Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time Review (NSW)

Written by Patrick Orquia

Title: Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time
Developer: Soleil, Ltd.
Publisher: Adult Swim Games
Genre: action-adventure, hack ‘n slash, RPG
Number of Players: 1
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: August 21, 2020
Price: $39.99

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Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a hack ‘n slash action-adventure game developed by Soleil, Ltd. and published by Adult Swim Games. As the title suggests, it is based from the animated series Samurai Jack that came out in the early 2000s. One thing special about this game is that Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator and producer of the show, worked on this game, along with the original voice actors. Tartakovsky enlisted Darrick Bachmann, the head writer for the last season of the show, to write the story of the game. What came out is one fun game that is very much like an episode of the show.

The art style of the game features the same style from the show, and it translates well to 3D. And I must say it captures the look and feel of the show. The gameplay is Devil May Cry-esque, with linear paths (with some secret areas to be discovered) and arena style battle sections featuring Samurai Jack battling against hordes of enemies. The game is divided into different levels, each with a specific theme/biome featured in the TV series. You are going to meet different NPCs that are characters from the series, again voiced by the original voice actors, which is really cool. This is like a new season of the series, but one that you can play. Pretty neat.

The game has a good variety of enemies, some attacking from a distance while some only with melee attacks. Of course, you have the same move sets, plus more. You will have access to different types of melee/long distance weapons, such as swords, spears, bows, and even guns. If you are not fond of using melee weapons, you can stick to just using hand to hand combat.

Fallen enemies drop orbs and coins and other consumables. These orbs, depending on their color, can be used to heal or unlock/upgrade skills/abilities. These skills/abilities, such as upgraded weapon skills or additional HP, make you more powerful in battle, and thus give you the chance to defeat enemies. The difficulty level of the game can be adjusted at any time during gameplay. Each completed level gets ranked, depending on how you perform and on what difficulty you complete them. Each completed level can be replayed to get higher scores and ranks.

A boss battle awaits at the end of each level. These boss battles are really good and very well-designed and executed. They usually involve the boss having a set of moves and attack patterns that can be learned quite quickly, thus not overstaying their welcome. If you find the boss battles to be too easy or any battle for that matter, you can adjust the difficulty settings for you to get more challenge.

Overall, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a surprisingly good yet underrated game. This game is barely mentioned on any Best Switch Games list, if it is even mentioned at all, but for me, it is a really solid game. It looks and sound good, with a good amount of challenge and awesome gameplay. Sure, there are better games out there with the same gameplay and even cheaper ones, but if you are a fan of the animated series, this is a good complementary game to that and if you do give it a chance, I hope you have a good time as much as I did.

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REPLY VALUE: High

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PROS

• Very cool art style that got translated well from the animated series
• Excellent gameplay, combat mechanics, and leveling up system
• Excellent voice acting and music
• The game story complements well that of the animated series
• Awesome level design
• Good enemy variety
• Wide customization options
• Multiple difficulty modes

CONS

• Infrequent yet noticeable frame rate dips when too much action is happening on screen
• A bit too derivative from other games of the same style/genre

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RATING: 4.5/5 time-traveling samurai madness

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