Black & White Bushido

It’s time to talk about one of my favourite types of game; competitive local multiplayer. I like this type of game because I don’t feel like it needs to be rigorously tested for visual and mechanical perfection. Black & White Bushido is in no way perfect, with plenty of dodgy animation and complex, poorly-explained weapons, but ultimately it’s a local multiplayer game that’s easy to set up (much easier than setting up Mario Kart Wii with Xbox controllers on Dolphin while everyone’s vocally expressing frustration that I somehow haven’t set it up yet), has an interesting hook that’s well-executed, and fulfils the be-all and end-all of game-assessing criteria: it’s fun.
Best played locally and preferably with four players but still very fresh and exciting with fewer, Black & White Bushido takes place in a totally black-and-white Smash Bros.-style level in which the patches of black and white constantly shift. As either a black or white character, the game encourages you to hide in the patches of your chosen shade, waiting for the perfect moment to finish off other players with a single, well-timed strike. You’re only totally invisible when standing still to camouflage or holding a button to slowly move around, and appropriately dramatic splashes of dust indicate where you’re landing or leaping, so it’s not as broken as it may initially seem.
In fact, it’s just really well-designed in general. It’s very much about trying to time that perfect attack to get through an enemy’s defences, and since striking enemies as they strike you just bounces you both backwards, rushing headlong into battle is a good way to get killed quickly. There’s not much really bad about Black & White Bushido, and unless you’re somehow still expecting games like this to have a large, competitive online multiplayer scene, this won’t disappoint. An excellent addition to the party game pantheon, but not one to go into without a few friends.