The introduction summarizes what happened in the first installment of game,to get in touch to some extent with the game feeling and to have a foundation for which you are playing this game(although this will be useless from a hacking and slashing point of view).

Yoshitsune and his brother Yoritone are once again set to defend their Genji clan from the oppressive Heishi clan,who appeared to be defeated the last time around. But that proves so very wrong ;the wrath of the Heishi clan amplified by the pink diamonds that they have as an accessory (to increase their power)in this sequel will surely want the the famous quoting “there can be only one in terms of clan surviving” positive result on their side, but through negative demonic powers.
The characters with which the player might lead and jump into battle includes two from the first installment (Yoshitsune, and an old foe, Kagekya, resurrected as Lord Buson) while Benkey and Lady Shizuka are new in this sequel.

The four characters are pretty much covering the diversity needed in terms of moves,looks and weaponry. As the game evolves,each player will get new weapons , and also new moves particularized for each weapon. The weapons can be upgraded in terms of attack power (and they will change graphically also, glittering trough a particular color selection).
The menu in which you do the upgrading to your health,attack power of your weapons,kamui capacity increase,use of artifacts,magic stones and potions is simple and intuitive,and has that japanese culture touch and feel to it. This, together with the given inventory and the character build up, bring some tactics elements to an action/adventure game.

Yoshitsune: The base character, also available in the Genji: Dawn of the Samurai. With him at command the game starts. He is the most versatile and quickest at moving, strafing, jumping and attacking( probably you' ll stick with him if you want creative and dynamic fights. Blades and swords are the weapons that he masters most. He will get his hands on five of those items on course of defeating the Heishi clan, weapons like Hizamaru, Bishamon, Hachiman, etc. Those weapons although look different and act different in the hands of the warrior, the attack power with which they came is ruffly the same. This rule is valid for the other players too. One feature that will be used to progress in the game( lots of puzzles) is the run on walls, a feature that only Yoshitsune can perform.

Lord Buson: Known as Kagekya,but only by it's fleshy appearance. It seems that some mythical spirits came to the conclusion that three was not the “perfect” number regarding the members in the Genji clan, so an incrementation by one was made through the use of Kagekya body to incarnate Lord Buson. This decision was backed up by the fitness and skill level that Kagekya reached. His weaponry and fighting skills have the objects of manipulation spear like weapons. With those ,besides attacking, he can defend himself by creating a shield as a result of the rapid twirling around of his weapons.

Benkey: A friend with Yoshitsune, he is the first new addition to the original characters . He is the slowest and hulkiest of the four; with share force on his side, an almost double vitality compared to his comrades and weapons that have the greatest attack power, he can be your man when fighting large hordes of enemies or in the pretty often boss battles. Being sluggish and hulky can only imply big weapons at disposal, and that is taken to a new dimension in this case. The massive clubs that Benkey gets throughout the game set a new standard for hugeness. He can also smash his way trough fences, walls. These actions are needed if the player don't want to halt his progress.

Lady Shizuka: The second addition in Genji : Days of the Blade , tries to soften up a bit the manly oriented game (prior to the point of having her in control ), with some feminine touches to the overall arsenal(moves, weapons). Her weapon arsenal consists of rounded blades which can be used as grappling hooks to bring enemies closer, strike at distance (very effective at keeping enemies to a safe distance) or to pass some environmental puzzles.

The player has the opportunity to play with only one character at a time, so the cooperative mode to complete a task or fight enemies aren't supported ( which is not so good) , because there are bosses in the game that need that little extra (given by at least one of your clan members joining you in battle).
Although you might have more than one character available per mission (the script dictates which of those are available), if one of them gets killed, the game is over. That's not nice.
The face buttons are used for the basic actions (jump,attack and a special attack), while R1/R2 buttons are used for defensive actions (mainly blocking attacks). The L1 is used for unleashing your Kamui power (much needed in boss combats or with large numbers of foes), L2 button is used at changing your weapons. The directional arrows on the controller selects the character with which the player wants to play.
The left analog stick is used for moving through the environments while the right analog stick is used for strafing.

It would have been nice if the right analog stick had the function of changing the camera angles instead of strafing, because the Sixaxis controller natively supports the strafing move through it's gyroscopic feature (although you will have to activate it manually from the game menu). I say this because in many circumstances a user selected camera angle is needed (at platform jumps, completing puzzles, fighting with enemies), because the current one isn't allowing you to perceive and play the game as you would like to.

What struck me, were some puzzles that were a bit unnatural (mostly involving Benkey at play), you'll see for yourself what i mean. Anyway there are plenty of puzzles and platform jumps to follow, similar in a way with the Prince of Persia series.

The Kamui way of the warrior differs a bit from the first installment, it migrated from a defensive tool to an offensive one ( bosses can use it on you too), with discouraging effects. The ugly thing about the Kamui power (although it is very effective), is the monkey state that you will be put in , and forced (if you want to benefit from the Kamui power) to follow the screen combos and then reproduce them within (lets say under a second) on your joystick.