Samurai Rampage is a cool score attack / wave survival game done in a 2D format with unique pixelated graphics and a variety of enemy types that you must evade, parry, and annihilate throughout a handful of feudal settings. Enemies explode sprays of blood or their skeletons electrocute and disintegrate as you mow them down. As cool as all of that looks, sounds, and can be, from a gameplay perspective the game is very simple.
You spend most (well, pretty much all) of your time in Samurai Rampage clearing either a ground level or flying set of enemies from left to right in 3 panoramic arenas which span a few scrolls of background. This would probably get old fast, but thankfully these look great with smooth animations and a heavy eastern style to the enemies and protagonist.
You face off against an assortment of ninja and samurai-ish looking dudes, including people who hurl axes or throw torches at you, as well as a variety of menacing floating enemies. Everyone seems to only take one dinky little hit of the attack to die (yourself included) which adds to the game's rapid pace, but also makes for at times simple spamming of the attack and holding left or right to clear either the top or bottom row of enemies. If the game were only this it would probably get old fast, however the gameplay is varied with the addition of a parry and time slow system. By holding the attack button down you slow time, which allows you to evade enemy attacks, line up your own, or parry them if there are too many sprites to dodge, as you jump from the lower tier to the higher one to better clear the area. For better or for worse it felt like at times there were so many enemies and effects on screen that I didn't know what to dodge or "what killed me," leading to a gameover.
The game has no traditional "jump" button mapped separate from the attack, which took some getting used to. Instead, you remain stationary until you charge up or point in a direction and attack, if you aim up, for example, he will jump / slash that way simultaneously. This sounds more stilted than it feels once you get the hang of it, and the inclusion of an arrow / meter of where you are aiming to jump to when slowing time makes things more discernable, but some may find it off-putting.
If you kill enough enemies rapidly you hit a super mode where you are temporarily invincible and quickly vaporizing large swaths of enemies. This looks cool and is violent. Being able to select different powerups or effects, like increased speed in lieu of invincibility (or something beyond the one ultimate ability) would be nice.
From what I can tell there isn't much purpose to the game beyond seeing how long you can last, hoping to reach a score tier to unlock the next level (i.e. 2000 points on Stage 1 to unlock Stage 2.) That being said, if there are only 3 levels is a bit disappointing.
All-in-all Samurai Rampage provides a flashy, straightforward mechanic via its parrying and time slow, and its enemy variety and background locales match the overall setting well. Some different modes, levels that scrolled more vertically, or collectible items/powerups of some kind might give the game more longevity beyond its initial set of levels, but what is here is enjoyable if you like feudal eastern style setting and don't mind somewhat shallow gameplay.
