Sometimes when I play a game, I feel completely turned off by the game’s design choices simply because they aren’t my cup of tea. Bujingai is the opposite of this, it’s a game that caters specifically to my tastes as it’s a dumb, mindless 3D beat em up that goes out of its way to deliver a kinetically empowering experience. Bujingai is the definition of raw kinetic engagement in videogame form, it is the core of this entire game’s design, it’s all style over substance and quite frankly, I don’t mind, so long as the combat is playable. Speaking of which, the very moment you load up the game, you’re immediately thrown into the combat before you even get to the main menu screen allowing you to get a good feel of the game’s mechanics within the first few seconds of loading the game up. I really wish more games did this.
In any case, once the custom intro sequence is over, we can finally dig our teeth into the game’s story, if you consider watching the protagonist surf on a comet towards earth to be a gripping narrative that is, because that’s basically how Bujingai’s story starts and this cutscene alone defines the overall experience of the game’s story pretty well. Now most people would watch this cutscene and question the logic behind it, but I personally think that this is the perfect way to start any videogame because real life logic can never apply to videogames ever. So whenever I see shit like this at the start of a game, I know that I’m in for a real treat. Right after that epic introduction sequence, the game throws you right into the greatest tutorial ever created, if you’re playing the US version that is as your fully voiced tutor will teach you how to play the game in the most overly acted way possible to the point that you can’t help but burst out laughing during every second of this tutorial section. By the end of this tutorial, I had a firm understanding of the controls and I was ready to dive straight into the game.
The combat in Bujingai revolves around swinging your sword like crazy in both offence and defense. What I mean by this is that you have a guard meter which governs how many attacks you can parry and you don’t have to worry about guarding because you guard automatically by facing the enemy. Eventually though your gauge will run out and you will get hit, some of the enemies also have gauges which allow them to defend themselves from your attacks too which can make for some pretty intense fights. During a clash, you are able to cancel into either a counter attack or an evasion. The effectiveness of each maneuver ultimately depends on the situation, so it’s important to analyze the enemy’s guard meter as well as checking your own to see how many attacks you can withstand.
On top of your basic slashes, there are a few other attacks you can perform, the most notable move is your spin attack which you can perform by pressing Y, this is handy for dealing with crowds of enemies that surround you from all sides since you can’t guard from behind, only the front, so positioning is key. You can also perform magic attacks with the circle button which consumes your magic gauge. On top of this you can cancel your basic attack string into these two abilities at any time by first pressing the triangle button and following that up the corresponding button of the move you wish to use. This includes the launch cancel by pressing square and if you press the X button, you will perform a rapid barrage of kicks to finish off your enemies in style.
Finally, upon finishing a successful combo, if you hold down a certain button right afterwards you may perform a pose which gives you stylish action points, these points affect your score at the end of each level so if you want a high score then you’ll want to do as many poses as you can. There is also the ability to counter certain magic spells that are casted by enemies. You can do this the same way you guard a regular attack. Upon receiving a spell, you can restore your magic gauge and if the gauge fills up completely, you can unleash a powered up spell of your own towards the enemy for massive damage. This attack is extremely effective in boss fights and because of this, most of the regular magic is kind of rendered obsolete which could be seen as an issue but quite frankly the counter spell ability feels cooler to pull off anyway. That’s not to say that the regular spells aren’t cool because they are, it’s just that you won’t find yourself using them all that often.
So what you’re left with is a very basic but surprisingly addictive combat system. Clearly the biggest appeal here is the stylish animations of each of your attacks and that alone makes me want to experiment with all that the combat had to offer. Like I said though, it is all style over substance so don’t expect Devil May Cry 3 levels of depth here, it’s all about mindlessly cutting enemies up and in that department, Bujingai delivers a near flawless experience.
