{"id":20455,"date":"2020-09-21T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T00:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=20455"},"modified":"2020-09-04T09:03:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T09:03:38","slug":"samurai-jack-battle-through-time-ps4-switch-xbox-one-pc-apple-arcade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/21\/samurai-jack-battle-through-time-ps4-switch-xbox-one-pc-apple-arcade\/","title":{"rendered":"Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC, Apple Arcade)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Samurai Jack was one of Cartoon Network\u2019s most unique, artful, and beloved action cartoons.\u00a0 A heroic samurai from feudal Japan battles a shapeshifting demon named Aku.\u00a0 But Aku sends the samurai into a time portal to the future where Aku reigns supreme.\u00a0 The first person who sees the samurai in the future calls him \u201cJack,\u201d so that\u2019s the name he goes by here.\u00a0 Now Samurai Jack must find a way back to the past so he can defeat Aku for good.\u00a0 The cool thing about the cartoon is that it actually had an ending, although it took it long enough to get there.\u00a0 Nearly two decades after the initial run, they added one last season on Adult Swim that was a bit darker and bloodier, but Jack FINALLY beat Aku!\u00a0 This new video game takes place when Jack and his love interest Ashi are in the portal going to the past.\u00a0 Aku has one final trick up his sleeve and grabs Jack and sends him to a place between time and space where he must fight familiar foes.\u00a0 Flimsy story aside, it\u2019s a great way for fans to relive their favorite scenes, enemies, and friends in this 3-D action game.\u00a0 Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is available on nearly anything you can play a game on, but reviewed on PS4 here.<\/p>\n

You play as Jack as you run though pretty straightforward 3-D stages, with a few 2-D sections thrown in here and there.\u00a0 You\u2019ll travel to familiar spots from the cartoon like the dog mines, futuristic cities, and the bug filled space cube.\u00a0 Along the way you\u2019ll fight all sorts of robots, ninjas, and bounty hunters from the cartoon, and at the end of each stage you\u2019ll fight a boss that\u2019s also one of Jack\u2019s familiar formidable foes.\u00a0 Jack can run, jump, guard, dodge, throw, swing his sword and other weapons, plus use special attacks.\u00a0 You\u2019d think using all the buttons on the PS4 controller would be confusing, but I didn\u2019t have much trouble with it, and usually I do.\u00a0 They just do a good job with button placement and easing you into the gameplay.\u00a0 You have an energy meter and when you take too many hits and it depletes all the way, you\u2019ll have to start at the last checkpoint.\u00a0 One cool thing they do is as you take damage, your gi will rip and tear and show battle damage, just like in the cartoon!<\/p>\n

Not only can Jack use his magic sword, but he can wield other weapons as well.\u00a0 These include staffs and clubs, as well as long distance projectiles like bows and arrows, ninja stars, and even guns!\u00a0 His magic sword will never break, but other weapons can with repeated usage.\u00a0 You can find new weapons and ammo in treasure chests, or repair or buy more from a shopkeeper you meet every so often in the stages.\u00a0 You buy items with gold from defeated enemies.\u00a0 Enemies will also drop flame icons, which you can collect to upgrade your skills via a skill tree.\u00a0 These skills include new moves, more energy and health, and the ability to hold more items.\u00a0 I love how they reference the show in the skill tree, too.\u00a0 One of the moves lets you jump higher, and the text for the skill read that you can \u201cJump Good.\u201d\u00a0 Fans of the show will get that reference.<\/p>\n

The game does have a few problems.\u00a0 Camera angles were rarely problematic, but it did happen sometimes.\u00a0 The skill tree is neat, but I don\u2019t know how you\u2019re supposed to get all the upgrades!\u00a0 Maybe you get more items in the harder difficulties?\u00a0 Speaking of which, I\u2019m glad there were multiple difficulty selections, but even on the easiest one, I was kept on my toes and it took me three times to defeat the last boss.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine playing the game on the harder levels!\u00a0 Also, some may say the game is a bit short.\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mind it, as it just meant the game didn\u2019t wear out its welcome.\u00a0 Plus when you beat the game you unlock extra missions, and can try other difficulty levels, so there is some replay value.<\/p>\n

But despite the problems, this is a really good licensed action game.\u00a0 They got all the voice actors form the cartoon, which is neat.\u00a0 Some of my family members even though I was watching the cartoon instead of playing a game! \u00a0It feels like something you would\u2019ve played on the PS2, and that\u2019s a good thing in this case.\u00a0 I think there was a Samurai Jack game on the PS2, but it was different from this one.\u00a0 At any rate, if you\u2019re a fan of Samurai Jack and action games in general, then you\u2019ll want to check this one out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Violence and Blood.\u00a0 You chop and slice all manner of enemies in half with swords, guns, and other weapons, but most of the enemies you fight are robots, just like in the cartoon.\u00a0 Late in the game there are a couple of scenes with cartoon blood and killing to reflect the darker tone of the last season, though.\u00a0 If you\u2019re OK with your kids watching the Samurai Jack cartoon, including the last season, then they\u2019ll be OK with this game.\u00a0 Younger players may find it too difficult, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samurai Jack was one of Cartoon Network\u2019s most unique, artful, and beloved action cartoons.\u00a0 A heroic samurai from feudal Japan battles a shapeshifting demon named Aku.\u00a0 But Aku sends the samurai into a time portal to the future where Aku reigns supreme.\u00a0 The first person who sees the samurai in the future calls him \u201cJack,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","category-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20457,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20455\/revisions\/20457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}