Way of the Samurai 3 was developed by Acquire and published by Spike and by Agetec (Armored Core Series) for the PS3, and UFO Interactive Games for the XBox 360. It stands as the next in the series after Way of the Samurai 1&2, and features another feudal warrior looking to make an impact in a war torn land.

I approached Way of the Samurai 3 with a whole lot of expectations and perhaps even more in the way of excitement. This was a series that I truly enjoyed on the PlayStation 2 (though the whole series does at times feel like lost potential), and I thought that with the added power of the PlayStation 3 (and perhaps with the developers learning from several other open-ended and rich narrative based titles out there), this was going to be a serious contender in the way of sandbox gameplay. What I ended up actually encountering when playing the game was a title that actually seemed to take a step back for the series. And after experiencing the game multiple times, my disappointment seemed to multiply along with it.

Determined to find some merit in this game, I called upon my 11 year old nephew to lend some fresh wide-eyed innocence to the experience.

Sitting next to me on the couch, we booted up the game on the 360 and began the adventure. First, constructing a hero is pretty standard fare – choosing from a myriad of heads, clothing items, and swords (some of which you can reuse from previous game saves and adventures). Our ronin formed, we began in a rain soaked field, the muddy earth still carrying the worn tracks of horse-riding samurai and heavily armed battalions. We wandered around a bit, looting items off bodies and watching other random characters that also looked like they were randomly generated, very poorly, do the same.

My nephew, somewhat confused began to speak, “Uncle? Are you playing on an emulator?” I, confused by his question for a moment, responded, “No, this is a 360 game... it just doesn’t look like it.” And it didn’t.

Graphically, the game is a small stumble ahead of its PS2 based predecessors. This was my first indication that this experience might not be the best one. I tried to buffer my disappointment with some words of encouragement, perhaps more so for myself than my nephew, “Sometimes, what a developer will do is attempt to pack as much content as possible to provide a more robust game, but at the sacrifice of some other elements.” There. That was a solid answer. Surely my nephew would… Well absolutely not buy it at all. As he narrowed his eyes toward the screen he asked me, “Then this game must have sooooo much content.”

Our ronin, named Raize, is a character free to do whatever he wants to do. He can attack anything breathing, and draw the ire of do-gooders nearby, or he can attempt to be the everyman. The silent hero. Perhaps raising blade only to combat the forces of iniquity. And yeah, when someone dies, more often than not it is pretty permanent. So you could spend one play through trying to thoroughly eliminate everyone, outside of the children, and see just how far you can go. This is highly not recommended seeing as how as you just start out there is nothing remotely intimidated about you and you can be cut down rather quickly.

It’s all quite pathetic to start.

Now, keep in mind with new weapons and much practice in combat comes new techniques, but you'll probably rely one one or two solid combos and really see no need to expand your arsenal.

You’ll find that the wide open spaces that you may be accustomed to in other games in this genre has been confined to a handful of areas that really become very old, very quickly. You’ll play the errand boy, the assassin, the bully, and the troubled hero... But none of it feels substantial. It’s almost like playing an open ended demo. It seems like a nice amount of content, but it’s really just very limited opportunities squished together to give the illusion of variety. And don’t bother trying to be the aggressor and chase a thief down – if you draw your sword, the people will fear you and the law will hunt you. This apparently is the way of the samurai. The consistent ability to piss everyone off and get nothing done.

We've been playing the game for several hours now, my nephew and I, and he’s been able to deliver messages and save a few key characters from harm. Then he is confronted by what may be his hardest challenge – actually fighting someone with the combat system in the game. There may be a lot of weapons in the game, but good luck enjoying yourself with them. The combat system works, and at times, works fairly well. But God forbid your weapon’s defense is low, because blocking will be a complete waste of time. Don’t even press the button. Seriously. Don’t bother. You’re going to bother aren't you? Your funeral.

Way of the Samurai 3 suffers from the “curse of lacking.” It simply lacks the fundamental ability to rise beyond the small world, the brutally dated graphics (with super sweet clipping), horrible English voice acting, and little replay value. Yes, you can form the story, and yes you are really at the heart of the conflict sometimes, but it just isn't enough.

After replaying over twenty times, and seeing everything from becoming the ruler of a clan (which yielded zero actual benefit), to dying because the local law enforcement didn't like when I accidentally drew my sword, my nephew put the controller down and just walked away. This was a pretty pivotal moment I think, so I asked him, “You don’t want to play anymore?” And the answer he gave to me probably gives you a good idea just how the game was, “Play what? I’m going outside.” That’s right. The true Way of the Samurai is confronting our children, the next generation, which gameplay so bad that it forces them to re-evaluate the worth of the world around them. It will force them – to live. This is the greatest gift this game will offer you. It will make you take a break from videogames.

There’s a good chance you didn't play this game. There's a good chance that this is a game you might have missed. Well, it was probably for good reason.

This game was purchased for the XBox 360 at a local video game retailer. It was played more than several times on multiple difficulties. My nephew thinks it would better serve me as a coaster.