Published by: SNK Playmore
Release Date: November 2009
Genre: Fighting
Local Play: 2 Versus
Online Play: 2 Versus
Also Available On: Arcade
About This Game:
Celebrate the 15th anniversary of the revered weapons-based fighting franchise with the most brutal and visceral Samurai Shodown installment ever produced -- Edge of Destiny. Set in 1791 during the twilight days of Japan's feudal Edo period, Edge of Destiny reveals a society on the brink of collapse, as encroaching Western influences threaten to overrun the ancient, once-hidden culture of lords, serfs, and samurai.
In the midst of this chaos and upheaval, the Lord of Amori-han bravely chooses to raise an orphaned European princess as his own daughter. This brave young girl, Suzuhime, matures to become a warrior representing both East and West. The insidious Golba, a veteran of the U.S. Revolutionary War, ranks paramount among her foes, and a cadre of like-minded fighters flock to Japan to halt his dark plans for global domination. Familiar faces from past Samurai Shodown games (including Haohmaru, Nakoruru, and Ukyo) battle alongside newcomers from all corners of the Ear th to put an end to Golba’s villainous designs. Victory on this crucial conflict comes by any means necessary -- even if it means ending a melee with grisly dismemberment or decapitations!
General Features:
- 11 all new fighters join 13 returning series veteran in the game’s colossal roster
- Shocking new gameplay systems including the deadly Flash Slash and multi-hit Aerial Combos
- Devastating finishing moves allow you to end a match with gruesome flair
- High-resolution 3D visuals bring the evocative feudal Japanese setting to life
- Online combat via Xbox Live, featuring a worldwide online ranking system.
- Dynamic, anime-style character illustrations by renowned series artist Senri Kita
- ARCADE MODE -- Features a unique story line for each selectable character.
- VERSUS MODE -- Jump directly into battle against a CPU opponent or another human player. Record your matches and save the replay data!
- SURVIVAL MODE -- Test your mettle with successive bouts against an endless procession of opponents. Persevere and claim a top spot on the online Survival leaderboard!
- PRACTICE MODE -- Sharpen your skills by training against a customizable A.I. opponent
- ONLINE BATTLE MODE -- Slice and dice real players from all over the world via Xbox Live.
Now let me say few words:
As you maybe already know, SS:Sen will come out as XBOX360-only game in Japan, but its unclear about overseas' release since Ignition Entertainment (overseas publisher) told that it will be released on both PS3 and XBOX360. My comments about this piece of adverisement I just quoted:
the most brutal and visceral Samurai Shodown installment ever produced
Well, following the ideas of killing the opponent, Death Ougi of SS5sp are far more brutal. If we are talking about strictly 3D games, then stylized finishers of SS64 and SSAZ come to mind, especially that sound when sliced half of opponent's body slides away as screen becomes drenched in blood. On contrary, Sen would show the cut being filled with black color and character's bodies being hollow inside just like in 2D games. So here we go again; the only truly new things they added in terms of killing opponent was the decapitation; as one could cut opponent's arm back in SSAZ, and you could impale opponent with sword since Genjuro gained that move in SS3 (I dont even name other impale moves that series housed).
ending a melee with grisly dismemberment or decapitations!
Devastating finishing moves allow you to end a match with gruesome flair
You know, this looks to me more and more like Mortal Kombat advertisements for the casual crowd, which is somewhat understandable since both gameplay and storyline of this game are trash. But you know, relying on killing finishers that are same for all characters (there are no unique finishers like in SS4 or SS5sp) is trashy too. It's funny how Ignition isn't really fond of the gameplay system either so it takes the MK route and advertises the violence.
Edge of Destiny reveals a society on the brink of collapse, as encroaching Western influences threaten to overrun the ancient, once-hidden culture
Sounds like Last Blade background to me, western influence versus ancient japan, and characters wearing western coats over a hakama.
This brave young girl, Suzuhime, matures to become a warrior representing both East and West
Oh yeah, this brave tiny kawaii young girl in short panties becomes a warrior representing both Earth, the Heavens, and Four Sides of World, and easily defeats hordes of powerful mature opponents (who trained for many years) by swinging a greatsword that most of these enemies couldnt probably even lift, saying "This is punishment in the name of Moon" in a high-pitched voice ))) . As if Nakoruru and Rimururu werent enough for kawai lovers... They should release poster with Suzuhime saying "m so super hyper heavenly divine warrior and Im so super kawaii and cool and strong and beautiful and this and that, so you are doomed to buy my game"
Victory on this crucial conflict comes by any means necessary -- even if it means ending a melee with grisly dismemberment or decapitations!
Victory on this crucial conflict comes by any means necessary -- even if it means the end to animated character endings and non-trashy storyline <<<< The right way of saying it, especially with boss looking as marching band director crossed with dragoon.
Shocking new gameplay systems including the deadly Flash Slash and multi-hit Aerial Combos
Yes its truly shocking to have such an empty and boring gameplay in an SS game; Most japanese are bored with it and every american reviewer that played the game was bored to death with its gameplay, and it was hard to endure even getting to the boss. If you close eyes while looking ANY video depicting Sen battle, you will hear only 2 sounds for most of time: a blocked slash sound, and a juggle combo sound, which is this game in a nutshell.
ARCADE MODE -- Features a unique story line for each selectable character.
Yes and that story consists with same 3 short cutscenes (angelica talking vs Golba, player talking with Draco, player talking with Golba) where first is always the same and in the latest two only words change; and in addition to that, endings are done in (lazy SNK) SS3 fashion with text running on top of a paper background where some small character-related symbol is written. Even SSAZ endings (which were text-only too) had some unique colorful illustration for each character, that actually showed him doing something...
VERSUS MODE -- Jump directly into battle against a CPU opponent or another human player. Record your matches and save the replay data!
Oh yeah, who will endure watching replays there if you want to runaway after watching 5 youtube videos with Sen battles in a row, that all consists from weak slash spam/block -> minor high-low -> long juggle -> repeat; and occassional throw which is the same for all characters (a knee to the face).
SURVIVAL MODE -- Test your mettle with successive bouts against an endless procession of opponents. Persevere and claim a top spot on the online Survival leaderboard!
Third level or boredom reacher, your brains will melt endlessly from endless boredom caused by empty gameplay while fighting an endless procession of opponents who all fight in same manner: weak slash spam/block -> minor high-low -> long juggle -> repeat
"Slice and dice real players from all over the world via Xbox Live."
The only game receiving official netplay (not counting SS5 zero which was anyway an incomplete version of SS5sp) is the one with boring gameplay - how fun is that? And that is after they release SS Anthology (6 games) without netplay... I will tell you what will come next. Newbies will judge the series by Sen standarts and since those are low will talk trash for sure.
Before it was:
- "You know Hanzo is so cool, he has alot of ninja moves and he can break opponent's bones"
- "Wow cool I need to master him"
Now it will be:
- "Hanzo is so cool that during 4 seconds of rage he gains the epitome of his secret ninja skills - you wont believe, a REAL FIREBALL!!"
- "Wow coo....wait what? a fireball? for 4 seconds? are you kidding me? Samurai Shodown sucks!"
I wonder, if almost no one likes Sen in Japan's arcades, how many people will buy it for consoles there? Nagisa and Sirorim (japanese players I know) play Sen just for the sake of it being part of SS, and even they say that its limited and that they are "unusual japanese" for having fun playing it; and all english-speaking players that played it on arcade said that they had difficulties reaching the boss because of boredom of each match vs CPU
