When I first put Bandai's InuYasha: Feudal Combat into my PS2 the phrase, "Playing is Believing" flashed onto the screen. It's obviously the company's attempt at being cute, a "witty" play on words that's supposed to fill us with hot anticipation of the gem that we're about to experience, but in this case it's clearly a trap, because no sooner did I play the game for five seconds did I realize that I would never reclaim those moments of my life. In fact, I was doomed to lose much more than that, and now, as I write this review and reflect on the several hours of non stop gameplay I realize I could have been...oh I don't know...not playing InuYasha: Feudal Combat.

To be fair (and I'm being as generous as a super guilt ridden spouse who's purchased roses at a gas station), this game isn't horrible. Actually, had it been released on the Sega Saturn or PSOne back in the day it would have been regarded as a decent fighting game and (had it not come to the U.S.), a solid import. But the fact that it's 2005 doesn't escape me, and with Soul Calibur 2, Marvel Vs Capcom 2, and Super Smash Bros. Melee floating about I absolutely refuse to accept this boring product that Bandai's unceremoniously dropped onto my groin. It's just extremely boring, in part because the Story Mode is about characters doing insignificant crap that literally no one should care about, but also because the game is nothing more than a mindless button masher. All you need to do is press either X or Square to win any match against the computer, but I encourage you to mix it up a bit. Press X a few times, then give good old Square some action. You know, just to keep things saucy.

There are well over ten characters to select from (including some unlockable fighters), each of which features signature weapons, attacks, and voices, some of which aren't especially thrilling. I mean, there's nothing exciting about selecting a guy with this huge mullet (don't deny it anime fans, InuYasha's got a mullet that would make Jeff Foxworthy smile) and do the DualShock 2 monster mash until your opponents cannot move anymore. Things are kept somewhat interesting by fabulous special attacks that when activated add pretty splashes of color onto the TV screen, but they're not cool enough to watch over and over again.

The fact that you can get out of any jam by using a single button doesn't say much about the AI. The computer will occasionally block attacks but he or she isn't smart enough to change strategies. It'll attempt to counter with bursts of random aggression, but that was never enough to defeat me out more than once.

I do like the idea of having a support character, someone who will accompany me on my journey and fight alongside me, but they're not dominant enough to actually help. An arrow here, a sword slash there. Not enough damage.

Aside from the Story Mode there's two player versus as well as a Mission Mode where you can play two on one battles, save your partner from being attacked, or break rocks before time runs out (ah yes, so thrilling), but it didn't keep me interested. The same goes for the graphics. The cell shading is nice, but the tight arenas and the stiff animations aren't really too appealing.

You may not have noticed, but there's a glut of these anime based games coming out this year and InuYasha sort of kicked off the holiday push. With that being said, Bandai's off to a pretty bad start since I refuse to recommend this title to anyone save diehard fans of the series. Then again, I love The Simpsons and I don't own Simpson's Wrestling, so just remind yourself of that when you see InuYasha at the mall...or online...or in someone's drive way.