Once again we return to a period of feudal dominance, honor, and the passion for battle. The ideals of bushido are portrayed with sharpened steel that almost kiss each other like a fierce thunderstorm that lights up the darkened sky, with promises to educate the ignorant in blinding resonance.  Such platitudes could be used to describe the feelings one has when playing a well-constructed and intuitive fighting game, where your own skill level is put to the test against another, with each benefitting from the experience.  Unfortunately, none of these poetic embellishments can be attributed to Samurai Shodown Sen for the Xbox 360, a direct port of the 2008 arcade original that longs to join the ranks of its glorious ancestors, but comes up short with a largely dishonorable experience.

While many fighting game fans preferred the the more straightforward antics of Street Fighter, those who knew and became intimate with SNK's unique weapons-based fighter forged a love affair that - for some - continues to this day.  As such, any real excitement that comes with a new release largely emanates from the dusty memories of a time that died alongside the mainstream arcade market.  That said, in order to give this game a moderately fair review I’m going to have to block my mind of those games and examine only the most recent entries in the franchise, which should be simple as the last major game in recent memory (Samurai Spirits: Tenkaichi Kenkakuden) came out so long ago that I’ll practically have a clean slate to start from.

The basic controls are pretty straightforward, with vertical and horizontal slash, kick, and special/throw at your disposal, the majority of these attacks can be linked and combined along specific direction with the stick (d-pad or good arcade stick if you have one) and allows you to perform a bevy of combo possibilities with practice.  But something doesn’t feel right here, as you’ll soon realize that it feels less like amShodowns from the past and something more like - as many had feared - a clunky and often unresponsive version of Soulcalibur.  What was once a delicate game of attack and parry has now become one of overpowered combo finishers and juggles.

This change affects gameplay, where balance and technique is better off limited to how lucky and diligent you are after losing time and time again.  The game also introduces the 'Rage' meter, which builds as you continue to take damage, and allows you unleash a special attack to effectively end the match before it begins.  This is where the core gameplay fails to excite, as each match essentially becomes a race to finish your opponent - usually in the most gruesome ways possible.  Imagine entire matches where both players are only concentrating on pulling off these final moves instead of perfecting the most inspired combo-set possible and you'll begin to understand how boring they can be.

Obviously the selection of characters round things out right, well barely. Mainstays like Haohmaru, Nakoruru, Genjuro, and Hanzo Hattori among others obviously deliver familiarity to the roster, but new arrivals like new main characters Takechiyo, Suzu, and about eight other new combatants are mildly unique but ultimately forgettable clichés like afro-samurais and Viking warriors.

VVisually the game seems trapped somewhere between the last generation of hardware and what we might expect from the Xbox 360, with muddied characters that lack detail and uninspired backgrounds to wage battle on.  Also disappointing is how poorly each character is animated, which can lead to a straight disconnect when trying to pull off strategic combos and power moves.  It's not as if the game looks bad, but considering its heritage and the potential to really bring that aesthetic back to the masses.

It's difficult to judge how well the game handles when playing online through Xbox Live, as there simply weren't enough competitors to put the service to the test.  As anyone who's ever experienced just a tiny bit of delayed reaction knows, a fighting game in today's market lives and dies by its online components, and the jury's still out on this one.  This is a shame, as when you actually do get to battle against a human opponent the sessions are impeccably smooth and fluent, almost surprisingly so.  Perhaps time will alleviate the lack of online competition, but given the game we're talking about the negative reactions it's already attracting, something tells me that's going to be a long wait.

Samurai Shodown Sen for the Xbox 360 is largely a Samurai Shodown in name only, as SNK Playmore's attempts to once again modernize the franchise with 3D visuals and updated gameplay simply doesn't work, and what's left is a fighter that fails to live up to its once-glorious heritage.  Mediocre visuals, generic character designs and unbalanced gameplay won't convince most fans who've moved on with their lives, especially to a particular World Warrior revival.  Even the most devout Shodown fans who claim otherwise will feign happiness with their saddened smiles, but deep down inside will know it wasn’t meant to be this time.  Oh well, at least we'll always have the glorious Samurai Shodown II.