Going afro

Afro Samurai is the latest project from the guys at Namco Bandai Games. The game is based on the Japanese manga series that started out on print and eventually found its way to the TV screen in a five episode mini-series. Bandai and Gonzo are obviously looking to capitalize on the popular series. If they set the same high standards as the print and TV episodes, they just might cash in.

Afro is a samurai on a mission of revenge and redemption. As a child of 5, he saw his father brutally murdered by a man known only as Justice. The reason? Afro’s father was the Number One samurai and the only way for Justice to become Number One, was to kill Afro’s dad and take his ceremonial headband for his own. After being handed his fathers head as a child, he knew his destiny. Afro intends to take that headband from Justice, avenging his father in the process. To be able to do this however, he must first overcome the trials of obtaining the Number Two headband. Having this gives anybody the right to challenge whoever holds the Number One headband.

The game will run parallel to the manga series and there will be scenes that you may remember from the show. Others are entirely new and will fill some of the blanks in the storyline. With an all-star voice cast including Samuel L Jackson, Ron Perlman and Kelly Hu, all the voices from the miniseries will be brought into the production of the game.

Stylish

The visuals have been designed to mimic and compliment that of the manga series, making fans of the show more at home with the game. It has a very nice cell shaded style to it and its animations look crisp and smooth. A technique called cross hatching texturing was used, giving both characters and environment a lot of texture as well as a unique 3D style without causing the game to lose the animated look.

This style of graphics allowed the developers to design a dynamic body rag doll that enables just about any part of the body to be sliced and diced. Anything from ears, fingers, hands, feet, legs, arms and even your enemy’s noses are vulnerable to being cut off. You may not even mean to cut off different limbs; it can just happen, making the experience even more thrilling.