Yes, this is another cartoon license, but wait a little before dismissing Samurai Jack right away. It's true that most cartoon license games are about as entertaining as stepping in a pile of dog poo, but Samurai Jack is not just any cartoon license. The cartoon in question is made by Genndy Tartakovsky, who also made the hit cartoons Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. His name on a cartoon guarantees a very artistic drawing style, strange humor and lots of references to movies, TV series and other cartoons. Samurai Jack is no exception, it's drawn in a minimalistic but very stylish way and is filled with offbeat jokes. But where Dexter usually switched themes every episode, Samurai Jack is a more conistent ode to Japanese art and samurai stories. All this has great potential for a videogame, so it's wise to hold off judging this game untill after you've actually played it. We have played it so we can judge it, here we go.

 

Samurai Jack's story is more or less like the series' story, although it's not directly based on a specific episode. The evil Aku has thrown Jack into another timeline so Jack won't hinder his world domination plans. In each world in the game Jack protects people against Aku, while looking for time portals to get back to his own timeline, just like in most episodes of the cartoon. Nothing new there, although it is nice that Tartakovsky himself helped write the stories for the different worlds. The worlds all look different but the idea is always the same, first work your way through a few levels solving problems for a group of Aku victims, after which they help you reach the next time portal. Nothing revolutionary here yet.

Like most cartoon licenses, Samurai Jack is a cel shaded action adventure with platforming elements thrown into it. You guide Jack through a number of levels collecting lots of things, freeing innocent people and chopping up robots with your katana. It all controls fine, if a bit too simple at times. You can earn combos and special attacks throughout the game, but just ramming the A button will get you past most enemies without any problems. The fact that Jack can block most attacks doesn't make it any more challenging, he even automatically hits back projectiles when he blocks. Combos may not be very useful, they certainly look nice. Jack's fighting animations all look pretty good, and his enemies get chopped up in a satisfactory way. Don't worry about violence by the way, Aku's minions are all robotlike creatures so no real blood will be shed with Jack's katana.

 

We can forgive the lack of originality in the gameplay, it's a game aimed at younger gamers. What we can't forgive as easily though is the game's look. All of the cartoon's minimalistic stylishness is gone here, it's replaced with a quite standard 3D cel shading look. It doesn't look that bad, but it could've looked so much better if more creative effort was put into it. The cartoon's flat but stylish look could've been used to make a very cool looking game, a nice swordfighting game with a dash of Viewtiful Joe's 2D/3D ideas. From what it looks like now, Samurai Jack will be a quite standard action adventure. If you really like Jack or that kind of games there's no problem, but most gamers will want to look further if they want to have a good time. It's a shame, the license screams for more.