Sengoku BASARA 4 came out in January 2014 for the PlayStation 3 in Japan. But, even though the game is a MASSIVELY popular game in Asia, the game is not set to be released outside of Eastern countries. Ever.
After the poor sales of Sengoku BASARA 3, CAPCOM decided to never release a Sengoku BASARA game outside of Japan, causing an upset in the games Western fans. The game was very well made and turned a lot of gamers into fans of the series, so it was a shock when it received no real attention.
Now, I should speak about the game itself, rather than how the series pretty much got banned from being released in English.
As a huge fan of the series, it shocks me that not many people actually speak about this game, even if you have to import it. Even with the Japanese controls, the game is very easy to pick up and play, but still hard enough to bring a challenge.
The newest in the franchise brought us new gameplay mechanics, including a tag team mode when a character reaches Level 50, an extra special move; known as the ‘Giga BASARA’, which can change the tide of battle if used right. It lets us control the chosen partner you take into battle with the L2 button, moving them around the field while you complete a task.
It’s set as a prequel to the BASARA series, giving us extra backstory for important characters, showing us the childhood self of Masamune Date as he meets his retainer, Kojuro Katakura. It shows us Mitsunari Ishida before Hideyoshi Toyotomi was murdered in battle, happy with his life as a loyal soldier. It gives us another point of view as the game does lead up to other battles, including Sekigahara, the battle of Mitsunari Ishia against Ieyasu Tokugawa, used in Sengoku BASARA 3 as the final battle. Sadly, as the game isn’t in English, I can’t really explain much more story. Any words I can translate are lost in a sea of Kanji and Masamune’s Engrish shouts of ‘COME WITH ME’.
The gameplay is amazing, though. As usual, hack and slash gaming really improves my standards of games and Sengoku BASARA 4 is beginning to set a bar, in my honest (and possibly biased) opinion. The ‘March Screen’ is your hub between battles, giving you the chance to edit weapons, character levels and add playbooks, as you watch your character galloping away on their majestic horses (for most characters). Once you’ve finished your work here, you can march to the battle, choosing between, usually, a lot of choices. Once you get used to the battles and their types, it won’t matter that you can’t read the names. And learning the objectives isn’t hard once you notice the signs the game will give you.
The BASARA series if VERY overlooked by gaming critics. Sengoku BASARA 4 is proof of that, which makes it sadder that it has to be imported. New characters, new gameplay mechanics, new combos, everything CAPCOM could do with the series has been done! I find the game amazing and I recommend ANYONE to pick up Sengoku BASARA 3 (also known as Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes in the West) from a bargain bin (sadly) to get into the franchise. I insist.
