Advantages: Easy to understand rules - exciting game play - Dramatic looking board
Disadvantages: Miniatures easilly broken - Needs 3+ players to be enjoyed at its best

...the start of each turn) to spend their Koku, place men, declare attacks, fight battles. Fighting battles is simply a matter of rolling die, each type of soldier needs a higher or lower number to kill an enemy soldier. Soldiers range from - Spearmen (weakest) - Gunners - Samurai Swordsmen - Archers - Daimo (Strongest - although archers are the best troops to have as they get to attack first) As stated above, the first time you play this game, it can be very enjoyable playing with just 2 players (indeed I spent many a night playing with the men on my own, not even using the board or rules), but to be best enjoyed it really needs a group of friends (or 3+ family members) as with more than 2 players you can implement different tactics, stratagies, teamwork etc that you can not do with only 2 of you. The only slight drawbacks of this game... Read review

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Advantages: The acting, the story, the effects
Disadvantages: Billy Connolly

...and The Thin Red Line's John Toll." Bob Strauss, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS Overall this movie gets 4 stars out of 5 from me, with one being taken off because of Billy Connolly. ***A LITTLE HISTORY*** Of course, to be faithful to the film, the writers and producers had to research the samurai culture first and I did the same out of curiosity. The Samurai live by "bushido" which means living by the code of the warrior. Bushido means that a warrior must be honorable, loyal, disciplined and show respect towards others. The Samurai were military Japanese warriors who favoured the old way of life, which included weapons such as swords, bows, arrows and fighting martial arts skills. If a samurai warrior died in battle, it was seen to be a good death and honourable. If however, a warrior was captured or saved from a battle, then a warrior... Read review

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Advantages: Good value, good quality all around
Disadvantages: May be a little hard to understand for a first time anime viewer

...This DVD Box set of Samurai X (Original Japanese Title : Rurouni Kenshin, Rurouni, meaning Master-less Samurai or wondering Samurai and Kenshin being the name of the main character.) This box set contains 4 DVD's; Trust Betrayal The Motion Picture Reflections All in all they run for about 5 hours. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The DVD's in this set tell the story of Hitokiri Battousai, a man famed (of so the story goes) for being the most powerful and deadly manslayer of the Meji Restoration in Japan, effectively an assasin. Samurai X is also linked to three series of Anime which are also available (the cost is about $100, it doesn't seem to be available in the UK yet). Trust and Betrayal are set before the series, The Motion Picture is set at a point during the series and Reflections... Read review

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Advantages: Exciting, looks great, convincing
Disadvantages: Hollywood ending, a bit TOO PC for its own good

...culture into Japan. Of course, this will line their pockets but the politics of greed goes against the ancient Samurai, the Emperor's legendary warriors, who think Japan should remain pure. It is against the Samurai, led by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), that Algren is training the new Japanese army to use American rifles. This technological advantage against the sword-wielding Samurai should be sufficient to wipe the old ways from Japan forever but Algren is forced into leading his men into battle before they are confident using their guns. The Samurai wipe them out. Algren shows a resolute determination in close combat, managing to kill one of the warriors before he is killed himself. Intrigued, Katsumoto takes Algren captive. The Samurai return to their village where their wives and young children have remained. They are simple farmers... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Fast paced action
Disadvantages: Odd voiceover

...--Onimusha 2:Samurai's Destiny-- --£14.99-- --GAME-- --Introduction-- I bought this with a 2 for £30 offer in game and I was very impressed. It's tones better than the first one and much more better, visually better and very playable, easy to play and a great story line. Dodgy voice acting and cameras aside, this is one superb adventure. As Jubei Yagyu, you must destroy the threat, Nobunaga, and bring peace back to the land after seeing your village destroyed by his demons(read story below). Story ------- In Eiroku 3 (AD 1560), the warlord Nobunaga Oda defeated his rival Yoshimoto Imagawa in Okehazama. At the moment of supreme victory, Nobunaga was felled by a random arrow shot by one of Imagawa's bowmen. Against all reason, his demise did not mark the end of Nobunaga's fate. The evil he had wrought while on earth had... Read review

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Advantages: gripping, intense storyline. brilliant directing
Disadvantages: A samurai film. Many will snub for that reason

