An action video game that was developed by Taito Corporation in collaboration with Red Entertainment and was released solely for the PlayStation 2 console, Bujingai is also known in North America as Bujingai: The Forsaken City and in Europe as Bujingai: Swordmaster. Both of these titles refer to the same game. On December 25, 2003, the game was initially released by Taito in the Japanese market. BAM! Entertainment was responsible for the releases in North America, and 505 Gamestreet was responsible for the releases in Europe in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
The events of Bujingai take place in the 23rd century, almost one hundred years after a worldwide calamity wiped out a sizable portion of the people of Earth along with its entire government. The group of people who survived the apocalypse discovered that they have supernatural abilities that were derived from the energy of the planet. The protagonist of this video game is a sword-wielding exile named Lau Wong. He has been banished from Earth and must now return to face an old ally as well as an army of demons that have taken control of the city of Bujingai, which is located in Asia. The martial arts (Wuxia) films of Hong Kong served as a visual source of inspiration for the game’s aesthetics as well as the gameplay. The game is played from a third-person perspective and is a combination of a beat ’em up and a hack and slash. The player takes control of the game’s protagonist, Lau, and is tasked with battling foes and bosses while also exploring open locations and solving minor puzzles. The gameplay includes a counterattack mechanism as well as the ability to chain together sword strokes for a total of more than one thousand strikes.
The release of Bujingai coincided with Taito’s 50th anniversary as a company. The creation of the game took two years, and the team responsible for its development consisted of 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 Ysuke Kuroda in their respective roles. The Japanese pop icon Gackt provided his likeness to be used in the creation of the game’s protagonist, Lau Wong. Gackt himself assisted in the promotion of the game prior to its release. The press sources that reviewed Bujingai gave it grades that were significantly higher than usual. They complimented the game’s combat system, graphic style, and character designs. However, several of these same critics found fault with the game’s jumping mechanics, said that the level designs were boring, and said that the story was lacking.
