7 Blades
PAL version cover art
Developer(s)Konami Computer Entertainment Japan East
Paradise Pictures
Publisher(s)Konami
Director(s)Kaizo Hayashi
Producer(s)Atsushi Horigami
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Release
  • JP: December 21, 2000
  • PAL: September 28, 2001
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

7 Blades (セブンブレイズ) is an action-adventure video game developed by Konami for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) home game console. It was released in Japan on December 21, 2000 and in PAL regions on September 28, 2001.

Plot

7 Blades is based on the 1990 film Zipang, directed by Japanese filmmaker Kaizo Hayashi.[1] The game takes place in mid-17th century Japan, during which the Tokugawa shogunate was gaining power. The game is set on the man-made island Dejima, which the Japanese government is using to house Western foreigners and where a Christian group is trying to separate from the rest of the country.[1][2] The main character is Gokurakumaru, a violent mercenary and poor womanizer. He travels with his gun-wielding love interest (Oyuri) and sidekick (Togizo). The latter provides comic relief and holds the swords as Gokurakumaru collects them one by one.

Development

7 Blades was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan East (KCEJ East) in association with Paradise Pictures. The game was in development for over two years with a staff of around 20 people. Konami was assisted by Hayashi, who served as the game's directing supervisor and was given creative control over its storyline, dialogue, and action.[1][2][3] Hayashi had not been involved in video games prior to 7 Blades, but began leaning towards production of such a game when visual advances in computer graphics were made in the medium, striving to make it "universally appealing".[3] Hayashi meant for 7 Blades to cover a wide range of genres, and that even with the player killing a large number of enemies, hoped that it could be enjoyed as a sophisticated sword-fighting game as well. Hayashi felt that meshing the story branches of the two playable characters was a feature "only possible in a game".[3] Both Hayashi and producer Atsushi Horigami understood the importance of gameplay and insisted on making "a movie with some very deep action gameplay elements".[1]

7 Blades was first announced by Konami in May 2000, just before the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).[4] Konami released the first screenshots of the game in July of that year and made the game available to play at the Tokyo Game Show in September.[5][6] The game was released in Japan on December 21, 2000 alongside the 7 Blades Original Soundtrack produced by the Meyna Company and the single for the opening theme "Love Will See Us Though" by Sayaka Kubo.[7][8][9] A novelization of the game titled 7 Blades Jigoku Gokurakumaru to Teppou Oyuri (7BLADES―地獄極楽丸と鉄砲お百合) by Ryosuke Sakaki was published by Dengeki Media Works in February 2002.[10]

Reception

7 Blades was met with a lukewarm critical response from European and Australian publications, currently holding an aggregate score of 64.5% on GameRankings.[15]

The game was re-released under the "Konami the Best" range of budget titles in Japan, as well as its collection of European budget titles.[16][17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 IGN staff (October 31, 2000). "7 Blades". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Provo, Frank. "7 Blades Preview". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Konami (September 28, 2001). 7 Blades Instruction Manual. p. 32. SLES-50109. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. ↑ Zdyrko, Dave (May 5, 2000). "Off the Record, Vol. 48". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  5. ↑ Strohm, Axel (July 17, 2000). "Update: 7 Blades". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  6. ↑ Zdyrko, Dave (September 25, 2000). "TGS 2000: Hands-on Impressions of 7 Blades". IGN. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  7. ↑ Konami staff. グッズ [Goods]. Konami (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 20, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  8. ↑ "7Blades". CDJapan. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Love Will See Us Through". CDJapan. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  10. ↑ 7BLADES―地獄極楽丸と鉄砲お百合 (in Japanese). ASIN 4840217637.
  11. ↑ "7 Blades". Edge. No. 95. March 2001. p. 80.
  12. ↑ "Test: 7 Blades". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). October 5, 2001. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  13. ↑ Merrett, Steve (March 2001). "7 Blades". Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine. No. 5. pp. 112–113.
  14. ↑ "7 Blades". Play. No. 73. February 2001. pp. 48–50.
  15. ↑ "7 Blades for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  16. ↑ "7Blades(コナミ ザ ベスト)" [7 Blades (Konami the Best)]. Sony Computer Entertainment (in Japanese). Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  17. ↑ Gestalt (August 19, 2002). "Konami Collects itself". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
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