The Ronin bandit that stood in the middle of the road was confident in his sword skills and he was ready to take the purse of whatever man dumb enough to refuse him, thank you very much. He moved to his familiar stance, a telltale sign that he had once belong to a famous clan, when his opponent - a samurai with an eye patch - charged, locked blades with him then tossed him languidly aside like an old man swatting away a bothersome fly. It was then that he felt his opponent’s cold steel pass through him and then he felt nothing at all as the life quickly drained away from him. That will teach him to go up against a Kengo Master, one of nine masters of the blade you’ll meet in Kengo: Legend of the 9 for the Xbox 360.

“Here’s my super secret move: Flying Foot Cheese Kick!”

Legend of the 9 revolves around the legend of nine deadly samurai taken directly from Japanese history and lore and places them in a sword-fighting game that offers an insight on a particular situation that brings these masters together. Majesco and Genki bring these nine heroes to the next generation Xbox with good intentions but - thanks to a number of flaws and a poorly executed control scheme - this Kengo game is a complete miss. This is too bad, really, since the game has three main modes such as Main Mode, Mission Mode and Combat Mode as well as the ability to edit your favorite characters’ fighting stance.

Main Mode is, obviously, the main single-player mode that offers a story for each of the nine characters. The game starts with three characters to choose from and from there you can unlock the six other characters to play out their story. Then again, the stories for each of these real legends aren’t fleshed out but you do get some idea of their background. You will meet the likes of Jubei Yagyu, Musashi Miyamoto, Ito Ittosai and even the female samurai Chiba Sanaka. Each character is given an intro and a few of them have their own personalized opening level but from there all nine have the same path to walk and repetitive levels where you slice through mindless goons to get to the enemy bosses.

Then there’s Mission Mode, a game mode that serves up a number of objective-based missions to zip through as your favorite samurai. Many of these mission challenges are actually fun and just a small few are downright addictive to a certain point. There’s The Seven Wanderers, a game mode that has you taking on seven wandering warriors and Assassins in the Forest - a game mode where you must defeat a large number of ninjas before taking on their leader, a sly Kunoichi (a female ninja). Some of the missions are actually quite challenging like Island Rampage (where you try to kill 100 enemies without getting hit) or The End of the Shinsen-gumi (defeat 10 complete enemy units then face off against Lord of the Shinsen-gumi).

 
“Boy, these Iron Chef competitions are getting rough.”

Overall, there’s really no shortage of thing to do in Kengo: Legend of the 9 but all these mini-missions and nine branching storylines for the main game don’t amount to much if the gameplay is bad. Sadly, the gameplay is horrible and what should have been a stylish sword-fighting action games has been reduced to a hack-and-slash button-masher that lacks finesse. Oftentimes, the controls can be pretty unresponsive and thus being the reason you’ll get killed a lot in this game. Each character is a master of their own style of fighting and it’s quite possible to end a fight quickly by landing a single fatal blow (called Special Kill in the game). Occasionally, there are moments when a sense of style does manage to surface especially when it comes to the Inashi or Tsuba-zemari Bashiri moves that have you locking blades with your enemy and fighting for the upper hand or the possibility of throwing an enemy off balance to land a quick blow.

The other big problem comes with the enemy AI in both Mission and Main Mode. The game tosses a number of enemies at you who will literally run into your blade or wait around to get sliced up. Some enemies will black at times but cutting through the number of lowly samurai won’t pose much of a challenge. Being a gamer that enjoys ripping through dozens of enemies at once, the bloody swordplay could have and should have been fun but it isn’t. The real challenge comes from the level boss, which ranges from decent to absurdly difficult. What will not fail to annoy is the fact that if you should die during a boss encounter (and you will, trust me) you’ll have to start the entire level all over again. Even the camera can prove to be a frustrating annoyance.

Combat Mode allows you to share the game with a friend and while there’s no online multiplayer you can use the Xbox Live service to post your Main Mode and Mission Mode scores for bragging rights. The game even allows you to customize your favorite character by editing his or her stance and upgrading your character during the single-player mode means you’ll have a character able to go head-to-head with a friend or the computer.

“Dude, please stop crying. I do think you make a sexier samurai than Tom Cruise.”

As far as the graphics are concerned, Legend of the 9 looks really pretty but doesn’t push the Xbox 360 to the limit. Really, this game could have looks absolutely gorgeous considering the fact that the character models up close look good and so do most of the game’s backgrounds. Some of the locals sport plenty of details and when you duel one-on-one with bosses the cut scenes set up the encounters to look like an epic cinematic duel. Then there are times when the game looks as dull as the Main Mode levels and watching your fallen enemies blink out of existence is just so last generation.

At least the game’s voice acting is pretty decent and it’s in Japanese so it drives home the feeling that you’re watching a modern Japanese samurai movie. What really stands out, though, is the game’s soundtrack that is both beautifully Japanese and intense to the point that major battles have a dramatic feel to them. There are a few sound effects that go beyond the grunts and cries of pain and the clash of steel feels less realistic and more cartoon-like.

As a fan of samurai swordplay it’s hard to recommend a game that feels so flawed and lacks all the things we love about games in this genre. If anything, Kengo: Legend of the 9 for the Xbox 360 is much like a dull blade that might look promising but just isn’t able to cut it where it matters. With unresponsive controls and monotonous action, this is one game that should be avoided if you love the way of the samurai or sword fighting games.

Gameplay: 3.5
Main mode has you slashing throughout samurais and ninjas as any of the nine sword fighting legends like nobody’s business. Unfortunately, the controls aren’t as smooth or responsive to showcase these heroes’ fighting styles. Mission Mode has its fun moments and you can always go up against a friend in battle.

Graphics: 6.5
The cherry blossoms in the forest look beautiful and the waves of the ocean will reflect the sunlight beautifully so the environments look pretty good in this game. Even the main samurai warriors look good up close but it’s nothing too spectacular.

Sound: 6.5
The Japanese voice acting is very appropriate and handled well enough and the sound effects are decent but kept at a minimum. The best feature here happens to be the stellar soundtrack that’s just amazing … too bad it repeats itself often.

Difficulty: Hard
This game will test your patience and challenge you every step of the way but not in a good way. Frustrating controls aside, it’s the mix of brain dead goons and almost impossible hard bosses that will make you want to pull out your hair.

Concept: 3.5
The ability to play a game with nine different branching storylines for each hero is a nice touch and since these heroes actually existed is a major plus. Sadly, the game is completely crippled by many factors and thus making a weak main mode. Mission and Combat mode adds some fun for awhile but the lack of online action hurts a lot.

Multiplayer: 3.2
You can challenge your friend as any of the nine and battle it out in any of the many environments seen in the single-player game. That’s about it because there’s no Xbox Live action (well, you can post your characters’ stats on the Leaderboard).

Overall: 3.5
Sadly, Kengo: Legend of the 9 lacks a number of qualities that could have made this a stylish action Xbox 360 game worthy of the legendary samurai masters that make up the character roster. Really, the game’s potential is held back by the game’s crippling controls, awful camera and lackluster game modes. Do yourself a favor and skip this game completely.