Warning. This is not a video game that most Mommies will love. But it isn't intended for an audience of kiddies.
A recent preview of the Afro Samurai demo for PS3 and Xbox 360, slated for a January 2009 release, reveals a bloodbath. We're talking buckets of blood in some serious hack and slash action. My 10-year-old kid will not being playing this game.
What Mommy does is another story, however. As a fan of Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a sword, I already enjoy a little stylized comic and anime action. Afro Samurai can be my other dirty little secret.
I can't say enough about the visceral beauty of this game. The art work is powerful, animated with cel shaded graphics that make the game look much like the actual Japanese manga created by Takashi Okazaki and spun off into the Spike TV mini series that debuted in 2007.
The Namco Bandai developed game features voice talent by actor Samuel L. Jackson as Afro. Jackson is no stranger to the video game scene with the role of Officer Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as bits for Star Wars and Incredibles games. He is co-producer of the Gonzo-animated TV series.
Other voice talent includes Ron Perlman of Hellboy fame as Justice as well as television and film star Kelly Hu.
The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan delivers a driving original hip hop soundtrack, with different beats for each major battle.
An epic tale of revenge, the game is set in futuristic but still feudal Japan. Afro, who styles an amazing natural, seeks to kill, Justice, a three-armed gunman and the No. 1 swordsman. When Afro was a small boy, Justice killed the boy's father while he looked helplessly on. Now the No. 2 swordsman, Afro travels the dark path seeking to take the No. 1 head band and avenge his father's death.
Afro Samurai is a third person action game, unrated, but according to Namco Bandai sources most likely to have an ESRB content rating of M.
