, known in North America as Bujingai: The Forsaken City and in Europe as Bujingai: Swordmaster, is an action video game developed by Taito in collaboration with Red Entertainment, for the PlayStation 2 console. The game was published by Taito in Japan on December 25, 2003. It was released in North America by BAM! Entertainment and in Europe by 505 Games on July 22, 2004 and February 18, 2005 respectively.
Bujingai is set in the 23rd century, about 100 years after a global catastrophe wiped out a majority of the Earth's population and its entire government. The survivors have found themselves in possession of magical powers stemming from the energies of the Earth. The game's story follows one such man, Lau Wong, a sword-wielding exile who returns to Earth to confront a former ally and an army of demons who have taken hold of the titular Asian city of Bujingai. The graphics and gameplay in Bujingai are visually inspired by martial arts (Wuxia) films of Hong Kong. The game is a third-person beat 'em up/hack and slash in which the player controls the protagonist Lau, exploring open environments, solving minor puzzles, and battling enemies and bosses. The game features a counterattack mechanic and the ability to chain together sword slashes in excess of 1,000 hits.
Bujingai acted as a 50th anniversary release for Taito. Taking two years to create, the development team included Taito veteran Hiroshi Aoki as director, Taito's in-house band Zuntata as music composers, and external talent in the form of Cowboy Bebop character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto and Trigun scenario writer Yōsuke Kuroda in their respective roles. The likeness of Japanese pop icon Gackt was used in making the protagonist Lau Wong; Gackt himself aided in the game's promotion prior to its launch. Bujingai received above-average reviews from press sources, who praised its combat gameplay, visual style, and character designs. However, many of these same reviewers criticized the game as having poor jumping mechanics, dull level designs, and a weak plot.
Plot
Set in the 23rd century, Bujingai begins 100 years after an accident involving an environmentally-friendly energy source annihilated 70 percent of the world's population and all of its government. Those who survived found themselves with special abilities harnessed through the energies of the Earth itself, which they honed into a discipline of magic and swordplay. A mysterious and powerful human exile, Lau Wong, returns to the planet to battle his former friend and training partner Rei Jenron, who has been possessed by an evil spirit. Rei has kidnapped the soul of his once-beloved Yohfa and opened numerous portals, allowing demons to overtake the Asian city of Bujingai. Lau stands as the only one capable of stopping Rei and the demons threatening the world's remaining population.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The player character battles an enemy. Health and defense meters for the player and enemy are displayed top left and top right respectively. The player's magic meter is on the bottom left and collected blue orbs on the bottom right.
Bujingai is a third-person beat 'em up/hack and slash game where the player controls the protagonist Lau, exploring different environments, completing minor objectives, and battling numerous enemies and more powerful end-stage bosses. The player can attack with dual-wielded swords, jump, spin, execute magical abilities, or perform any combination of the aforementioned abilities. The game contains a large number of combination attacks, some of which can be chained together in excess of 1,000 hits on a single adversary. While in combat, the player will automatically block an enemy's strike if facing their direction. Alongside basic jumping, the player can tap the appropriate button again to glide through the air or run along a wall. These abilities are key to solving puzzles and navigating certain levels. By defeating enemies and busting up destructable objects, the player can collect blue orbs, which can be exchanged at the end of each stage to upgrade Lau's health, defense, magic meter or magic attacks. Bujingai was directed and chiefly designed by Hiroshi Aoki. The likeness of Japanese pop icon Gackt was used to create Bujingai protagonist Lau Wong with CG models and motion capture. Though Gackt does not speak any actual lines (with the exception of some lines for gameplay) as Lau, fellow voice actors Kōichi Yamadera, Maaya Sakamoto, and Norio Wakamoto provide a generous amount of dialogue as supporting characters in the game.
Bujingai took about two years total to develop, with the first six months devoted to pre-production. Producer Keisaku Okumura explained that it was a challenge to make a universally accepted collaboration between Taito, an old corporation with a large imprint on the history of the Japanese arcade industry, and Red Entertainment, a younger "hooligan" company. Gackt's popularity was instrumental in promoting the game prior to its release, with the star personally demonstrating the gameplay during press events. The game even contains unlockable features including a costume that will change Lau's clothing to those worn by Gackt, as well as exclusive interviews with the star and the game's voice cast. Various pieces of related merchandise were sold alongside the game. They include an official guidebook published by Enterbrain, an art book published by Shinkigensha, and a soundtrack CD released by Zuntata Records. A manga series based on the game was written by screenwriter Kuroda, illustrated by Kenichi Rou, and serialized in Kodansha's Magazine Z starting May 26, 2004.
BAM! Entertainment picked up the publishing rights for the game in January 2004. Taito's overseas division selected the publisher based on its knowledge of the North American market. The publisher added the subtitle The Forsaken City and planned to release the game in May of that year. BAM! announced on June 10, 2004 that the game had been submitted for Sony approval. The game was finally made available at North American retailers on July 22, 2004.
Reception
Critical reception for Bujingai has been generally above-average among both print and online sources. The game has accrued aggregate scores of 73% on GameRankings and 72 out of 100 on Metacritic. The game sold an additional 51,549 copies in Japan throughout 2004. Prior to the game's North American launch, Taito had considered creating a sequel. Okumura explained, "As long as the energy of the fans remains, Bujingai 2 will see the light of day!! For sure!" Besttoday CEO Jeon Jun Woo announced at ChinaJoy in July of that year that the game was in full development with plans for release in the third quarter of 2007. However, no other news of the game has since been issued.