When news of the Afro Samurai game first came out, it was met with the wild acclaim of fans of the animated series, and the relative indifference of everyone else. Such is the fate of most games based on an anime series - it's only really going to draw the attention of existing fans.

Unique visuals; Excellent music & voice acting; Interesting story divergences

Sound effects could be better; Some gameplay hiccups

Afro Samurai, the cult cartoon series, is a unique blend of an afro and yes a samurai, hip-hop, Samuel L. Jackson and Japanese culture. It's unique even in the field of anime, which is saying a lot. Conversely, the game version doesn't share its namesakes uniqueness.

Kevin VanOrd slices and dices his way through this review for Afro Samurai. (Video Contains Mature Content) A couple of months after Afro Samurai's release, an option to invert camera control was added via a free update that also addressed a number of bugs and tweaked one of the boss fights.

Across the generations, every platform has catered to a few titles that fall into the "beat 'em up" or "hack-and-slash" genre-off the top of our heads we can name a couple: Kung Fu Master (NES) and Streets of Rage (Genesis) .

In the end, I was glad it was over. The initial flare it possessed had faded away long ago, and the whole experience began to dull and repeat itself. I do commend Jackson for working on projects such as this. It's very similar to to his reason for playing in Snakes on a Plane .

Afro Samurai is based on the anime cartoon series of the same name and features an "Afro" samurai with a mystical headband that also happens to be a master with the Samurai sword.

Afro Samurai is the cutting edge game that delivers a new kind of cinematic game experience, a living episode that offers addictive, immersive and compelling gameplay that's literally dripping in style.

Let me cut to the chase. I have never seen an entire episode of the Afro Samurai anime. I am familiar with it, I have seen the commercials and I know a little about it from friends, but I wouldn't identify myself as the type of person that Afro Samurai is aimed towards.

Slice it to pieces and dissect each individual limb like an adolescent science student with an unfortunate toad and you'll find Afro Samurai contains everything it should. Everything's even in the right places.

The game definitely needs some work. I think it has a lot of potential to be better, but Namco has to work on the A.I. and the depth just a bit more. With that said, it's not too bad and at least worth a look/rental.