Mad Finger Games comes slashing back with Samurai II: Vengeance

The point of a sequel is to enable a developer to build on the foundation of features they got right first time around, while overhauling the things that weren't so successful.

And that's exactly what Mad Finger Games seems to be doing in Samurai II: Vengeance.

When reviewing the original, Pocket Gamer's Tracy Erickson pointed out that the "action-packed samurai adventure is just waiting to be unsheathed from the shell of this simple, shallow hack 'n' slash endeavour".

Hence, in the sequel the action and great graphics remain in place, while features such as the controls, artificial intelligence, and gameplay have been overhauled.

In terms of controls, there will be an option to replace the gesture controls with a virtual joystick, and the game can be played in Portrait or Landscape modes. The static isometric view is replaced with a cinematic camera.

Flexibility of action is improved with a new dodge roll, new combo attacks, and the ability to use items found in the environment. This feeds through to the need to avoid traps and solve puzzles.

Of course, fast slashing action remains at the game's core, with larger levels and more enemies equipped with new weapons, including samurai musketeers and archers, and plenty of epic boss battles. The artificial intelligence has been rewritten as well, with Mad Finger Games promising more intense fights.

And, rounding off the change list, in addition to the Story mode, which sees Daisuke Shimada returning on a mission to avenge Kasumi's death, there will be various Survival modes.

Samurai II: Vengeance is due out during September, and will be a universal app with optimisations for iPhone, iPhone 4 and iPad.