One thing I absolutely adore about Bujingai is how the game handles the player’s movement. There are so many ways to move around and traverse areas, heck I’d go as far as to argue that Bujingai gives Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox a run of its money in this department as unlike Ninja Gaiden, you are not only able to wall run and wall jump but you can also glide in the air. Unlike Ninja Gaiden however, the controls can be tricky to get used to and much like Ninja Gaiden, some of the platforming sections can be rather aggravating to say the least but considering the fact that Bujingai pre-dates Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox (at least in Japan), these are some pretty noteworthy features that you didn’t see in many beat em ups at the time. If you’re a fan of games like Prince Of Persia, you’ll probably appreciate the movement of Bujingai a lot.
All of Bujingai’s stylish action is accompanied by an energetic soundtrack featuring a mix of both glam rock and electronic music. Each song has that oriental vibe that you’d expect from a Chinese action film which is clearly what Bujingai is trying to emulate. The music does a fantastic job at both fitting the oriental setting, as well as the nature of the game’s stylish combat and fast paced movement. It’s just as pumping as you’d expect a 3d beat em up soundtrack to be but the oriental vibe gives it a very unique feel that distinguishes its soundtrack from other games in the genre. Still, be sure to expect the same level of energy you have come to expect from most games in this genre because Bujingai delivers in every aspect in that regard and then some.
Bujingai features a variety of different levels ranging from an urban city full of rooftops to ancient tron inspired ruins. I think the level variety brings a lot of flavor to the overall experience, though some of them can be quite aggravating at times when it comes to the platforming sections. Visually the environments look about what you’d expect from a 2003 PS2 beat em up in terms of detail but the character models are extremely detailed and hold up extremely well, particularly the protagonist Lau Wong, who has quite possibly one of the most noteworthy character designs in gaming history. Not only is his appearance based on Gackt but he is also motion captured and voice acted by Gackt as well. The problem is that outside of a few grunts and battle cry’s, Lau Wong is mostly a silent protagonist, which implies that the devs weren’t able to keep Gackt working on the project for very long, possibly due to the costs of hiring him to work on the character in the first place.
Despite this, I think that the little time Gackt spent working on the game definitely paid off in the motion capture department as the animations of Bujingai are absolutely stellar. Everything from the movement, jumping and swordplay is strikingly intricate in the animation department to the point that the gameplay is a visual spectacle that few games at the time could even hope to match, which kind of explains why the intro of the game is literally just clips of the player’s gameplay because who needs cutscenes when you can showcase the flashy combat of Bujingai in the intro instead and have the player play it out? I love watching the action on screen in both the combat and the platforming, it’s so damn satisfying to watch Lau Wong jump and spin through the air as his clothing flutters around him.
The English voice acting on the other hand is hilariously terrible, which fits the nature of this game so damn well. I do think that Gackt did a pretty good job with Lau’s battle sounds though so it’s not all bad, it’s just the English voices in particular that are terrible but quite frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Naguri’s voice in particular is hilarious to listen to, especially since he narrates the entire tutorial sequence. Thankfully there’s barely any dialogue in this game anyways since the game focuses more on the choreography as opposed to written narrative. For this reason, the story of Bujingai is mostly nonexistent to the point that if you removed all the context of the game’s story, most of the cutscenes would remain in tact.
One thing to note is that if you’re going to play the PAL version of Bujingai titled Bujingai Swordmaster, do bear in mind that there’s no voice acting in the tutorial and that the names of the enemies are all in Japanese so in a way, you’re kind of playing a watered down version of the Japanese release which is kind of a shame. Other than that though, Bujingai is what you expect from an early 2000’s 3d beat em up. It’s another one of those niché games that appeals mainly to aficionados of the 3d beat em up genre though I can safely say that it is one of the better ones out there and I highly recommend giving it a shot if you’re into this sort of thing. As for everyone else, you’ll probably turn on this game and get bored within the first few minutes when you realize that most of the game is just pressing square and occasionally pushing other buttons, but if Dynasty Warriors gets away with it, so can Bujingai.
Don’t try this at home kids, Lau’s a professional comet surfer
Video Review:
Cynical Gaming Blog 