First Samurai

STORY / GAMEPLAY
First Samurai takes place in a fictional feudal Japan world where an evil entity called The Demon King has taken over the world and unleashed hordes of powerful creatures aiming to destroy humanity. The great Master of the Samurai clan has tried to stop him but defenseless as he was towards Demon King's magic powers, he finally lost his life in battle. Before leaving this world, the Master summoned a Wizard Mage in order to train a faithful and skillful samurai warrior. You, as the samurai, fight your way through the game's levels using your sword and martial arts skills. But the quest is hard, since you are called to fight alone against numerous monster-like enemies of the underworld, from simple bats to gigantic beasts, until you ultimately find and kill the Demon King. Along the way, you will find food and drink Japan's national "Sake" to increase your energy while you must always hit the magic pots with your sword to trigger a checkpoint (very useful). If your energy drops enough, you will end up losing your sword and you will have to fight the beasts with your bare hands, so the sword must be re-gained ASAP by killing enemies and get the magic pot they release when they die! To finish each level, you must confront a boss character. The gameplay is quite tough after a while, since the game hides a lot of traps. Fortunately the difficulty level is not frustrating.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Amiga graphics catch your eye from the beginning! The Amiga version has colorful graphics (32 colors on screen) in both backgrounds and sprites. The sprites move fast on screen along with smooth background scrolling. There are several impressive details such as flame pits and waterfalls that add a lot to the overall presentation of the game. Amiga also features a very well composed introductory music as well as several oriental-style short tunes during gameplay that vary while the sampled Hallelujah chorus and similar voices are beyond adequate description!