Afro Samurai for the Xbox 360 is not unlike an abstract painting. The game is open to interpretation but still incomprehensible, visually stunning, and hard to control; alright maybe not that last part. I really had hoped that the typical developer mindset was not going to apply to Afro Samurai. In most cases developers take a license and butcher the story badly just to focus on the presentation above everything else. I wish I could say that this was acceptable because Afro Samurai’s gameplay was fun but then I would have to lose more honor than this blemish of a game causes to the beloved Afro Samurai franchise.

Let’s start with the one thing that Afro Samurai really got right, the presentation. The graphics, sound, and style exuded from Afro Samurai are really second to none. The hip hop beats laid down from start to finish give the game a heartbeat that helps keep it moving and the characters of Afro Samurai are definitely unique. What really shines though is the game’s graphics. In stills or in motion Afro Samurai looks great, the character models are detailed and move cleanly and the levels look great from afar and up close. I can say with absolute clarity that in some cases I even thought that I was watching a cartoon instead of a game. Afro Samurai is just that good looking. Now, with that out of the way we can talk about what makes Afro Samurai disgraceful.

In any Anime the story is one of the most important aspects of the series. The story will cause you to grow attached to characters and genuinely care what happens to them. I can’t comment on Afro Samurai’s anime story, seeing that I haven’t watched the series, but if it’s anything like this game I want to stay far away. Almost nothing is explained about Afro himself or the characters around. Not only that but the story that is presented here makes absolutely no sense. Scenes are a random mash up of past and present cutscenes as well as absolutely indiscernible dialogue. For instance, I was fighting a Sword Master for the Number two headband and at the end of the battle I killed one of the children from the village, from out of nowhere! No children were in the battle but at the end I magically killed one of the children I had just saved. What the heck? This is just one example of seemingly random story telling.

The story isn’t the only thing that is completely terrible, the gameplay in Afro Samurai will drive you nuts. Like with most action games these days Afro Samurai chooses to ditch the traditional meters and instead gives on screen cues for when various powers are available. In other games a character may glow or make sound cues but in this game Afro has a small pendant on the end of his sword that flashes whenever his power is available. I measured the pendant on my HDTV and it made up four pixels, that’s tiny! Not only are the cues given in Afro Samurai poorly designed but they’re never fully explained. Afro Samurai is the first action game in a long time where I had to paw through the manual to find out what the heck everything meant. I know that part of any game can be the discovery of your abilities but when I’m four levels into the game and “helpful hints” are still appearing we have a problem.

Controls and gameplay are the least of Afro Samurai’s problems though. The camera must have been designed by someone who wanted you to look solely at Afro because it almost always hides enemies unless you take direct control. On top of this when you enter Focus mode it even stops you in places from seeing the visual cues that let you know you can use the move. On top of this camera Afro Samurai abounds with graphical glitches, enemy AI issues, an annoying and useless compass, and unclear level design. Not even Samuel L. Jackson can save this game with his voice acting as Afro’s Herald.

Afro Samurai had a lot of promise. The anime that this game follows has been lauded by many as top notch with great animation and storytelling, unfortunately Afro Samurai the game skipped that second step and chose to focus solely on the a look and style. As a result this game ends up being a showcase of graphics and how not to design games. While the game is playable and beautiful there isn’t any substance to hold your attention. Maybe the hardcore fans of Afro Samurai will find something to love here but for the rest of us who are uninitiated we can find far more entertaining games to sink our teeth into.

Overall: 5.5/10