Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time Switch Review

Games made from movies and TV shows are nothing new. We have been seeing these releases time after time after time only to be disappointed way more frequently than any gamer would ever ask. It is an unfortunate reality that the relationship between Hollywood and video games has been a sour one, but there are those occasions when we are surprised. Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is one of those surprises, and it is a game that simply does the series justice.

Although the animated series finished in 2017, Adult Swim Games has decided to bring back the young prince for another romp through time in his quest to take out Aku once and for all. So is Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time worth your hard-earned dollars? Or should this samurai hang up his hakama for good? Well, let’s find out.

The opening scene is a wonderful reminder of the beautiful artsyle of the animated series, and this cutscene does a stellar job inserting us into the conflict between Jack and Ashi, as well as the seemingly never ending strife between Jack and Aku. As Ashi comes to and realizes her wrongdoings, she begins to battle Aku herself, save Jack, and bring the all-powerful katana back to him. Aku is furious, but then the game begins, because… time travel… kind of.

Stories that focus on time travel can easily overdo it and bog things down, but Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time does a great job of clearly communicating what is actually happening and making sense of everything, even if it is fantastical.

You travel area to area trying to reconnect with Ashi and take out Aku, but it is never that easy. Aku has Jack running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but each stage is beautiful and a wonderful reminder of the long and arduous journey that Jack has been on throughout the series’ history.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is mostly a 3D action game with some random 2D elements and the occasional platforming. Each stage is chock full of secrets and hidden paths that contain good-to-great loot that will serve you well in your journal through time.

Combat is split into three major buttons; light attack, heavy attack, and a ranged attack. Learning to combine these elements will make your adventure significantly easier, but there are many times in the game where spamming light attack is enough to take out the army of enemies at hand.

The weapons you find or receive are truly wide and varied, and it is so convenient to map four weapons to your D-pad. Being able to switch from katana to morning star to bo staff on the fly makes for interesting combat and strategies, particularly when facing the many bosses and mini-bosses throughout the game.

One of the nice things about the weapons is that no combo feels inferior to another. It truly depends on your playstyle and preference. Most weapons, however, have limitations and will break after so much use, and the game does do a good job indicating when this is happening by flashing the weapon in question red. Thankfully, you are able to repair these weapons at Da Samurai’s shop for a reasonable price, and this also gives you the option of spending your money keeping weapons you like or investing money in improving your weapon level.

Each weapon type (Sword, Hammer, Spear, Fist) has its own level system, and this once again gives you the ability and freedom to customize Jack however you see fit. If you enjoy swords and hammers but not spears or fists, you can spend all of your money on just the channels that you enjoy the most. This is such a strength in the game, because there is no one way to win. It depends on what you want and how you want to go about it.

On top of leveling up weapons, Jack can use skill points to improve Spiritual Skills, Physical Skills, and Combat Skills. These skill trees are huge and loaded with useful abilities that can aid you, but just like the weapons, customizing Jack to your playstyle is key and a grand reason why this is a fantastic Samurai Jack game.

Boss fights are some of the best experiences in the game. So many memorable characters from the TV series make an appearance, and each of them are represented perfectly. No two boss fights felt similar, and the story development and dialog that goes on during these battles makes for a richer and fuller experience.

But there are a couple things that made these boss fights significantly easier than they should have been, and I hope the team plans to patch this spamming technique out. If you unlock the Physical Skill “Rushing Guard”, it gives Jack the ability to slide and block, but you can attach an attack to the tail of this ability for an invulnerable power-attack. Combine this with your special ability that builds up through normal gameplay, and some bosses can be defeated within a minute.

Another issue that does not necessarily add or subtract so much from the whole experience is the mediocre platforming. It simply feels clunky at times, especially in the 3rd person perspective. When the game occasionally transitions to a 2D plain, the platforming is significantly better. If only it felt that good throughout the entire game.

Another major piece of praise is Jack’s facial expressions used throughout Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time. Every moment of stoicism, shock, pain, anguish, surprise, and joy radiate through the expression used on screen, and it makes the character feel so much more relatable and human. The expressions reminded me a whole lot of the ones Link could pull off in Wind Waker.

Now at the end of the day, your enjoyment of this game is going to depend a lot on the person playing it. If you are a fan of the series and are looking for a reason to revisit the universe, Battle Through Time is a great adventure for fans and truly the best Samurai Jack game on the market. But if you are not a fan or are unfamiliar with the series, this is still a solid action RPG that will keep you busy for at least 10 hours. The $40 price tag may be a bit intimidating, but the good outweighs the bad in this one a lot. I definitely recommend this game, even if that is just to see the demise of Aku once again.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time Review provided by NintendoLink
Review also available on OpenCritic
Developer: Adult Swim Games
Release Date: August 21, 2020
Price: $39.99, £35.99, €39.99
Game Size: 4.6 GB