Review: Katana Zero

A friend of mine pointed out Katana Zero to me a few years ago and promised it to me for my birthday. I only just now got it because it only just now released.  Was it worth the wait?

In a word, yes.

I had high expectations of the game.  I expected lightning fast combat, nintendo-hard levels reminiscent of Super Meat Boy or Dust Squad.  I expected a brilliant soundtrack.  I expected a moody, cyberpunkish, neo-noir storyline with hints of unreality and conspiracy in it.  What I got was a masterpiece of game design crossed with an amazing storyline and a wicked good dialogue system.  I didn't expect a retro action-platformer to evoke so much from me, from the frustration of the wild, brilliant, super-hard boss fights to the satisfaction of watching a playback of my fights where my character is moving too fast for you to track thinking "Is that me playing?" to a wild, convoluted, amazing storyline that has me wanting to play it again, to better explore the world, to understand what's going on.

It's about $15 on GOG (or Steam, if you prefer).  It plays like a cross between side-scrolling Hotline Miami, Prince of Persia and Spec Ops: the Line.  If that speaks to you, then the game is better than you think.

Normally I fill these reviews with the good vs the bad and an analysis, but I'm still digesting it, so my thoughts mostly boil down to "Wow.  WOW!"

But is it Psi-Wars?

I'm not going to lie: that trailer there inspired the Dark Vigil chapter.  I loved the idea of a samurai lounging in a nightclub with time control powers that let him rip through his opposition while navigating an underworld filled with crime, and so that's what came out of it.  After playing the game, I think I can give you a few more Psi-Wars elements out of it.

I do want to say this, though.  One of my big frustrations with Star Wars and people who are "strong in the force" is that this always translates into how well they fight or how much they can lift.  We never really get a visceral sense of what the Force can do other than telekinesis and occassionally some people sit around glaring at one another and we go "Oh, telepathy," or they find no useful information in the future.

In Psi-Wars, I wanted to emphasize how "power" might mean deep insight into the future, or absurdly good reflexes.  I wanted to make you understand what makes a Templar a monster to fight, and it's not that he can throw big rocks at you.

Katana Zero captures that perfectly.  Most games sort of give you victory, with most NPCs having slow or dull AI handling them so you can creep really close or kill a bunch before they've even noticed you.  Katana Zero does no such babying. If someone sees you,  you have maybe a second before they shoot you, and they can see you and shoot you from all the way off-screen.  I've seen minor NPC mooks shoot thrown weapons out of the air (mostly by accident, but still).

Your character sees it all.  Every mistake just means you reset and now you know how it will play out.  You know every move they will make before they make it.  Nothing will surprise you.  You can slow time to a crawl and parry bullets, dash past opponents and take out 5 guys before they can blink despite their armor, shields and guns, and the game didn't just give it to you,  you earned it.

That's honestly how I think a Jedi should fight.  Perhaps it's too hard to bring across in film, but perhaps I can achieve it in RPG form, and this game certainly achieves it in video game form.