If you ever knew anyone who knew someone else that lived through the time that was feudal Japan as a Samurai, you’ll know it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. If you didn’t kill, it was likely that you yourself would be killed. Tough luck that you chose to be Samurai then. Majesco have decided to bring that experience back to gamers, although it will be a lot less dangerous, since you won’t actually be meeting Samurais, only in a game world. Phew.

Coming hopefully this year, developer Genki plan to release the game as Kengo: Legend of the 9 in the US, whilst a more simple Kengo Zero will be the name of the game for European territories, with the objective being to become the best Samurai warrior in the land. The game boasts the following features:

• Play as any of nine real samurai warriors from history: Musashi Miyamoto, Jubei Yagyu, Sanako Chiba, Ittosai Ito, Izo Okada, Soji Okita, Kojiro Sasaki, Ryoma Sakamoto and Yasubi Horibe
• Each samurai has different storylines, attributes and attack techniques
• Battles are loosely based on historical events including the raid of the Kira mansion and the battle at Ganryujima
• Choose between 4 unique game play modes:
• Main Mode—Select a character and advance his/her storyline that interconnects with other character storylines.
• Mission Mode—Includes 10 different missions that must be completed within a set time limit.
• Combat Mode—Compete in a 2-player head-to-head match.
• Xbox Live Leaderboard: Connect to Xbox Live and compete against other gamers by pitting AI Characters against each other. Once the match has begun, your character will act according to his or her AI Traits. Your rank will change based on the outcome of the match, and you will be rewarded with various items for reaching certain ranks that you can use in game.
• Customize your samurai’s nickname, fighting stance and weapons using items won online.
• Collect and use Spirit Spheres to upgrade your samurai’s attributes including health, stamina, attack power and defense.
• Earn experience points in battle to unlock new attacks
• Three difficulty levels: Easy, Medium or Difficult
• Perform Instant Kills by mastering grapple moves and using the environment to your advantage
• Edit your own range of diverse combo attacks.
• Gorgeous high definition, next generation graphics employ light scattering, normal mapping and atmospheric subtleties
• Follow your ranking on Xbox Live and become the best in the world.

The game has a lot of features in its favour, but whether or not the game appeals to a wide audience is not yet known. However it seems the game will be somewhat of a budget title, as the estimated retail price, according to the press release, is $39.99. Some may be sceptical about a budget title, however don’t dismiss it immediately. You just never know.

Anyone excited about this?