main theme, "Samurai Struck". The original soundtrack "Musashiden II: Blademaster Original Soundtrack" was released on July 21, 2005. Another album was released by the Surf Coasters which featured a full version of the opening theme. Reception Musashi: Samurai Legend sold almost 58,000 copies during the week of its release in Japan. By the end of 2005, it sold over 91,000 copies in Japan. The game received mixed reviews overall from critics. The graphics were generally praised, but criticized for inconsistent frame rates: IGN called the "manga-shading" style "a neat trick", and GameSpot noted that it was a unique visual style, but both criticized the frequent slow-downs and IGN further criticized the repetitive environments. GameSpy felt that the graphics themselves were inconsistent, with good character designs but with environmental designs mixed between good and poor, depending on the area; 1UP.com, however, said that the graphics "were tough to criticize". Other aspects of the presentation were criticized: both GameSpy and GameSpot heavily panned the dialogue and voice acting, with GameSpot stating that the voices were poorly done and did not fit the game. IGN added that the game's "surf-rock score... barely makes sense". GamePro also disliked the game's camera system, saying that it worked for outdoors areas, but was difficult to control and see anything for indoors or arena areas, a point with which GameSpy agreed. The gameplay also received mixed reviews: while several reviewers, such as GameSpy and GamePro, praised the gameplay as fun and exciting, GameSpot found combat to be too easy, making most of the gameplay elements pointless as basic attacks were enough to win most battles. IGN heavily criticized the "slow movement and long drawn out gameplay with too much backtracking", and even GameSpy's otherwise positive gameplay review called out Musashi as moving very slowly. The plot was largely ignored by reviewers as a serviceable platform to base an action game on—GameSpot termed it not especially deep, while GamePro felt it had enough characters and twists "to keep things moving along". 1UP.com and GameSpy concluded that the game "generally doesn't live up to the stature" of the previous Musashi game. References External links Official Japanese website 2005 video games Video games with cel-shaded animation Action role-playing video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Square Enix games Video games about samurai Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Junya Nakano Video games scored by Masashi Hamauzu