Game #1194: Inuyasha - Feudal Combat

 Seems Inuyasha isn't the goodest of boys.

 While far from the best anime fighter, Inuyasha's PS1 fighting game was a rather interesting game thanks to its pretty graphics. Inuyasha Feudal Combat takes things into the third dimension for a more by the numbers anime arena fighter that are all too common nowadays.

 The game has about 14 characters, which is rather lackluster for an anime fighting game, and it gets worse when you consider that 3 of those characters are Inuyasha, Human Inuyasha and berserk Inuyasha. To be fair, all three version of Inuyasha are fairly different from one another. The other characters are your usual suspects, Miroku, Sango, Kikyo, Kagome, Seshomaru, the wolf guy, Sango's brother, Shippo, Bankotsu, Kagura and Naraku. I think I read about 200 chapters of the Manga and it's not like I remember any other character, but I'm sure they could've pulled a few other faces, but alas, this is what we get.

 As previously stated, this is an arena fighter, so you get full 3-D movement. While you can do 1 vs 1, the game is actually meant to be played as 2 vs 2, which is an interesting twist. You get a weak and a strong attack button, and different characters have different attack strings, but you usually have four basic strings: Weak attack x 3, run + Weak attack x 3, Strong attack x3 and run + Strong Attack x3. Interestingly enough, characters are actually quite different from one another. Miroku, for example, puts a trap talisman with his Strong Attack or produces a a sphere-shield-attack with run+Strong. His only real combos start with run + weak attack. Shippo was the only character I felt was downright unplayable, as he is a horrible joke character that has awful recovery and startup on most of his attacks. Lastly, there's a Super attack button, a co-op attack, a jump, a block button and you change targets with another button.

 The objective of each battle is to take away every life from the enemy, with fights consisting on 2 extra lives for each team. Overall, the fighting in the game is passable. Combo potential is pretty nil, and the attack strings feel very limited. It's not very exciting, it's not very flashy either but it could've been a lot worse.

 The game has four main modes: Story, Mission, Battle and Practice. There are four fully voiced story modes, one for Inuyasha, one for Sango and Miroku, one for Sesshomaru and... a three-chapter short chapter for Shippo, the awful joke character, which you need to finish in order to unlock Human Inuyasha. Mission Mode has a stage selection map and different challenges, such as defeating two enemies with a single character, as you develop your character's stats. It's alright.

 I have played better anime games and I have played worse, which means that Inuyasha Feudal Combat is fairly middle of the road. I mean, it's not like Inuyasha fans have anything better than this!

5.5