Kengo

[Brian Brazier]

Kengo - The Legend of the 9 for the Xbox 360, is a fighting style game based on 9 Legendary Samurai such as Miyamoto Musashi, Okita Soji, and Sakamoto Ryoma (I don't want to give them all away, but they are all very well known). There are 5 different modes to choose from, Main Mode which follows your chosen samurai through his journey, you pick from one of the 9, on the loading screen there is a story that is told in Japanese and the writing on the screen is English, then you find a short cut scene that explains the situation, you fight multiple enemy's, followed by another short cut scene and a boss, there are some cool "Special Kills" that if done in the right spot will slice through your opponent and the scenery behind them, then if you make it through you are given points and upgrades which you can use to Customize your Samurai (Heath, Stamina, Moves, etc..) There is also a Mission Mode where you choose a samurai, and select from 10 different missions. Combat Mode where you and a friend can fight to the death with one of the 9 samurai. Also there is a Xbox Live National Leader board where you can upload your records and see your rank, in addition after completing the Main Mode you can upload a AI Character to pit against other peoples AI Characters. Finally there is Solo Mode where you can use your characters from the Main Mode to "train", this mode is allot like the Combat Mode, and I really didn't use it much. The Graphics on this game work very well for its $40 price tag, I thought the game play was slightly lagging, but overall it is not bad IF and only IF you like fighting games. I myself do not like fighting style games, I thought my passion for samurai culture and characters would be enough to make this game worth my time but it is not. If you enjoy fighting games and really like historical samurai figures, I think you will enjoy Kengo, but if your like me and get frustrated with remembering combos, and can't stand fighting games I would pass, or try renting it first.

If you think you would like to try Kengo-The Legend of the 9, PM me, I am going to sell my copy for $25 shipped, the reason I am selling it is purely because I cannot stand fighting games, I think that it is a decent game for it's $40 price tag