Bujingai then, a game that seemingly came from nowhere with no hype to live up to and ends up all the better for it. Successfully blending the experience with the score-attack pseudo-genres together, Bujingai provides a highly impressive combat system with environments and ambience to challenge Dante's crown.

Bujingai follows the story of Liu, a character heavily based upon J-pop idol Gackt. In fact, he's so heavily based on said celebrity, developers Red Entertainment even used him to front their press conferences, and Liu's movements were created by using Gackt as the Motion Capture subject.

Many games begin with a spectacular introduction, following this up with action that pales in comparison to its promise. Bujingai begins with a stunning intro; the player is dumped straight into a fight with multiple enemies, and then left to play around with the controls briefly. The game then replays the last couple of minutes play whilst showing the credits, in the same vein as how Konami's Metal Gear Solid began. Bujingai extends this cinematic quality throughout the entire game, unlike other games which show off an interesting beginning, only to trail off into mediocrity later down the line.

This brief little introduction gives the player a slight hint of the combat, which looks aeons more impressive than anything Dante could perform. Mashing the attack buttons unleashes a flurry of sword based attacks which appear to be able to destroy any creature standing in your way, but it's not long until this approach isn't suitable. Each successive hit you place on an enemy increases your Combo count by one, and this count is reset to zero if you squander too much time on the ground without hitting an opponent, and it's also reset if you get hit yourself. Liu is highly manoeuverable, being able to jump quickly around opponents, run along walls for a limited time, and zoom in the air from one battle to the next. Also, depending on the combo used, you can score more hits from attacking in a certain way to another. For example, performing the basic combo on the ground, launching the enemies into the air, following them yourself and dishing out more damage in the air until they leave your grasp can sometimes keep an opponent active longer, and therefore allowing you to plant more hits, than if you simply performed a basic combo on the ground. Bujingai provides plenty of opportunity for improvisation in your attacks. The Air Combos are some of the most impressive things you will find in the game, providing multiple uses. Firstly, you can use it to fight just outside of the range of most attacks, and most importantly, you can use it to shortcut some of the levels. Each time you hit an opponent in the air, you are both knocked up slightly, and by timing each hit you can slowly make your way skywards, sometimes accessing previously inaccessible areas. Not only does Bujingai allow for player satisfaction in terms of how much damage you can deal out, it also lets you do it in style. Holding the attack button down after the final hit produces some of the coolest poses seen in a videogame. Bujingai's fighting system will keep you occupied for quite some time.

Fighting systems alone however, do not a game make. Bujingai's environments look truly stunning, despite sometimes repeating the same textures often. The levels range from a beautiful desolate city, to a foggy Bamboo forest, to the archetypical snow level. Each level provides something new, something different to test your moves on. The Bamboo Forest level for example, completely contrasts with the first level. The enemies are really spread apart, and there's no walls for you to keep yourself off the ground. An average player will counter this by occasionally chopping down a tree to keep the combo counter ticking, but after plenty of practice it's entirely possible to cover large distances by hitting trees and keeping yourself afloat. However pretty the levels are though, they often seem a little bit too long, just for the sake of making them longer. Deja vu is an oft-felt emotion during the sprawling levels, intensified by the repeating textures and the incredibly similar enemies that you have to face.

Like the duality of the genres with which Bujingai represents, it's possible to play the game in two ways. Some players will replay each level over and over until they can chain the entire level, earning massive scores. Others will simply play the game through level-by-level until the end credits roll, and it's in this way that Bujingai truly transcends classification. Shooting itself in the foot somewhat though, Bujingai gives a player a rating depending on how they perform in terms of swordsmanship, speed and other variables, yet this rating is only given for the first time you complete a level, as it's possible to return to previously completed levels once they have been cleared. Oddly, the highly impressive boss battles are also missing the next time around. With such a solid basis in the combat system, it's truly odd to see the ranking system being diluted.

If Bujingai had a middle name, "Impressive" would be it. Bujingai's boss battles are by far the most epic sections, which mainly involve the player using the parry ability to the extreme. If the player is currently not in an attacking animation loop, and is facing an enemy when they attack, then both combatants begin a furious flurry of attacks, where the play must either counter the attacks by pressing attack, or jump out of the way in the hope that an opening appears to the sides or the rear. However, as you stay entangled in this battle, your defence meter ticks down, and if it reaches zero then the enemy will manage to land a hit on you. When you do finally manage to bring the battle round in your favour though, it's time to take advantage of the opportunity by trying to keep your combo going for as long as possible. The Air combos come in use here, and with some of the larger bosses it's quite possible to buzz around their head, dishing out hits until you manage to miss, which looks highly impressive. As mentioned before though, the game skips these encounters second time around.

Bujingai apes Sega's Shinobi update, but with the handling kept a little looser than Sega's taught controls, giving the player plenty of freedom to do as they please. The first level can be completed by only fighting a modicum of enemies, by simply flying and wall-running past all the enemies. Sega's title often locked the player into having the kill the given set of enemies before proceeding, and it's this ability that gives Bujingai its strength, you can improvise on almost anything. Environments should be designed around the rule set that the game creates to provide interesting opportunities, called emergent behaviour, to paraphrase some so-called expert games designers. The rule set (in Bujingai's case, the allowed movements and combat system) should complement level design, to allow players to gain the most from the game. Emergent behaviour is in essence creating a simple set of rules that can then provide almost limitless possibilities, such as a game of chess, and Bujingai's rule set certainly adheres to these rules. Bujingai gives you the tools to tackle the environment how you want, rather than the environment appearing to provide some interactivity. Academia does have some uses within the industry then.

Bujingai is similar to many games, yet in it's implementation, it appears completely fresh. It's more satisfying to play than Devil May Cry, and allows players to pull off awesome chaining attacks much like Shinobi. It's better than neither of these titles, as it's a completely unique experience. Skipping through the levels to complete it will satisfy some players who play simply to see the end credits, yet others will garner hours and hours of time from it, learning how to keep their combo chains going from start to finish. However, the repetitive levels and tiresome enemies may be enough to put some people off what is essentially an incredibly competent title.