I really wanted to like this game.

Samurai: Way of the Warrior is a beautiful iphone game with the depth of a kiddie pool. I will admit I knew that going in... and while trying to play the game I did not mind the lack of depth. The controls are terrible... the idea is novel taking a page from games like Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the DS and having you swipe in different directions to take on enemies and execute combos but what is on offer here is a sluggish/inconsistent input system that in later levels sees you being taken down over and over again because the interface simply doesnt allow you to keep up. It also doesnt help that around the 4th stage enemies become so fast that their attack telegraphs become almost unusable as dodge indicators.

In addition to a lack of input speed, the combos are inconsistent and from what I can tell the instant death moves are random. You may might hack and slash at a single enemy over and over again to take him down while the one right next to him will be taken down in one hit.

All said I cannot recommend this game, it could be fun with a little more polish but as it stands now Samurai is a hollow core loop experience with sloppy (poorly documented?) controls. Since there is now a Samurai 2 on the app store Mad Finger revisiting this app for polish seems unlikely.

Terramedic-J about Samurai: Way of the Warrior, v1.8