Sony execs know the stakes are high for their three home-grown PlayStation 3 launch games - NBA 07, Resistance: Fall of Man and Genji: Days of the Blade, a traditional hack-and-slash game set in feudal Japan. While Genji makes a fantastic show pony for the PS3's graphics capabilities, the overall experience relies on some not-so-next-generation game elements - repetitive action, excessive load times, confusing missions, and end-of-level boss fights which make the game seem stale, and at times, just plain boring.

Days of the Blade, loosely based on real-life medieval battles (minus the demons), pits the Genji clan (that's you) against the Heishi clan, battling for control of the Japanese empire. Set several years after last year's Genji: Dawn of the Samurai for the PlayStation 2, the evil Heishi strike again, this time using some magical mojo that turns mere mortals into burly demon warriors. Fortunately, the Genji can fight back using their own secret weapons -- four well-trained warriors, each with their unique special abilities.

Players then take control of the samurai Yoshitsune, Hulk-like monk Menkei, a sassy priestess named Shizuka and staff-wielding Buson, switching among the four to plow down hoards of enemies. Each character delivers a beat-down in their own way -- Yoshitsune slices enemies with lightning quick movements, Menkei plows them down with big blows from what looks like a giant telephone pole, Shizuka guts them with her flying blade-on-a-rubber-band and Buson uses his staff to smack foes around like a curmudgeonly grandpa. The different character traits mix up the game experience, but are nothing we haven't seen before. How many games have required us to switch between the middle-ground swordsman, the lumbering-but-powerful ox and the weak, but fast, attractive female?

The feudal foursome set out to battle waves of demon-like soldiers with repetitive hacking-and-slashing motions, and some random environmental puzzles thrown in for good measure. A few challenging boss battles break up the monotony, but then it's back to the same old stab-stab-kill-stab-kill routine. To kill off large groups of enemies, each player can employ a replenishable "kamui" power bar that takes them into an alternate plane or reality (oh... trippy...). Once there, the screen prompts players to hit on-screen button cues to unleash deadly combos. Fail to hit the buttons in the correct order or on time and the segment will end.

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