-SPOILERS for both Gintama the show as well as just the game we're talking about, gintama rumble.-

Honestly I don't know what I was expecting, it is an "anime tie-in game".

So a couple weeks or so prior to playing, I finished a long journey of watching all of Gintama with a friend. It was a wonderful time, and Gintama pretty easily became one of my favorite things ever after finishing. I love it's mish mash of a setting combining edo japan with a modern day to futuristic setting with aliens, I love a good chunk of it's cast, some just becoming some of my absolute favorites put to screen, and it's ability to get the most out of combining oddball comedy with soul-crushing drama is something I really admire about, similar in a way to why I really like Like a Dragon stuff.

It's a really great show with a lot of amazing moments, so with my brainrot in hyperdrive, I really wanted to get the one game I knew I could get my hands on that just so happens to adapt Gintama into a game. And uhh... it's indeed an anime tie-in game.

Usually the vibe I get with a lot of the ones I play is they are able to facillitate the series respective moments, but mainly through slide-show CGs with the occassional in engine cutscenes that, while looking good, can also be a little uncanny when their outfits or their looks or whatever else is off from the original. And that can somewhat sour the appeal, even worse when a lot of dialouge that makes the fight interesting is said within gameplay, which can be a little easy to not pay attention to.

But alright, let's get into the game proper, because for a musou type hack n' slash (like dynasty warriors basically), I think it's alright. I say dynasty warriors, but it seems to vibe a little more closely to something like Sengoku Basara. That's basically Capcom's answer to Dynasty Warriors. It usually puts you in the shoes of one person throughout a mission rather than swapping around, but in turn, it varies up the mechanics a bit to make the exprience a little more thoughtful, which I feel they capture fine enough here.

Your main controls are a light and heavy button for combos, a jump that can be followed into attacks, a guard that when done at the right time can guardbreak enemies and bosses, though the timing strict, a lock on, a boost mode that doubles as the activation for the musou attack (in this game called awakening mode and awakening rumble attacks), and lastly are hurricanes. Dashes that don't deal damage on his, but can stagger opponents, be cancelled into and from attacks other than hurricane, and can be used in QTEs called hurricane clashes that are mostly style over substance. You get a flashy clash animation, and guaranteed damage on a boss, and that's about it. Kind of cool though.

You also have access to skill that are unlocked by upgrading. Two of them are basic ones done by holding either the light or heavy button, and the last is done by filling a meter under the health bar that requires different methods to fill, but when full, pressing guard and any attack button will activate it. Characters also gain access to things called Silver Orbs, which are essentially assists you can equip to characters that give them some kind of passive ability as well as an active ability, like an assist attack or on the spot healing.

Silver orbs can be found on the field by beating captains or finding specific boxes, or be bought in the store. You can also find healing and buffing items on the field, and get access to something called Ginpachinko. Completing side objectives like killing a certain amount of enemies or doing awakening rumble enough times will get a spin at the slots that will usually give you some temporary buff, restore meters, or give you free EXP or Pachi orbs, the currency used in the store.

Characters as mentioned before, can be upgraded via the EXP gained from completeing missions. EXP will build level which will give you points to upgrade 3 categories of stats. Spirit that increases how fast the Awakening Gauge fills and how big it is, Strength that buffs defense and health, and Skill that upgrades attack, as well as unlocks skills to use and silver orb slots (of which are three).

I'm not a big fan of how the upgrading it done, and that's not because of the categorization, I like that it just groups stats like health and defense, but more because it's way to forward leaning into upgrading Skill. That's because you have to put points into so you can unlock the skills. Now I get it for silver orbs, and arguably the last skill tied to a new meter, but I really don't like it makes you have to spend points just unlocking your first couple skills. Listen, I already find musou gameplay to be... kind of mindless already because of all the effect and numbers going up from mashing buttons, so having any way to make the exprience a little more interesting by adding more options I feel is a step in the right direction.

I say this because without the two skills to add some more intrigue to how a character fights, all I have to go off of is their basic combo, heavy attacks, and rumble attack. And I feel in most character's cases, it's really not enough to get a feel of them, especially those who I feel have too slow or clunky of combos to make work as much. At least without going to other modes to sink a bunch of time into leveling them up, which i'm sorry, i don't really feel the need to go and do, especially since most of the story is done playing 3 characters, with a few peppered in depending on the case.

