From Classic Cinema to (then) Modern Gaming
Seven Samurai 20XX, as its title suspiciously reveals, is an adaptation of the Japanese cinema classic "Seven Samurai," by the notable director Akira Kurosawa. The film, released in 1954 and now celebrating its 71th anniversary, serves as inspiration for the story and characters of the 2004 game. In the film, which is one of the most adapted, honored, and referenced works in culture in general, villagers ask a samurai for protection against bandits who want to steal all the harvest from the poor local farmers. With this, the lonely samurai sets out in search of six more warriors who can help in the counter-attack and protection of the villagers.
Akira Kurosawa, in the center, and part of the cast of the 1954 film.
Becoming a cinema revolution at the time of its release, Shichinin no Samurai—the film's original Japanese title—became an icon of how to make an epic that mixes action, drama, and even a touch of comedy. Its influence can be clearly seen in American and Italian Western films of the 1960s, throughout the Star Wars saga, and in various other films, cartoons, comics, anime, and, of course, games.
From the 16th Century to the Future of the New Millennium
The exotic nature of Seven Samurai 20XX begins with the fact that, although its objective is to be an adaptation that honors the classic, it transports its entire narrative to a futuristic world, justifying the "20XX" suffix in its title. The story now takes place in a sci-fi setting and presents various elements of the film in a way that fits this new universe, without deviating too much from the original.Dialogues are important for setting the story, as gameplay makes it complicated...
Now, instead of a story about farmers and harvests being stolen by bandits, we have our hero and protagonist Natoe assisting Kambei—the only character literally translated from the film—in recruiting five other warriors to protect a citadel from the attack of beings called "humanoids". However, the plot still gets a new twist: mysteries, betrayals, divine figures, and even a break dance presentation reminiscent of Jet Set Radio.
Although the central narrative is the same, several elements were modified to better suit a video game, and while they might have been poorly received at the time, today it's even funny to see how certain trends were explored in the early last decade. The protagonist Natoe, who is based on the character Katsushiro in the film, has a personality averse to his inspiration, for example, appearing much more like a classic shounen anime protagonist.
Natoe (left) was based on Katsushiro (right), the de facto protagonist of Seven Samurai.
This gives the game a unique feel that deviates from the primary source of inspiration, yet in a peculiar way, it still engages the player with its strangely interesting story. Of course, it might be an acquired taste for a product of its time, but the game's cutscenes are the purest essence of what the PlayStation 2 could offer then, similar to Devil May Cry and Suda51 titles.
Miyamoto Musashi Would Be Disappointed
Being a game primarily about sword-wielding warriors, Seven Samurai 20XX unfortunately falls short in a basic aspect that is perhaps the main reason why the game isn't remembered as a cult classic today: its gameplay is definitely not the best, and Natoe's sword attacks are a bad joke regarding the legacy of the director's works that inspired the game.The main gameplay loop of Seven Samurai 20XX is a kind of mixture between Musou-style games, like Samurai Warriors, and arena fighting games, like the popular Shonen Jump anime games. It's a shame that none of this works in the most fluid way, unlike the aforementioned Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, and other titles that already did well at the time. With a campaign almost as long as the film—no exaggeration—the game bombards the player with a hyperbolic number of enemies at an extremely irregular pace. It's common for one phase of the game to have almost 100 enemies in a single area, and in the next, only a dozen, accompanied by five consecutive boss fights. In fact, if the game were just a boss rush from start to finish—as in one of the modes you unlock by achieving 100% completion—it might have been better received, as some fights are truly fun and interesting.
Tatsuma (right), based on the character Kikuchiyo, is another character to sport a beautiful cropped top in the game.
One of the qualities of Seven Samurai 20XX is its visual design, which, if questionable during its release and in the years that followed, today serves to portray mannerisms and choices that perhaps no longer work. All characters wear extremely fashionable and impractical clothes for warriors ready for battle, but the goal is not that; it is to represent seven samurai—or hunters, as the narrative presents them—with very distinct identities and visuals. And the game manages to do this well.
Onimusha 3 Was Not the First Encounter Between French and Samurai in Games...
It's interesting to note that conceptual art for the game's characters was done by none other than Moebius, a French visual artist famous for his work not only in cinema and comics, but also in games, such as Panzer Dragoon. From his hands come touches that give a surrealistic air to some moments of the game, mainly due to some figures that stand out quite a bit from the more anime style of the protagonists.
Furthermore, the ambiance has highs and lows in equal measure, which makes the player experience slingshot effects in a way that is even difficult to follow. While half of the game takes the player through monochromatic corridors facing hundreds of identical enemies without any strategy, other areas shine and bring a living world. In fact, one of the areas, the Chinatown that the game presents in the first half of the campaign, strongly resembles the cities of Star Wars, showing that the developers also used another source inspired by Kurosawa's work.
Want to Enjoy the Adventure More Often? Better Do It With the Movie
As previously mentioned, the campaign of Seven Samurai 20XX is not very long: in less than six hours, it's possible to finish the game and achieve 100% completion, collect some different weapons, and defeat all optional bosses. With this, the player can unlock some extra modes, such as a Colosseum where all bosses can be faced consecutively, and also use the weapons collected during the main campaign in a New Game Plus mode.Is it worth revisiting the game after a first playthrough? Probably not. The downside of being a game so heavily reliant on being an adaptation of a film classic is that the focus seems to have been solely on that and nothing else. An extremely weak gameplay that offers nothing to vary future playthroughs fails to provide a basis for greater enjoyment, and everything positive the game has can be experienced in the first run. This is the main reason why Seven Samurai 20XX was forgotten over time.
Despite all the problems the title carries, it's impossible to be a fan of games and cinema and not have your curiosity piqued when you learn that not only Disney or superhero films received adaptations for the video game world. But this mixture of Dynasty Warriors, Akira Kurosawa, Star Wars, and a surrealist touch by Moebius called Samurai Seven 20XX is an excellent justification to dust off the PlayStation 2 and turn it on to enjoy one of the games that, even twenty years later, remains a platform exclusive.
Note: I originally posted this text in pt-br last year, when both game and movie were on their 20th and 70th anniversary, respectively. So that's why I cited 21th and 71th in this time. Hope you all enjoy!