...nicely with the film, I assure you. The moment that the film begins it sets the scene for what you the viewer can expect. It uses a bichromatic red/black effect to show to very competent samurai doing a sword kata, and it looks most impressive, easily wetting your appetite for the film to come. SAMURAI FICTION CAST ╚╝╚╝╚╝╚╝╚╝ ;╚╝╚╝╚╝ •Morio Kazama ~ Hanbei Mizoguchi •Mitsuru Fukikoshi ~ Heishiro Inukai •Tomoyasu Hotei ~ Rannosuke Kazamatsuri {Japanese Rock Star with 21 albums} •Tamaki Ogawa ~ Koharu Mizoguchi •Mari Natsuki ~ Okatsu {The Hunted, Sakuran, Spirited Away} •Taketoshi Naito ~ Kanzen Inukai •Kei Tani ~ Kagemaru •Fumiya Fujii ~ Ryunosuke Kuzumi {Japanese Pop Star with 19 albums... Read review

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Advantages: New Officers | Story | Original Extras | Skills | Action | Strategy
Disadvantages: Not Good Without Orginal Samurai Warriors | Graphics

...This is a review on the expansion pack to one of Koei's newest saga's called Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends, though the name is quite deceiving as in fact there are no Xtreme or Legends mode in this game unlike the Dynasty Warriors Xtreme Legends, but the enhancements they have made with the expansion pack is still good enough to have a play. Produced by W-Force and created by Koei, this is one game that you do not want to miss out on if you are a fan of the Sengoku Muso era. So, some of you now are probably wandering what is Samurai Warriors? Well it is set in ancient Japan, where clan's have formed to try and gain control of the land and become the sole ruler of it for either peace or to cause more chaos. Unlike in Dynasty Warriors, there are loads of clan's in this, many of them are small clan's that rise up to be known as hero... Read review

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Advantages: A strong historical drama with and excellent story outstanding acting and breathtaking scenery
Disadvantages: The length may be long for some viewers

..., and directed with sheer brilliance by Edward Zwick, Tom Cruise’s acting is astounding in this film, you see him take blows and strikes and beatings without a flinch. He learned to speak Japanese and expended a true effort and a dedication to his craft, training intensely in the use of a katana (Japanese long sword) and how to accurately employ the weaponry with economic yet masterly effort. Ken Watanabe portrays the wisdom, poise and elegance of Katsumoto the leader of the last Samurai tribe charmingly and marvellously in his Supporting Actor Oscar nomination role. The cinematography is incredible; expressing the beauty of the Japanese landscape, the peaceful yet harsh environment of an age now since vanished. The beautiful, exotic yet restive play of light over the mountaintops from a Japanese sunset with the silhouette of Cruise... Read review

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Advantages: Great choreography and acting
Disadvantages: Too Americanised

...The Last Samurai is the 2003 film telling a tale of Civil War in Japan in the late 19th Century. It is loosely based on true stories and accounts of civil war battles and politics around that era, and deals with issues such as westernisation and heritage, but ultimately it is an action film with some very good sequencing and acting. The Plot In the late 19th Century, the Japanese government is embroiled in a civil war with its sanurai, the age-old personal guard to the king. The government believes the samurai to be of the past and rebellious. They draft in the American Captain Nathan Algren to train their troops in the modern Western ways of fighting in order to defeat the samurai. Captured by the samurai, Algram meets their leader, Katsumoto, and their destinies become intertwined. As the Japanese government prepares to attack... Read review

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Advantages: Modern day epic
Disadvantages: none

...their characters whilst at the films premier. 'Theatrical Trailer' is the original film trailer. 'Bushido: Way Of The Samurai' is a few pages of text describing Bushido; the Samurai code of honour. The film also comes with a selection of DVDRom extras. = Conclusion & Rating = This is definitely a modern epic, which although maybe historically flawed it is still highly entertaining and very watch able. The story is engrossing and the performances tell it very well. This will appeal to fans of films such as 'Gladiator' and 'Troy'. Not only is the film very good but the extras packaged with the DVD are brilliant which makes this a very good purchase, which can currently be bought on Amazon for £9.97. = Trivia = Tom Cruise narrowly escaped potentially fatal injuries after a sword was swung... Read review

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