As is all too common, WotS is bristling with great ideas that are being hamstrung by poor execution. This game is still quite fun, but it could have been brilliant...
The good is this: you have a great deal of freedom in the game. I often describe the game as a combination of the Seven Samurai and (of all films) Groundhog Day. As a samurai, you relive the same two days over and over, getting to do different things each time. You can be a hero, a thug, a villain, or (almost!) anything in between. The other major plus is that you get to be a samurai. If a great animation of a samurai inserting his katana back into his sheath as his erstwhile enemy staggers to the ground excites you as it does me, you'll have great fun.
The bad is that the game is executed very poorly. Dialogue is horribly translated, riddled with typos, and often out of context (I swear they messed up the order of some of the lines). Even when it's properly spelled and such, the dialogue is never very good. For a game seeling itselrf partly on the basis of story, this is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. It's not hard to get stuff spelled right when you're producing a videogame. Finally, the story shows its weakness around the fourth time you play through the game. Around the beginning of the third act, you start to be railroaded into one of the (relatively few) endings. You suddenly feel like you're on the bed of Procrustes, with all of your subtle deviations from previous paths (like I'll be nicer to the girl, I'll be a jerk to the dude with an afro) completely ignored by the game; it's as if the game were desperate to wrap things up, so is willing to ignore your input.
A rental at least. If you feel like you enjoy the combat and ambiance enough to forgive its other faults, pick it up.
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