At long last, this game finally hits the shelves. Personally, I’d take a Wii version any day (Afro DOES dual-wield…), but that’s just me. This review is for the 360 version, but I imagine it’s, as usual, the exact same thing on the PS3 version, except a couple visual differences.

So, without really spoiling the story, the player character, Afro, is a man who, as a child, watched some crazy guy murder his father and claim the Number One headband. So, as a kid, Afro really didn’t know what that was all about. All he cares for is revenge. So he obtains the Number Two headband, required to challenge the Number One. Despite the headbands’ influences, and his mentors and friends advising him against doing so, he persists towards his ultimate goal of revenge. It’s deeper than that, but there’s your synopsis.

Gameplay wise, this game’s actually pretty nice. You attack with light hits, heavy hits, and kicks, and chain them together into some pretty flashy combo strikes. Of course, you can block, parry, and even repel bullets back at the shooter. Wall jumping, wall running…there’s quite a few more techniques involved, but that about covers the main idea as far as what Afro’s able to do. Same basic manners of movement and attacks as shown in games like Prince of Persia, Devil May Cry, and, at least for attacks, No More Heroes. Precise slashing plays a key role in the game, as well; you can take out basically any limb(s) off the body of your foe, but precision is key. Using a lock-on “focus” system that slows down time, you can guide the blade through specific points; this not only allows for strategic, if not graphic deaths, but also methods of cutting ropes and other things needed to get around obstacles.

The main thing that could serve as a turn-off to players is occasional graphic lag, due to lots of bodies and pouring blood. While this may be something of an annoyance, more often than not it’ll serve to fit the mood, since the game makes heavy use of slowing down time. The flow of attacks might seem slightly unnatural for some as well, specifically in how they sound. This is obviously no big deal, and continues to serve its role in making deaths look just that much more judicial. Some might not like it, but again, some do.

The more people slain, the more experience you obtain. As with pretty much any experience system in games, as you get experience, you level. Levels provide new combos to use, as well as boosts to health and focus, the latter of which fuels the Overfocus. In using Overfocus, Afro temporarily enters a state that allows him to kill his foes with single attacks. If you’ve played No More Heroes on the Wii, you’ll feel a sense of similarity between Overfocus and certain special states activated in No More Heroes’ slot machine specials.

As expected, the voice acting is very good, and makes just as big of an impression as it did in the anime series. Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman, and Kelly Hu provide their voices once again to the characters they voiced in the series. To add to that, the soundtrack is simply amazing, and adds that much more to the experience of playing this game. As a side note, the instruction manual has two coupons. One takes a dollar off a value meal at Church’s Chicken, and the other takes off $10 of any purchase $50 or more at Footaction USA…now I want some Church’s. Dammit.

All in all, this game is amazing. If you’re a fan of Afro Samurai, get this game. If you like the slash-em-up genre, this is a definite hit for you as well. If you’re not familiar with the series, it should be noted that it’s rated M for a reason. Blood, profanity, topless ninja girls…if, for some reason, that doesn’t sit too well with you (which, if you’re in our target audience, I don’t see why it wouldn’t), you’ve been warned. The ESRB’s actually right with this one.