Afro Samurai - Xbox360

Don't make me go all Edo-era on your ass.

Based on the anachronistic, hip-hop dojinshi manga of the same name created by Okazaki Takashi—which was later adapted to an anime miniseries—Afro Samurai is a funky, violent fighter revolving around three aspects of combat: on-foot swordfighting, flips and kicks off environmental objects, and anime-inspired ‘aerial’ slashing.

Afro Samurai employs a dynamic fighting and damage scheme that reflects the particular cuts that players actually make, rather than merely using canned animations. A clean, no-meter interface uses damage-indicative skinning and changing color effects to indicate how hurt or ‘focused’ the player’s character is at any given moment. The game’s hip-hop soundtrack features acts like RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) and Chuy Gomez.

Afro Samurai is all about what the designers are calling ‘elegant violence’ - the crazy-anachronistic samurai style, the revenge-driven storyline, a cel-shaded look… and, of course, the badass vocal presence of Samuel L. Jackson. (“I am tired of these motherfuckin' ninjas on this motherfuckin' bridge!” Well, that’s the game-trailer that’s playing in our heads, anyway.) Afro Samurai is slated to ship later this year—by which point Samuel L. will probably have appeared in at least sixteen additional movies.