Lesser clone of a classic brawler
This rather obscure homage to the SNK fighter Samurai Shodown (also known as Samurai Spirit) is a decent enough attempt to capture the spirit of the earlier game. It makes for a solid fighter for hardcore fans but more casual players might want to stick to the likes of Street Fighter IV for their brawling thrills. Being a fan-made game, this is more of a clone than anything else so if you've played Samurai Shodown (or any other one-on-one fighter for that matter) you'll know exactly what to expect: plenty of beefy characters, each with their special brand of fighting moves, duking it out against various brightly coloured and atmospheric backdrops. All the moves that you remember from the original are accurately reproduced here, plus the combos but to be honest that's about all there is here. As an homage to a classic fighter, this is about as good as they get. The graphics are spot on, with massive and vibrant sprites that have plenty of detail. The animation seems a bit lacking though, as though not all the frames have been included, which renders things less fluid than they ought to be. The controls are decent enough and although not as good as an arcade joystick, certainly do the job well enough. The music is something of a personal choice, but the grinding guitars sound amateurish and annoying and don't really add to the atmosphere. If you're a fighting game collector then this is sure to be on your list of must-play games, but it cannot be denied that it is simply a copy of another game, albeit a fairly well-made one and there are better fighters out there.
