7 Blades
| 7 Blades | |
|---|---|
 PAL version cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Konami Computer Entertainment Japan East Paradise Pictures |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Director(s) | Kaizo Hayashi |
| Producer(s) | Atsushi Horigami |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
7 Blades (セブンブレイズ) is an action-adventure video game developed by Konami for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) home game console. It was released in Japan on December 21, 2000 and in PAL regions on September 28, 2001.
Plot
7 Blades is based on the 1990 film Zipang, directed by Japanese filmmaker Kaizo Hayashi.[1] The game takes place in mid-17th century Japan, during which the Tokugawa shogunate was gaining power. The game is set on the man-made island Dejima, which the Japanese government is using to house Western foreigners and where a Christian group is trying to separate from the rest of the country.[1][2] The main character is Gokurakumaru, a violent mercenary and poor womanizer. He travels with his gun-wielding love interest (Oyuri) and sidekick (Togizo). The latter provides comic relief and holds the swords as Gokurakumaru collects them one by one.
Development
7 Blades was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan East (KCEJ East) in association with Paradise Pictures. The game was in development for over two years with a staff of around 20 people. Konami was assisted by Hayashi, who served as the game's directing supervisor and was given creative control over its storyline, dialogue, and action.[1][2][3] Hayashi had not been involved in video games prior to 7 Blades, but began leaning towards production of such a game when visual advances in computer graphics were made in the medium, striving to make it "universally appealing".[3] Hayashi meant for 7 Blades to cover a wide range of genres, and that even with the player killing a large number of enemies, hoped that it could be enjoyed as a sophisticated sword-fighting game as well. Hayashi felt that meshing the story branches of the two playable characters was a feature "only possible in a game".[3] Both Hayashi and producer Atsushi Horigami understood the importance of gameplay and insisted on making "a movie with some very deep action gameplay elements".[1]
7 Blades was first announced by Konami in May 2000, just before the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).[4] Konami released the first screenshots of the game in July of that year and made the game available to play at the Tokyo Game Show in September.[5][6] The game was released in Japan on December 21, 2000 alongside the 7 Blades Original Soundtrack produced by the Meyna Company and the single for the opening theme "Love Will See Us Though" by Sayaka Kubo.[7][8][9] A novelization of the game titled 7 Blades Jigoku Gokurakumaru to Teppou Oyuri (7BLADES―地獄極楽丸と鉄砲お百合) by Ryosuke Sakaki was published by Dengeki Media Works in February 2002.[10]
Reception
7 Blades was met with a lukewarm critical response from European and Australian publications, currently holding an aggregate score of 64.5% on GameRankings.[11]
7 Blades was re-released under the "Konami the Best" range of budget titles in Japan, as well as its collection of European budget titles.[12][13]
References
- ^ a b c d IGN staff (October 31, 2000). "7 Blades". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ a b Provo, Frank. "7 Blades Preview". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ a b c Konami (September 28, 2001). 7 Blades Instruction Manual. Konami. p. 32. SLES-50109.
- ^ Zdyrko, Dave (May 5, 2000). "Off the Record, Vol. 48". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ Strohm, Axel (July 17, 2000). "Update: 7 Blades". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ Zdyrko, Dave (September 25, 2000). "TGS 2000: Hands-on Impressions of 7 Blades". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ Konami staff. グッズ [Goods] (in Japanese). Konami. Archived from the original on February 20, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ "7BLADES". CDJapan. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ "LOVE WILL SEE US THROUGH". CDJapan. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ "7BLADES―地獄極楽丸と鉄砲お百合" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ "7 Blades for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ "7Blades(コナミ ザ ベスト)" [7 Blades (Konami the Best)] (in Japanese). Sony Computer Entertainment. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ Gestalt (August 19, 2002). "Konami Collects itself". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 25, 2012.