Way of the Samurai 3 (Sony Playstation 3, 2009)

This is a must-have for fans of the series and samurai fans in general, and/or if you really enjoy games that you can play again to see different outcomes. This one supports Japanese voice with English subtitles which adds an awesome authenticity to the game (like watching a samurai movie). I'll give a recap of my impressions of the first two games in the series to help to explain my impressions of the latest.

Way of the Samurai 1 - I loved its simplicity. Its short play time is a benefit...I never lost interest and I was anxious to try again to explore all possible outcomes. Also the events never felt like they happened randomly -- I felt like I caused them in some way.

Way of the Samurai 2 - It had too many boring side-missions that don't drive the story. Plus the decisions that trigger the various ending were too hidden to the point where they seem random, like having to be at a certain location at a certain time with no prior information hinting to you to visit that location. The plots, once you stumble upon one, were mostly ok.

Way of the Samurai 3 - supports exploration like 2, but tightens and improves a lot of things. Side-missions are optional except when you want to drive a particular plot line that requires completion of side-missions (and even in that case you only have to do 3 or 4 jobs and they are usually entertaining). Story events are marked explicitly on the world map at various times (with a ! icon) so there's some indication (or "inkling" as the manual calls it) of when a story path may change based on your choice of location to visit and what you've done so far. The many types of endings are all very cool and nicely varied. There are also alternate cutscenes independent of the story that made me replay the game just to try to see them. The presentation quality is great -- I loved the characters and the music, and the graphics very nicely convey character emotions and the samurai style. The fighting and character/weapon modification system are also nicely refined.

I'm hoping the 4th game is released in the US, and hopefully it improves upon the "inkling" feature of this game such that the location-choices that affect the story are further incorporated into the story-telling.

I have been waiting this excellent but mostly overlooked game for a year after its first release in Japanese market. I have played the first Way of the Samurai on PS2 at the beginning of the millennium, and loved the series and its developer Acquire ever since.

This is not a button smasher game. Although you will learn different button combination for fighting, you will always need to think. Even in game small talk can and will change the outcome. And the by outcome I am referring the 25 different endings you can reach by each play.

The game follows a samurai in the land of Amana in Feudal Japan. The map of Amana has 8 different locales through out the map, filled with dozens of persistent (until you or some else kills them) characters. The game play is much like an RPG. You talk to people, trade, steal, hire, fight or upgrade weapons and skills. The walking around and fighting is done in 3rd person style in real time. There is a time and day/night cycle, and it effects the story as well.

With 25 different endings, the game presents an excellent replay value. Also as you progress through every game ending by saving, you will continue developing your character and you will carry on the items and weapons to the next game.

If you like Samurai culture and want to feel like on for a while, this is a highly recommended game.

Edit: Although I still love this game, it quickly became stale after 10 or 15 endings, and I don't think I have the interest left to finish all. However I will not change my rating as I already played more than 20 hrs on it with great joy.

Very nice game, good story mode. Way of the Samurai 3 warps players back in time to this period, and combines a number of great ideas in doing so. The game features the swordfighting of the three-dimensional Zelda games, the open-world gameplay of the Grand Theft Auto series, the multiple endings of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel (remember those?), and even a touch of the emphasis on character stats and alliances that an RPG has. Not everything here works, but enough of it does to make Way of the Samurai 3 a recommended buy.

in way of the samurai your thrust into the middle of war between different clans. You're free to do whatever you want, be it talk to people and run tasks for them, join a side of the battle and help them become victorious, or play both sides and attempt to take down everyone in the land.you can pretty much kill anyone you want,but most charecters come back in a different form and do the same thing.you can kill the leader of the ouka clan and he will stay and you can become the leader.There are really only eight places to go, and they're all easily explored in a short period of time.combat modes are not that great on this either.each wepon has an attack and defense rating.if your rating is low and your enemies is high you will not be able to block his attacks.
look elsewhere for a better type game.

The game combines a real multi-ending with short enough gameplay that its actually fun to mess around or try and get all endings. I sadly is a little too short and not a whole lot of different areas to play in. The difficulties make things more challenging and rewarding and offer A great "instant kill" mode which makes the fastest sword the living swordsman. Great game with excellent replay-ability but could use a bigger map and some minor gameplay tweaks