• Publisher: SCEA
  • Release Date: Nov 14, 2006
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 46 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 23 Ratings

  • Summary: Based on the PS2 game "Genji," and set three years after the last chapter of Genkuro Yoshitsune's life, this sequel continues to expand on the historical accounts of feudal Japan. By doing so, the game unveils beautiful next generation visuals and sword slashing gameplay as an exclusively developed title for PS3. In gameplay, Genji 2 is presented as a "traditional" action/adventure gaming experience and features more than double the amount of gameplay than its predecessor. Gameplay includes more diverse levels of fighting, and more playable characters - all underlying an epic tale of a warrior's honor that promises to deliver a genuine next-generation experience. Features over 15 hours of gameplay continuing the story of Yoshitsune and based on the historical battle between the Genji Clan and the Heishi Clan. Swap between Four Playable Characters, At Any time – Take advantage of each of the four characters' unique fighting style or unleash devastating team-based fighting combos by interchanging characters between attacks. Gracefully articulated swordplay captured by Mitsuhiko Seike, Japan's finest sword fighter, provides the heart and soul of intense authentic action. Lead Yoshitsune and his men against hundreds of warriors, as you strive to reach, and defeat, the enemy warlord in epic battle sequences based on Japanese history. [SCEA] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 46
  2. Negative: 8 out of 46
  1. The gameplay in Genji isn’t superb but it’s fairly satisfying. It isn’t the most memorable game available, but you will have fun for the 10 hours or so that the game lasts.
  2. 72
    Many people won’t bother getting far enough into the game to appreciate the visuals, but if you give it a chance there’s a good game here. The camera problems unfortunately keep it from being great, but it’s a welcome diversion from the FPS and sports titles that have flooded the PS3 launch.
  3. A good showcase of the PS3’s graphical ability but the controls felt too rushed and made very little use of the new features of the SIXAXIS controller.
  4. As a PS2 game, Days of the Blade might have been good. But this is next-gen country, where the expectations are high. [Jan. 2007, p.74]

See all 46 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 8
  2. Negative: 3 out of 8
  1. RezA.
    9
    I will be honest, the camera angles may not be the best but thats one thing I like about it. Even on normal its challenging, which I like. Tthe visuals are amazing and I personally find gameplay not bad. The story and graphics already have me, so what if the camera angles aren't that great. Expand
  2. ErichS.
    8
    I am a fairly demanding gamer and own all the major systems except a Wii (can't find one). I have to say that the reviewers got this one wrong. This is a great game, especially if you like the Devil May Cry series. The graphics are stunning (I'm not sure the 8800GTX in my PC could equal this game) and the game play is incredibly fun. Buy it -- you'll be amazed I think. Expand
  3. ThomasM.
    6
    I really wanted to like this game, I mean I REALLY wanted to like it, but the developers make you crawl through the dirt before you can even remotely start to like it. The Camera angle is absolutely horrible, it craps out on you in the most precious of times which are of course boss battles. Most of the time you find yourself hitting into the camera just swinging away and the only thing guiding you is your minimap/radar which is still pretty useless as it only tracks movements and attacks it seems. What I did like about Genji, is the beautiful graphics and being a launch title, extremely impressive graphics show casing the PS3, the dodge system is impressive (rotating R3 to perform dodges). Long story short, your not missing much if you choose to avoid this title, other than crabs. Expand
  4. ChocoboSandwich
    3
    For a launch PS3 game, this game is absolutely atrocious on many levels. For one, all those people lauding about the visuals, there are many PS2 games that beat this game to a pulp (Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII, God of War, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus). There is absolutely nothing HD about the graphics. The textures are blurry as well as the character models, maybe due to them trying to give it a "dream-like" feel, or to hide how low-res their textures are. On one occasion I got frustrated trying to find a place to a put a certain object to activate something, when it turns out that blurry thing on the side of a platform (with 3 other identical ones around it) was where I was suppose to put it in, and it was basically a flat ugly texture. Unlike later PS3 games, this being a launch title, many of the games cutscenes are not fully rendered on the PS3 but instead are pre-rendered video with jarring visual differences between in-game and cutscene graphics. This was the norm last gen, but even basing the cutscenes off the pre-rendered videos, older games like Dynasty Warriors and Onimusha are much better looking. The enemies and bosses are mostly uninspired demon possessed samurai with glowing eyes and mouths and have a nasty, grimy look to them that mask any real detail. Overall, this game really looks like a PS2 port more than anything. The game also borrows heavy from Legacy of Kain: Defiance in visual cues, game mechanics, and other things. There Expand

See all 8 User Reviews