like the weird off the wall games that break the mold of what is currently cramming retail shelves. The One Chanbara series are some of those games that I’ve been playing for several years. I have the Wii, Xbox 360 and PS4 versions of the game. unfortunately there are many of these games that were released in Japan that I have no way of playing.
As far a “different” games go, One Chanbara is one of those franchises that oozes its way up to the top. In all of the titles you play as a sword wielding scantily clad women with a penchant for blood. This is ABSOLUTELY one of those games you don’t want family walking in on as you play. Not that it has nudity, but these poor girls must have MAJOR back problems!
The Story
Yes, I know, it is very difficult to believe that a game like that actually has a story. I was surprised too, I don’t really remember there being too much of a coherent tale in the 360 game. In this imagining of the first two games you play as Aya, a woman who isn’t interesting in slaying the undead but due to family issues are pulled into the fight. Aya is looking for her missing father and her sister Saki. You are enlisted by a zombie hunting and killing faction since ridding the world of zombies will help you find your missing family.
When we first meet Aya she is in the graveyard visiting her mom’s grave, it has been dug up and her mother’s corpse has been stolen. The phone rings and Saki is on the line taunting Aya to find her mother, and so our story begins. Yeah, that’s about it nothing too Oscar worthy here, but generally the most fun and interesting stories and niche genres are more well liked than a snooty award winner! Aya is a cowboy hat, boa wearing, bikini clad bombshell that has a gift with a sword.
Gameplay
Most of the controls are pretty standard for a hack and slash game, but sadly Aya does not move as fast as Dante does. Yes, Dante is the standard with which I judge all hack and slash games and Aya seems to be chugging through molasses when fighting huge undead hoards. You run around with the Left Stick and the Right Stick controls the camera. Cross is jump, triangle is special attack, square is basic and circle is parry.
When your sword begins to dull when there is too much blood on it you must press L1 to shake it off or your attacks will be dulled. I didn’t use these that much but R1 is lock on and L2 switches the target. This was useful on some of the bosses, but when you are surrounded by the undead just swinging your sword is the best way to get away.
R2 can be useful, once again mostly in boss fights, which can be trying at points, you use it to dodge. And with some of these giant bosses you must face solo with undead minions trying to snag on you, dodge will save your tasty body from the dead.
The controls to me felt like they just needed to be faster, as I said earlier Aya seems to move in slo-mo. Had she been programmed to be a bit faster with some of the attack animations the combat would have felt more fluid and would have been more fun. Instead you see Aya stutter when she’s cleaning her sword or knocked completely aback for a few seconds after getting slightly grazed by a zombie. The inconstancies take some of the fun out of the combat, but it isn’t a game ruiner.
The Look
The game visuals are amazing, I’ve always been a huge fan of cell shading especially after I saw what I did with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. In 20 years if my PlayStation 4 is still kicking, this game will still look great. The zombies are fresh, and while not EVERY zombie has a different model, they vary enough that it doesn’t look cheap.
The bosses all have a great design and can really lay into you if you aren’t careful. These designs are both gross and magnificent at the same time. When you’re playing and finally get to a boss it takes away from the monotony of just killing the weaker zombies, which is perfect. Just when you’re bored the game tosses some more cell-shaded goodness at you!
Aya and friends look amazing! Sorry, I’m a guy and I happen to like attractive women, even if they’re imaginary. I’ve been obsessed with Harley Quinn for over 27 years, so Aya is right up my alley. I’m sure there are some that will complain that she is too sexualized, but it is a mature game and the Japanese developers don’t care about your complaints. They make what they want and if they keep pumping these games out I’ll keep adding them to my collection.
Overall
As I’ve said MANY times before, I’m a huge fan of unknown and underappreciated properties, I’m thrilled that people are finally getting into the Yakuza series, I’ve loved those games for years. This is a niche game, and it isn’t for everyone, but I would suggest to gamers who don’t like to leave their little comfortable bubbles to try a niche game out every now and then. You might actually like it.
The two weakest things that I saw in the game though was the slow-ish combat and the repetitiveness nature of the game. You go from point A to point B and in the way are zombies so you slash them until the game registers that you’ve killed enough and then you move on. Every now and then you hit a boss and it changes up a bit, but if you play for long periods of time you will grow weary. I played in 20 minute bursts and that’s how I enjoyed it. If I only had half and hour or 45 minutes to play, Aya was waiting for me sword in hand.