Afro Samurai: Huge Namco Bandai Interview

Everything you need to know about this promising slasher in our interview with Namco's Daryle Tumacder and Kevin Chadaine, including cartoon violence censorship, Samuel L Jackson voice acting, and games enhancing source IP.

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Kikizo: Speaking of watching your friends play, are there any plans for co-op or multiplayer at all?

Tumacder: No, no co-op, no multiplayer. It's a single player story mode and you're playing through as Afro.

Kikizo: Would you say that a lot of the time multiplayer is just tacked onto the base product? Is that why you want to keep this single player only?

Tumacder: I don't think that applies to all games. There's definitely some people that just develop a game and they want to make a multiplayer game, so they make it a multiplayer game. But unfortunately there are some titles out there that are maybe not so good, that are just "let's put multiplayer in there to add one more bullet point."

Kikizo: Are the fancier moves easy to pick up, given what you've told us about wanting to attract gamers beyond the hardcore?

Tumacder: When an enemy attacks you can deflect the attack, it's basically a matter of timing. Afro also has this Focus mode which is black and white - he attains Focus time from combat. You'll notice when an enemy's attacking you in slow-mo, it's a little bit easier - you have more time there to pull off harder moves.

Kikizo: Is there much emphasis on blocking? In Ninja Gaiden if you don't block you're screwed.

Tumacder: I think there's a good mixture of it. You can be overly aggressive combo-wise if you want. We have a multi-target system, so any way you point your character you're going to attack in that direction. If you can fend them off fast enough in that respect, watching multiple people trying to attack you... if you can cut them off before they attack you, and you attack them, you can string these combos together and get to Focus that way.

Kikizo: Are you concerned that the level of violence in the game will provoke European ratings boards?

Tumacder: There's always that concern because it's not as easy in Europe as it is in America. But I think we're in the works right now, just figuring out what we need to do on our end, if anything, so that we can have a huge worldwide release. That's what we want for it...

Kikizo: How about some green blood?

Tumacder: Yeah. [laughs]

Kikizo: There's a difference between stylised or exaggerated violence and "realistic" violence, though - we're hoping MadWorld will slip through certification because the gore is so patently unreal, for instance...

Kevin Chadaine: It's a problem, because the violence looks glamorous and stylish. It's a problem.

Kikizo: And that applies to Afro Samurai too?

Chadaine: Oh yes, it does, it does. The violence looks cool, so that's a point.

Kikizo: Does Afro level up and unlock new fighting moves?

Tumacder: Yeah, there's a level and stats system - you do have moves you unlock. Afro has 120 moves, which include of course swordplay, he's got kicks, he can launch enemies into the air, he can jump on them, he can "pounce" on them - which is our "grab" move. He also has other combos, "Father's Legacy" things that we can unlock, which are more devastating...

There are two different types of things to level up. There's the attacks you can do, regular killing of enemies, which will get you experience points. You also get bonus experience points if you can, say, just cut off the tops of their heads - we give you bonus experience points for that. Or if you can cut them vertically in half, we give you bonus points for that. And those give you your core set of combos.

There are also some "Father's Legacy" combos which are a lot of special moves that Afro learned from his dad when his dad was teaching him. You get those by finding these crows in the levels - if you find five crows in the levels you unlock some of these combos.

And there's "Body Part Poker"... One of the main things here is that it has that dynamic cutting system which a lot of games don't have, or actually no other game has ever had. Dynamic cutting where you get to aim and pick where you want to slice someone.

Kikizo: If you want to cut off, say, a foot, would the other guy be able to keep on attacking you?

Tumacder: No, they die! It's a devastating blow. [laughs]

Kikizo: And Body Part Poker is part of the Focus system...

Tumacder: You need Focus in order to do those moves. So combos get you the Focus time, and then Focus time gets you the instant kills. So, Body Part Poker... there are parts of the game where we're going to lock you into a certain area, and then you'll see a little icon of Ninja Ninja, which means you can play Body Part Poker. And where in Poker there are Aces, Kings and Jacks, there are heads, arms and legs, so you can get a Royal Flush by cutting off one head, one arm and one leg - not in that order, but quantity-wise. If you cut off three heads or three legs, you get a Flush, and those give you health bonuses. If you get a Royal Flush, you get experience bonuses as well as a Focus bonus and a health bonus.

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