Reviews

Samuel L. Jackson voices both the main character and genie-in-a-bottle sidekick Ninja Ninja in this video game version of cult anime Afro Samurai.

Justice (voiced by Ron Perlman) wears the Number One Headband, giving him god-like powers, while Afro Samurai wears the Number Two headband. The legend states that only a Number Two can challenge a Number One for his headband, so Number Two's don't tend to last very long. There are limitations for people wanting to fight Number One, but anyone and everyone can go after a Number Two, hence Afro is constantly fighting rival samurai to keep his status.

That's what you get for wearing silly hats.

Afro Samurai began life as a manga before becoming an anime and the visuals in the game are in keeping with both. There are plenty of old-school nods, like 70's style wipes and philosophical dialogue to make kung-fu fans feel at home.

You use Afro's sword to hack away with a variety of combos and once you've landed a few solid blows you can use In Focus to slow down time and deliver mortal blows. Once engaged, In Focus allows you to somersault, roundhouse kick and horizontally or vertically slice your enemies in half. To get the most out of In Focus, hold down the X or Y buttons (Square and Triangle on PS3) and wait until the tip of your sword glows before attacking.

What are you dying for? I barely touched ya!

Be careful, when charging up your sword, not to let someone sneak up behind you; their attack will break Afro's concentration. Regular combos will dispatch the swarms of swordsmen that constantly surround you too, but it'll take longer and the cool thing about In Focus is that when done right you can kill quite powerful foes with a single chop. Bloody decapitations and lopped off limbs are the order of the day - this must be Tarantino's favourite game, especially since Kill Bill composer and kung-fu nerd The RZA is responsible for the music.

There are some weird cut-scenes where Afro wants revenge against Justice for killing his dad, a female assassin named Okiku who was hired to kill Afro instead nurses him back to health and Afro's mouthy sidekick Ninja Ninja tells him to kill every mo-fo in the room, but 90% of the game involves fighting an endless swarm of bad guys. Literally every scene is like the Crazy 88 fight in Kill Bill Vol.1.