Muramasa: The Demon Blade -- Initial Impression.

Next up for me is Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. The game is developed by Vanillaware and published by Ignition Entertainment. This will be my first Vanillaware offering as I decided not to import Princess Crown for the Saturn nor did I hop on board for their western releases of Odin Sphere and GrimGrimorie. If you've ever played a Japanese RPG before chances are you've seen the name Muramasa, as well as the name Masamune. And chances are they've been the names of swords. Both Muramasa and Masamune were real life sword smiths in Japan. While Masamune is widely considered Japan's greatest sword smith, Muramasa has the far more interesting legend. It seems the real life Muramasa was not only a great sword smith, he was also a little bit mad. As in insane. The long story short of it is that Muramasa's madness found its way into every sword he ever created in the form of a bloodlust that compelled the sword's wielder towards murder or suicide. Muramasa: The Demon Blade is an action RPG with two playable characters who both are equipped with numerous Muramasa blades. I've spent a little over an hour with Muramasa and I can easily tell you that the game is just gorgeous. It's filled with amazing 2D art. I wouldn't be surprised if Muramasa ends up being the best looking Wii title ever produced. There is a ton of animation as the backgrounds appear full of motion. The wind blows through the wheat fields in backgrounds filled with amazing layers of parallax scrolling. I'm just a tad put off initially from the lack of a jump button as you jump by pressing up. It's always nice to play an action RPG though, my favorite genre. You're slashing through enemies and bosses. The battles have a distinct start and stop to them. Beginning with an exclamation point alert and ending with a performance recap. You're collecting items and earning experience. You're talking to villagers and buying from shops. There is also a system of forging new blades with a total of one-hundred and eight to collect. My initial impression is pretty good. I'm sure the game will stay gorgeous, but we'll need to see how the story and gameplay shape up.