7 Blades
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is an action-adventure
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by
Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
(PS2) home game console. It was released in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
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. The game takes place in mid-17th century Japan, during which the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
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. 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. 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 Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...
were made in the medium, striving to make it "universally appealing". 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". Both Hayashi and producer Atsushi Horigami understood the importance of gameplay and insisted on making "a movie with some very deep action gameplay elements". ''7 Blades'' was first announced by Konami in May 2000, just before the
Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
(E3). 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 , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...
in September. 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. A novelization of the game titled by Ryosuke Sakaki was published by Dengeki Media Works in February 2002.


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 GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
. 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.


References

{{Reflist


External links


''7 Blades''
at
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2000 video games Action-adventure games Hack and slash games Konami games Video games about ninja PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Video games about samurai Video games set in feudal Japan Video games developed in Japan