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7 Blades

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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
  • JP: December 21, 2000
  • PAL: September 28, 2001
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

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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 and release

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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] Hayashi chose to create a game rather than a film due to what he perceived as the limitless potential of games.[4]

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] Project director and writer Shinsuke Mukai described the game as similar to both Tomb Raider and Tenchu while leaning towards more action and less stealth-focused gameplay.[4] The game was initially planned for the original PlayStation.[5][6] However, the developer was only able to achieve three enemies alongside the player so more powerful technology was sought. The Dreamcast was a consideration but the PlayStation 2's hardware allowed for superior backgrounds and up to 20 simultaneous enemies.[7]

7 Blades was first announced by Konami in May 2000, just before the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).[8] 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.[9][10] 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.[11][12][13] 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.[14]

Reception

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7 Blades was met with a lukewarm critical response from European and Australian publications, currently holding an aggregate score of 64.5% on GameRankings.[15]

The game was re-released under the "Konami the Best" range of budget titles in Japan, as well as its collection of European budget titles.[20][21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d IGN staff (October 31, 2000). "7 Blades". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Provo, Frank. "7 Blades Preview". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Konami (September 28, 2001). 7 Blades Instruction Manual. Konami. p. 32. SLES-50109.
  4. ^ a b Fischer, Blake (August 2000). "Alphas: 7 Blades". Next Generation. Imagine Media. pp. 48–9. ISSN 1078-9693.
  5. ^ P2 staff (October 2000). "Preview: 7 Blades". P2. No. 1. Paragon Publishing. pp. 62–3. ISSN 1471-1192.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Lawrence, Ben (September 2009). "Seven Blades". Play. No. 66. Paragon Publishing. p. 26. ISSN 2754-0421.
  7. ^ Edge staff (July 2000). "Prescreen Focus: Seven Blades". Edge. No. 86. Future plc. pp. 36–40. ISSN 1350-1593.
  8. ^ Zdyrko, Dave (May 5, 2000). "Off the Record, Vol. 48". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  9. ^ Strohm, Axel (July 17, 2000). "Update: 7 Blades". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  10. ^ Zdyrko, Dave (September 25, 2000). "TGS 2000: Hands-on Impressions of 7 Blades". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  11. ^ Konami staff. グッズ [Goods]. Konami (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 20, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  12. ^ "7Blades". CDJapan. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  13. ^ "Love Will See Us Through". CDJapan. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  14. ^ 7BLADES—地獄極楽丸と鉄砲お百合 (in Japanese). ASIN 4840217637.
  15. ^ a b "7 Blades for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  16. ^ "7 Blades". Edge. No. 95. March 2001. p. 80.
  17. ^ "Test: 7 Blades". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). October 5, 2001. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  18. ^ Merrett, Steve (March 2001). "7 Blades". Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine. No. 5. pp. 112–113.
  19. ^ "7 Blades". Play. No. 73. February 2001. pp. 48–50.
  20. ^ "7Blades(コナミ ザ ベスト)" [7 Blades (Konami the Best)]. Sony Computer Entertainment (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  21. ^ Gestalt (August 19, 2002). "Konami Collects itself". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
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