Oh yeah, the story mode. So like a lot of anime adaptations, you just play through arcs being retold in the game's style, where you are to explore areas, capture camps, get intel out of enemy captains, and fight against bosses either starting, ending stages, or just being the stage. They adapt 8 arcs, Benizakura, Yoshiwara in Flames, Four Devas, Thorny, Courtesan of a Nation, Shogun Assassination, Farewell Shinsengumi, and Battle on Rakuyo. They also have an epilogue teasing Silver Soul, and side stories that tackle other character's perspetives within each arc. That's also how you unlock the majority of the other characters in the game.

I'd say that they adapt the arcs fine enough, at least they get enough context to explain why the arc is happening. They cover all the major beats, certain ones even get animated with in-game models, and it's neat. I don't have a whole lot to say about it, because I think they're like fine, I just massively prefer watching them in the anime, because it's not just anime screenshots telling the story. I can be a bitcj and pick all the nits of every little scene not showing things exactly like the anime that slightly bug me, but like, that's also because I have the brainrot. Just... why did we not get a costume with Hijikata not wearing his shinsengumi jacket in the arc that happened. It's fucked up.

I only really dislike it because they so heavily center it on Gintoki, with a little bit also from Hijikata and Kagura. I get why they do when they do, but there's a lot of characters that get introduced through large levels and sometimes boss fights right off the bat, hell they do that for Kagura, for all 3 of her appearances in the story, technically four times but they make her yato blood frenzy state another character, so I don't super count it. I mean they're doable typically, it's just more annoying than anything.

Aside from the story stuff, they also have free battle, where you can play story scenarios with anyone without caring about story, and Kabukicho Ultimate Rumble, which I did try a bit, saw it was like 11 levels of just random objectives and bosses with double the health of story bosses at the lowest difficulty, and I said audibly "no thank you" after getting my shit kicked in after trying to unlock Sakamoto. It's not that I can't just sit down and do it, I just don't want to do it, especially since getting Sakamoto means doing it with Katsura, and he's like my least favorite to play. I'll probably come back to it later though...

Let's see... you got the edo mart which is a store to buy costumes, cut-in cgs and lines for combo meter stuff, and even silver orbs you can only get in the store, all using in game currency. There is DLC for this game, but I think it's just more silver orbs and I really don't care.

This game has also fucked with my sense of pressing buttons on a menu, because for most things, especially in PS menus, it's x to confirm, and circle to back out. But here, it's reversed. Confirm is circle, and backing out is x, and it has fucked up my muscle memory so fucking much when trying to play other games. Granted it's not a big deal, I just think it's funny, but like still, fucked up.

And uhh.... I think that's it. I think this game is pretty fineeeee. Like it's ok as a musou, it's pretty alright as a Gintama thing, especially with the voice actors breaking the fourth wall in the cutscenes opening side missions, but we honestly don't get a lot of it, just the direct re-telling of the main arcs. It again reminds me why I really appreciate the show's smaller arcs. Sure they are usually pretty funny or heartwarming, but I mainly say it that a lot of that small stuff is what helps build the backbone of the show, adding more depth to the characters and the world around it before we see these serious arcs show them at their most focused. I'm not really saying they should do that for the game, I get why they probably wouldn't, for multiple reasons, I say that more as just a general gintama fan thinking about why I like the show again.

For the game itself, it's like ok to sit down and play, it's fine, but I feel like I really only got value in this because I'm a gintama fan, and that's kind of it. Such is the life with most anime tie-in things I suppose. Even Kamui says as much in his side story cutscene. It's got some neat ideas to it though, I really like the idea of how Hurricane is as a mechanic, both as a movement tool, and as a combo tool. I also liked how to fill the rumble attacks, you had to combo while you were in the awakening mode, making you think a bit about when you pop it, and I like a lot of the character's moveset. If not because of their playstyle (Gintoki, Hijikata, Okita), but because I like seeing them in action (Tsukuyo, Katsura, and both the yato kids especially).

I might come back for Kabukicho Ultimate Rumble to see what Sakamoto is like, but I don't think i'll be coming back to it unless I really feel like it.