Game #1157: Samurai Jack - Battle through Time

 Back to the past, Samurai Jack....

 When I was younger, I hated Samurai Jack, however, somehow I got hyped about the final season. So I decided to give it another whirl, I'm older, the series received a lot of praise, and I loved Genndy Tartakovsky's work back in the day, so surely I'd enjoy it. I didn't. I still hated the series, even though, for all intents and purposes, it was something I should've liked since it used a ton of different ideas. Eventually I made my way to the final season and... it was beautiful, to the point that enduring the original series was almost worth it. Now then, as divisive as the series ending was, I felt it was appropriate. It wasn't what Jack deserved, but it was an ending that fit the overall themes of the series.... and then I heard that this game, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time contains a hidden alternate ending, the ending Jack actually deserved. Thus, I set out to go back to the past and destroy the Evil that is Aku.

 Battle Through Time takes the form of an action adventure game, taking place in the last third of the final episode of the new season. You even get to see some footage from the show, right up to the moment where Aku sends Jack and Ashi into a portal. Instead of arriving back to the past, Jack will have to go through 9 levels that are a sort of popurri/greatest hits of some of Jack's adventures. You'll recognize classic enemies and areas throughout the first 6 levels, then the next two borrow elements from the new season and the final stage is the showdown against Aku. The game is fairly linear, although you can replay any stage by returning to the main menu. Beating the game also unlocks some challenge arenas. Regardless, I advice you to get a Medallion guide, as the only way to get the new ending is by finding all 50 medallions, and they are incredibly hard to find. Regardless, the game as a whole feels like a love letter to the series, the more you know or remember about Samurai Jack, the more value you'll get out of this game.

 Combat is simple but quite serviceable. You have a weak and strong attack that can be comboed together, a dodge, a block, a jump and a super attack that consumes Kiai stocks, which refill as you pick up Kiai energy. Combat can be quite satisfying, as the metallic shwing sound and the fact that you can cut enemies apart feels really nice. On the other hand, there's a certain floatiness and overall feeling of cheapness to it that detracts a bit from it. By cheapness I mean that sometimes it feels as if enemies don't take damage from your attacks, even though they glow red, or go through your attacks just because. It's not half bad, but it could've been better. Oh, and your Kimono gets torn as you take damage, just like in the show... although health pick ups will magically restore it!

 Your Katana and your fists are the only weapons you can trust, as every other weapon type: Hammers, Spears, Guns and Bows will eventually break. I'm not a fan of weapon durability, but they will start glowing red when they are about to break, so you can just equip something else and repair them at the shop. You can carry many different weapons, but you can have only up to four on the quick select panel. Every weapon type has different combos, which was pretty neat, although I did just fine just using my Katana, occasionally switching for a hammer, throughout the entire game.

 The game has a pretty comprehensive upgrade system, as you get three different trees and various currencies. Sadly, I felt like the game was a bit too stingy with the Bushido energy, which made getting upgrades slower than it could've been. Still, upgrades are important since you can increase your health, your strength and your combos like this, as well as get some useful abilities like a dashing block.

 There are a ton of challenges that will reward you with the basic upgrade points, such as using X attack a Y number of times, defeating X amount of a certain enemy, opening X amount of chests, etc. It was a smart way to keep the player invested in some menial tasks, as well as getting you to try different techniques.

 Considering it's a licensed game, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time turned out really well. Everything works well enough as to be a decent time for somebody that knows nothing about the show, but if you happen to know about the series you also get this added layer of attention to detail and faithfulness to the source material that makes it stand out from other licensed games. The fact that it has a new, happier ending also helps a lot. 

7.5