Kengo: Master of Bushido - PlayStation 2

Kengo: Master of Bushido is similar to Bushido Blade, plus it retains the generic health bar. It also has a Ki meter, which represents your ability to use special sword attacks and block your opponents' onslaughts.

The unusual aspect of this game is that you spend the majority of the time developing your warrior's attributes by fighting nonlethal battles with a wooden sword.

The game is chock-full of minigames. These are designed to enhance your character's stats and build endurance and power. But if you want to increase your abilities, you must actually fight and defeat opponents using the wooden blade. This will help you acquire the necessary fighting basics and allow you to move up to become a capable swordsman.

As you defeat the enemy dojos, you will get new moves, swords, and special attacks. New moves and special attacks can be inserted into your character's three-hit combo system--a very unique aspect of this game.

The culmination of all this training, though, is somewhat of a disappointment. You get to compete in a single tournament where real blades are used. The tournament only has a handful of fights, a surprise battle, and then the credits start rolling.

Just as in Bushido Blade, the combat is complex and offers up multiple parries and stances. The actual bloody combat, however, is relatively short-lived, which is bound to be very disconcerting to gamers looking for a hard-core hack-and-slash adventure. --Todd Mowatt

Pros:

• Attack moves and parries, learned throughout the game, add to replayability
• Customizable three-hit combo system

• Character movement is difficult to control at times
• You spend most of the game training for one short tournament